The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology

The Korean Society of Pharmacology (대한약리학회)
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Hydrogen sulfide alleviates hypothyroidism-induced myocardial fibrosis in rats through stimulating autophagy and inhibiting TGF-β1/Smad2 pathway

  • Xiong Song (Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China) ;
  • Liangui Nie (Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China) ;
  • Junrong Long (Department of Cardiology, The People's Hospital of Shuangfeng County) ;
  • Junxiong Zhao (Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China) ;
  • Xing Liu (Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China) ;
  • Liuyang Wang (Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China) ;
  • Da Liu (Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China) ;
  • Sen Wang (Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China) ;
  • Shengquan Liu (Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China) ;
  • Jun Yang (Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China)
  • Received : 2021.08.23
  • Accepted : 2022.01.05
  • Published : 2023.01.01
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Abstract

Hypothyroidism alone can lead to myocardial fibrosis and result in heart failure, but traditional hormone replacement therapy does not improve the fibrotic situation. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a new gas signaling molecule, possesses anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-fibrotic capabilities. Whether H2S could improve hypothyroidism-induced myocardial fibrosis are not yet studied. In our study, H2S could decrease collagen deposition in the myocardial tissue of rats caused by hypothyroidism. Furthermore, in hypothyroidism-induced rats, we found that H2S could enhance cystathionine-gamma-lyase (CSE), not cystathionine β-synthase (CBS), protein expressions. Finally, we noticed that H2S could elevate autophagy levels and inhibit the transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) signal transduction pathway. In conclusion, our experiments not only suggest that H2S could alleviate hypothyroidism-induced myocardial fibrosis by activating autophagy and suppressing TGF-β1/SMAD family member 2 (Smad 2) signal transduction pathway, but also show that it can be used as a complementary treatment to conventional hormone therapy.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Fund Project of Hunan Provincial Health Commission (Grant No 20201913), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Grant No 2020JJ5505) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No 81870230).

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