Obesity modulates the transcriptional alterations of the natriuretic peptide and endothelin systems

The study aimed to evaluate the transcriptional alterations of natriuretic peptides (NPs) and of its counter-regulatory system (ET-1 system) in the heart of Zucker rats (O, n=20), and lean controls (CO, n=20), subdivided in fasting and hyperglycemic, using Real Time-PCR. BNP and ANP mRNA resulted lower in O with respect to CO. A different regulation of the receptor NPR-A, NPR-B and NPR-C was showed in O. Both pre-proET-1 and ECE-1 were lower expressed in O (p=0.02) while ET-A and ET-B mRNA did not change in CO and O. Subdividing into fasting and hyperglycemic rats the behavior of each system remained quite similar. Our results suggest a reduced expression of both NPs and its counter-regulatory ET-1 system cardiac cells, the knowledge of this alteration can lead can lead to the progress of therapeutic strategies for the treatment of cardiometabolic syndrome.