Effects of simvastatin on local rennin-angiotensin system of heart in NO-deficient hypertensive rats

AIM: To investigate the effects of simvastatin on rennin angiotensin system in NO deficient hypertensive rats. METHODS: Twenty four male Wistar Kyoto rats were divided into three groups(n=8): Control (C) group, L NAME (L) group, L NAME plus simvastatin (L+S) group. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was measured with tail cuff method every other week. After 8 week, the levels of TG , TC and AngII in plasma and the level of AngⅡ in myocardial tissue were also measured. The activity of ACE in serum and myocardial tissue were measured. RESULTS: L group demonstrated a persistent, time dependent elevation of SBP from baseline since second week. Simvastatin did not affect the blood pressure and the levels of TG, TC and AngⅡ in plasma among three groups. The activity of ACE in serum in L group was lower than C group (P 0.01 ) . However, the activity of ACE and the levels of AngⅡ in myocardial tissue were higher than that of C group (P 0.05 ). Simvastatin did not significantly increase the activity of ACE compared with L group (P 0.05 ), but the activity of ACE and the concentrations of AngⅡ in myocardial tissue were significantly decreased in L+S group compared to L group (P 0.05 ). CONCLUSION: Simvastatin may attenuate the activity of Local RAS in heart via reducing the activity of ACE and decreasing the production of AngⅡ.