Effects of grape seed procyanidin on vascular remodeling in renovascular hypertensive rats

AIM: To study the effect of grape seed procyanidin (GSP) on vascular remodeling in renovascular hypertensive (RH) rats. METHODS: The RH rat model was established by two-kidney one-clip method. Two weeks after operation, 28 rats were selected according to the increased tail systolic pressure above 130 mmHg and randomly divided into 4 groups (n=7): RH model group, low GSP treatment group (50 mg·kg^-1·d^-1),high GSP treatment group (200 mg·kg^-1·d^-1) and captopril treatment group (30 mg·kg^-1·d^-1). Meanwhile, 7 rats with sham operation served as controls. Tail systolic pressure, medial thickness (MT), luminal diameter (LD), and the ratio of MT to LD in thoracic aortic wall were determined 6 weeks after treatment. Masson staining and ELISA were used to detect the content of collagen and angiotensin II (Ang II) in aortic tissues. The protein expression of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in abdominal aortic tissues was determined by Western blotting. RESULTS: Compared with control group, the tail systolic pressure, MT, MT/LD, the content of collagen and the protein expression of TNF-α in aorta were significantly increased in RH model group, but LD decreased. Treatment with GSP and captopril reduced the raised parameters, and increased the LD in RH model rats. These effects were more notable in high GSP treatment group, and equal to captopril treatment group. CONCLUSION: GSP treatment significantly decreases tail systolic pressure in RH rats, and effectively attenuates arterial vascular remodeling by decreasing the content of AngII and reducing the protein expression of TNF-α in aorta.