Astragaloside IV improves pulmonary arterial hypertension by increasing the expression of CCN1 and activating the ERK1/2 pathway

The aim of the present study was to investigate the underlying mechanism of AS‐IV and CCN1 in PAH and to evaluate whether the protective effect of AS‐IV against PAH is associated with CCN1 and its related signalling pathway. In vivo, male SD rats were intraperitoneally injected with monocrotaline (MCT, 60 mg/kg) or exposed to hypoxia (10% oxygen) and gavaged with AS‐IV (20, 40 and 80 mg/kg/day) to create a PAH model. In vitro, human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (hPAECs) were exposed to hypoxia (3% oxygen) or monocrotaline pyrrole (MCTP, 60 μg/mL) and treated with AS‐IV (10, 20 and 40 μM), EGF (10 nM, ERK agonist), small interfering CCN1 (CCN1 siRNA) and recombinant CCN1 protein (rCCN1, 100 ng/mL). We identified the differences in the expression of genes in the lung tissues of PAH rats by proteomics. At the same time, we dynamically detected the expression of CCN1 by Western blot both in vivo and in vitro. The Western blot experimental results showed that the expression of CCN1 increased in the early stage of PAH and decreased in the advanced stage of PAH. The results showed that compared with the control group, MCT‐ and hypoxia‐induced increased the hemodynamic parameters and apoptosis. AS‐IV can improve PAH, as characterized by decreased hemodynamic parameters, vascular wall area ratio (WA%), vascular wall thickness ratio (WT%) and α‐SMA expression and inhibition of cell apoptosis. Moreover, the improvement of PAH by AS‐IV was accompanied by increased CCN1 expression, which activated the ERK1/2 signalling pathway. Meanwhile, CCN1 and p‐ERK1/2 were inhibited by siCCN1 and promoted by rCCN1. EGF not only activated the ERK1/2 signalling pathway but also induced the expression of CCN1. In conclusion, AS‐IV improves PAH by increasing the expression of CCN1 and activating the ERK1/2 signalling pathway. The results of our study provide a theoretical basis for additional study on the protective effect of AS‐IV against PAH.