Effects Of Urocortin On Mesenteric Arterial Remodeling And Cardiac Sarcolemmal ATP-sensitive K～+ Channels In Rats

Urocortin (UCN) is a 40-amino acid peptide, which belongs to CRF family. Imunoreactivity of UCN is widely distributed in central nervous, digestive, cardiovascular, reproductive, immune, endocrine systems. These facts suggest that UCN has important physiological roles in various tissues. In addition to pituitary and central effects as neurotransmitters, peripheral effects of CRP-related peptides have been observed, particularly in the cardiovascular system. UCN induces both endotheium-dependent and -independent relaxation of coronary artery and relaxation of human placental circulation and rat basilar artery. Previous studies suggest UCN produces marked dilatation of rat renal artery. Studies in vitro from our laboratory indicate that UCN can reduce the viability of adult rat's vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). These results suggest that UCN might play a role in vascular remodeling since VSMC are a key factor in the development of vascular remodeling. So far however, there has been no in vivo investigation about the effects of UCN on vascular remodeling in SHRs. With the model of the SHRs, we firstly investigated the effects of long-term (56 days) intravenous UCN on the functional and structural...