Dai Xianliang, Huang Shuaibo, He Zhiqing, Wu Feng, Ding Ru, Chen Yihong, Liang Chun, Wu Zonggui
Department of Cardiology, Changzheng Hospital, The Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200003, P.R. China.
Exp Ther Med. 2017 Apr;13(4):1386-1392. doi: 10.3892/etm.2017.4125. Epub 2017 Feb 15.
The aim of this study was to evaluate thymus function in mice with hypertension. A total of 60 C57BL/6J mice were randomized into control, sham surgery and two-kidney, one-clip groups (n=20 in each). At 4 or 8 weeks after surgery, mice were sacrificed, and blood, spleens, kidneys and thymuses were harvested. The results of reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that the mRNA levels of Forkhead box protein N1 (Foxn1) and autoimmune regulator (AIRE) in the thymus tissue of mice from the HTN group were significantly lower than those from the control group at 4 and 8 weeks (P<0.05). Foxn1 and AIRE expression was also reduced in the sham surgery group at 4 weeks after surgery, but had recovered 4 weeks later. Similar results were observed for the expression of signal-joint T cell receptor excision circles and the percentages of T cell subsets. The present study indicates that impaired thymus function is associated with hypertension in mice, which suggests that thymus function may be a novel target for the treatment of patients with hypertension.
本研究旨在评估高血压小鼠的胸腺功能。总共60只C57BL/6J小鼠被随机分为对照组、假手术组和双肾单夹组（每组n = 20）。术后4周或8周，处死小鼠，采集血液、脾脏、肾脏和胸腺。逆转录定量聚合酶链反应分析结果显示，高血压组小鼠胸腺组织中叉头框蛋白N1（Foxn1）和自身免疫调节因子（AIRE）的mRNA水平在4周和8周时显著低于对照组（P<0.05）。假手术组术后4周Foxn1和AIRE表达也降低，但4周后恢复。信号连接T细胞受体切除环的表达和T细胞亚群的百分比也观察到类似结果。本研究表明，胸腺功能受损与小鼠高血压有关，这表明胸腺功能可能是高血压患者治疗的新靶点。
