Rosuvastatin beneficially alters the glomerular structure of kidneys from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs)

Abstract

The incidence of chronic renal diseases is increasing worldwide, and there is a great need to identify therapies capable of arresting or reducing disease progression. The current treatment of chronic nephropathies is limited to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, but increasing clinical and experimental evidence suggests that statins could play a therapeutic role. Ultrastructural studies have shown the presence of gap junctions within all the cells of the glomerulus and podocytes have been found to contain primarily connexin-43. The present study aims to observe the beneficial effects of rosuvastatin on structural and ultrastructural renal morphology and on glomerular connexin-43 expression in normotensive rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Rats were randomly allocated into four groups: WKY-C: normotensive animals no receiving rosuvastatin; WKY-ROS: normotensive animals receiving rosuvastatin; SHR-C: hypertensive animals no receiving rosuvastatin; SHR-ROS: hypertensive animals receiving rosuvastatin. Our results show no differences in blood urea, creatinine, uric acid and creatine phosphokinase levels between the groups, however, there was an decreasing of 24-h protein excretion in SHR-ROS. Capsular area in SHR-ROS was decreased, however, there was no alteration in urinary space. By transmission electron microscopy the slit diaphragm and podocyte foot processes were more preserved in SHR-ROS. By scanning electron microscopy the podocyte foot processes were more preserved in SHR-ROS. Increased connexin-43 immunofluorescence was observed in glomeruli of WKY-ROS and SHR-ROS. In conclusion, we hypothesize that renal pleiotropic effect of rosuvastatin can be a therapeutic tool for improving kidney ultrastructure and, consequently, renal function in hypertensive individuals.

Beneficial effect of simvastatin on human umbilical vein endothelial cells gap junctions induced by TNF-α

“…Statins are the most commonly used lipid-modifying medications in the world (Adams et al 2012 ). In the gap junction, statins have been shown to exert pharmacological activity against atherosclerosis, neointimal hyperplasia, arrhythmia, and cancer (Barros et al 2011 ; Mihos et al 2014 ; Qu et al 2014 ). In fact, some researchers have hypothesized that simvastatin’s pleiotropic effects could be related to an increase in GJIC seen in the current research (Wang et al 2013 ).…”