Association Of Serum Salusin-α Concentration With Essential Hypertension And Arterial Function

Background:Hypertension is one of the most common and important cardiovascular diseases at present,and also the risk factor for coronary artery disease,cerebral apoplexy,heart function failure and kidney function failure.The main complication of hypertension is the damage of vessels,especially the continuing spasm of vascular walls which can lead to deposition of proteinic materials and proliferation of fibrous tissues.In the last,the walls of the blood vessels are thickened and become less elastic,which result in stenosis and atherosclerosis. Carotid artery intima-media thickness(IMT) and plaque are closely relative to the risk factors such as hypertension.Ultrasonography detecting the carotid artery IMT and plaque is an effective and noninvasive method that can show the systemic atherosclerosis.Pulse wave velocity(PWV) is a commonly used method to evaluate the function of vessels.According to Moens-Korteweg equation,PWV depends on the size of the biomechanical properties of arteries(arterial elasticity), vascular geometric features(lumen diameter and wall thickness) and blood viscosity.Because vascular changes in blood viscosity and the geometric characteristics is of a relatively litter variation,PWV has become the classic indicators of arterial structure and function. Salusins,are newly identified cardiovascular neuroendocrine peptides by Japanese scientists in 2003.Shichiri et al.characterized two related peptides of 28 and 20 amino acids,which they designated salusin-αand salusin-β,respectively.The peptides are thought to be biosynthesized from Pre prosalusin which is an alternative-splicing product the torsion dystonia - related gene(TOR2A),after frameshift reading and digestion at dibasic amino acids.Salusins are widely expressed throughout human tissues,including the vasculature,body fluid and kidney.Salusins rapidly induces hypotension and bradycardia, increase VSMC intracellular calcium concentration,stimulates human macrophage foam cell formation and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs) and fibroblasts.The machanism may be associate with calcium channel,calcineurin,MAPK and PKC signal pathway.The present study shows that serum salusin-αlevels are significantly decreased in acute coronary syndrome(ACS)patients as compared with healthy volunteers and are lower in accordance with the severity of coronary atherosclerotic lesions among ACS patients.Also serum salusin-αlevels are decreased in essential hypertension.In conclusion, salusins are associated with cardiovascular diseases especially atherosclerotic diseases.However,the significance and mechanism of salusin-αin hypertension and arterial function remain unclear.The present study was performed to examine the relationship between the serum salusin-αlevel and hypertension and arterial function,finding a new method to predict the damage of hypertension and arterial function and a new target for the treatment of hypertension.Objective:1,To observe the association of salusin-αwith arterial structure and function.2,To investigate the possible mechanism of salusin-αon hypertension.MethodsEighty-two consecutive subjects in Qilu Hospital of Shandong University were enrolled in this study.They included sixty hypertensive patients and twenty-two normal subjects as control group.Hypertensive group are divided into 2 groups according to carotid plaque as follows:①the group of plaque;②the group of non-plaque.All the subjects are taken medical examinations for blood pressure,heart rate,height,weight et al.ELISA for serum salusin-αconcentration.Ultrasonography for measuring IVSTd,PWTd,LVIDdDs,Dd,intima-mediathickness(IMT) and plaque scores. The measurements of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity(BaPWV)and ankle-brachial index(ABI) were performed using a arteriosclerotic examine device.All statistical analysis were performed using SPSS version16.0.The numerical data presented as mean±S.D,and the categorical data were described by example and percentage.Comparisons of among three groups used the ANOVA-test.Bivariable simple correlation analysis was performed with Pearson analysis.All tests were two-sided and a value of P＜0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results1,Common characteristics:The common characteristics between the three groups subjects have no statistical significance(P＞0.05) except for HDL,UA,SBP,DBP,PP.2,Carotid Ultrasound Measurement:Compared with the control group,IMTave,IMTmax,Stiffness of Common Carotid are increased significantly while Distensibility,Strain of Common Carotid are decreased significantly in hypertensive ones(P＜0.05).Compared with the group of non-plaque,IMTave,Stiffness of Common Carotid are increased significantly while Distensibility, Strain of Common Carotid are decreased significantly in the group of plaque(P＜0.05).3,PWV measurement:Compared with the normal subjects,BaPWV-R,BaPWV-L,UT are increased significantly in hypertensive ones(P＜0.05) Compared with the group of non-plaque,BaPWV-R are increased significantly in the group of plaque(P＜0.05).4,Salusin-αconcentration:There is statistical significance in serum Salusin-αconcentration between 3 groups(P＜0.001).(1.31±0.34 ng/ml vsl.70±0.38 ng/ml vs2.51±0.71 ng/ml).5,Pearson correlation analysis:①The Pearson analysis showed that serum Salusin-αconcentration was positively correlated with Distensibility,Strain of Common Carotid (the value of simple correlation coefficient was respectively 0.524;0.325,P＜0.05),and serum Salusin-αconcentration was negatively correlated with SBP,DBP,PP,BaPWV,IMTave,IMTmax,LVMI and Stiffness of Common Carotid(the value of simple correlation coefficient was respectively -0.556,-0.441,-0.413,-0.537,-0.529,-0.510,-0.368,-0.412,P＜0.05).②The Pearson analysis showed that serum Salusin-αconcentration was negatively correlated with plaque scores(R=-0.482),BaPWV(R=-0.535) (P＜0.01) in the group of plaque。Conclusions1,The serum Salusin-αconcentration is decreased in hypertensive patients,suggesting that Salusin-αtaking part in the pathogenesis,and it can be a new target for the treatment of hypertension.2,The serum Salusin-αconcentration is positively correlated with Distensibility,Strain of Common Carotid,and negatively correlated with BaPWV,IMTave,IMTmax and Stiffness of Common Carotid,suggesting that Salusin-αhas a close correlation with arterial structure and function in hypertension.3,There is statistical significance in serum Salusin-αconcentration between plaque and non-plaque groups,and Salusin-αconcentration was negatively correlated with plaque scores,BaPWV in the group of plaque,suggesting that Salusin-αhas a close correlation with severity of arterial damage.