Effect of angiotension-Ⅱ on rat cardia fibroblasts

AIM: To investigate the effects of angiotensin-Ⅱ (Ang-Ⅱ) on the proliferation and collagen synthesis in rat cardiac fibroblasts and the expression of Ang-Ⅱ receptor on fibroblasts. METHODS: ［3H］-TdR and ［3H］-prolin at different concentrations were incubated with the confluent fibroblasts of newborn rats stimulated by Ang-Ⅱ. Receptor of Ang-Ⅱ on fibroblasts and intracellular free calcium ions were examined by autoradiograms and fluorescence technique. RESULTS: In the presence of Ang-Ⅱstimulation, the increase in incorporation of ［3H］-TdR and ［3H］-prolin was much higher than that of control in a dose-dependent manner. Autoradiograms showed that Ang-Ⅱ was uniformly distributed over the membrane of the fibroblasts. The silver grains on fibroblasts were obviously decreased after adding unlabeled Ang-Ⅱ by the autoradiograms. The concentration of free calcium ions was increased in fibroblast. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that Ang-Ⅱ promotes fibroblast proliferation and the syntheses of collagen protein, in which Ang-Ⅱ binds to the membrane receptor of fibroblasts to activate the signal system in cells, such as intracellular free calcium ions.