Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CHINESE MEDICINE
Volume 39, Issue 5, Pages 867-878Publisher
WORLD SCIENTIFIC PUBL CO PTE LTD
DOI: 10.1142/S0192415X11009263
Keywords
Cinnamomi ramulus Ethanol Extract (CRE); Vasodilatory Effect; Rho-Kinase Signaling Pathway; MYPT-1; CPI-17
Funding
- Ministry of Education, Science and Technology [20090073977]
- Dongguk University
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The Rho-kinase (ROCK) signaling pathway is substantially involved in vascular contraction. This study investigated the vasodilatory effects and possible mechanisms of Cinnamomi ramulus ethanol extract (CRE), with the hypothesis that the CRE vasodilatory effect involves RhoA and the ROCK signaling pathway in rat aortic preparations. CRE (0.05-1 mg/ml) dose-dependently relaxed the vascular contraction induced by phenylephrine and calpeptin in an endothelium-independent manner. Measurement of the expression levels of ROCK-related signaling molecules in response to calpeptin revealed that CRE completely inhibited RhoA and ROCK2 protein expressions. Furthermore, CRE dephosphorylated the subsequent downstream targets myosin phosphatase targeting subunit 1 (MYPT-1), protein kinase C potentiated phosphatase inhibitor protein-17 kDa (CPI-17) and myosin light chain 20 kDa (MLC20). We conclude that the vasorelaxation effect of CRE occurs via down-regulation of ROCK signal molecules.
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