Full text
| |
| Author(s): |
Drielen de Oliveira Moreira
Total Authors: 1
|
| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia |
| Defense date: | 2015-11-02 |
| Examining board members: |
Maria Julia Marques;
Francis Lopes Pacagnelli;
Candida Luiza Tonizza de Carvalho;
Robson Francisco Carvalho;
Marcelo Rodrigues da Cunha
|
| Advisor: | Maria Julia Marques |
| Abstract | |
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive muscle-wasting disease that causes respiratory and cardiac failure and results in death at about 30 years of age. The lack of dystrophin in mdx mice, the experimental model of DMD, causes sarcolemmal breakdown and increased calcium influx followed by myonecrosis and fibrosis. Purinergic receptors are involved in the pathogenesis of dystrophinopathies. Activation of these receptors by ATP triggers secondary signaling pathways that promote calcium entry and activates the formation of fibrosis. In the present study, we investigated if suramin, an anti-fibrotic drug and an antagonist of purinergic receptors, modifies total calcium and calcium related-proteins and affects metalloproteinases and their tissue inhibitors in the heart and diaphragm muscle of dystrophic mice, in the later stage of the disease (11 months of age). Western blotting analysis indicated increased levels of P2Y2 purinergic receptor in the both muscles studied, which were significantly decreased by suramin. Concomitantly, suramin lead to a reduction in total calcium and in the levels of the stretch-activated calcium channel TRPC1, which may explain the reduction of cardiac necrosis (decreases heart creatine kinase in plasma and troponin I in the myocardium). The activity and level of metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), the main involved in remodeling of the extracellular matrix and formation of fibrosis, were elevated in the dystrophic heart compared to normal heart. Suramin promoted further increase in MMP-9 activity and in the levels of MMP-9 inhibitor TIMP-1. Suramin prevented the reduction of beta-dystroglycan, one of the main components of the dystrophin-protein complex usually reduced in dystrophic heart. In general, suramin promoted similar effects in the dystrophic diaphragm, with respect to total calcium, TRPC1, MMP-9 and TIMP-1. These data suggest that P2Y2 purinergic receptor plays an important role in signaling pathways involved in calcium regulation (via TRPC1) and modulation of extracellular matrix (via MMP-9 and TIMP-1), in cardiac and respiratory dystrophic muscles. Suramin may be a potential alternative to treat dystrophic cardiomyopathy deserving attention in clinical trials (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 12/03498-7 - Mechanistic insights on the effects of suramin, on the cardiomyopathy of the mdx mice. |
| Grantee: | Drielen de Oliveira Moreira |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |