Figure 4
Effect of Aldo or pIgA on TGF-β synthesis and RAS of HMC. (A) Aldo at concentration >10-11 M increased the mRNA expression of angiotensinogen and ACE, and AngII release by HMC. (B) AngII or Aldo at concentration >10-11 M increased TGF-β synthesis by HMC. AngII and Aldo showed synergistic effect on TGF-β synthesis by HMC. * signifies p < 0.05 when compared with data from control without Aldo or AngII. (C) Pre-incubation with losartan (100 mM) or eplerenone (10 μM) one hour before cultured with pIgA from IgAN patients partially reduced the pIgA-induced TGF-β synthesis by HMC. Combining losartan and eplerenone completely abolished the increased TGF-β synthesis by pIgA. The AngII effect on TGF-β synthesis was blocked by losartan and the Aldo effect blocked by eplerenone; with complete normalization of TGF-β synthesis with the presence of both blockers. ** and * signify p < 0.01 and p < 0.05 respectively when compared with data from HMC cultured with pIgA from controls (Control). ## and # signify p < 0.01 and p < 0.05 respectively when compared with data from HMC pre-incubated with both inhibitors. The results represent the mean ± SD from five individual experiments.