Publications by authors named "Azucena Alvarez"

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) hyperactivity has been observed in the left ventricle of spontaneously hypertensive rats. Its long-term inhibition suppresses the development of hypertrophy, specifically preventing fibrosis. The presence of diverse systemic abnormalities in spontaneously hypertensive rat hearts has raised the question of whether specific TRH overexpression might be capable of inducing structural changes in favor of the hypertrophic phenotype in normal rat hearts.

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Local thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) may be involved in cardiac pathophysiology, but its role in left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is still unknown. We studied whether local TRH is involved in LVH of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) by investigating TRH expression and its long-term inhibition by interference RNA (TRH-iRNA) during LVH development at 2 stages (prehypertrophy and hypertrophy). SHR and their control rats (WKY) were compared.

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Leptin, a hormone secreted by the adipose tissue, stimulates anorexigenic peptides and also inhibits orexigenic peptides in hypothalamic arcuate nuclei-located neurons. It also counteracts the starvation-induced suppression of thyroid hormones by up-regulating the expression of preproTRH gene. On the other hand, in addition to its role as a modulator of the thyroid-hypothalamic-hypophysial axis, thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) acts as a modulator of the cardiovascular system.

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Study Objectives: Because serotonin (5-HT) is a neurotransmitter associated with circadian rhythm regulation, we explored a possible relation among 5-HT, serotonin metabolite, 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid (5HIAA), and the functional polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) promoter with rotating shift work.

Design And Participants: 683 men were included in this study: 437 day workers were compared with 246 rotating shift workers.

Results: Platelet 5-HT content differed significantly (P = 0.

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Obesity is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, in part through development of hypertension. Leptin promotes weight loss by reducing food intake and increasing energy expenditure through sympathetic stimulation. It also counteracts the starvation-induced suppression of thyroid hormone by up-regulating the expression of TRH.

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We recently showed that diencephalic TRH may mediate the central leptin-induced pressor effect. Here, to study the role of TRH in obesity-induced hypertension (OIH), we used a model of OIH produced by a high-fat diet (HFD, 45 days) in male Wistar rats. After 4 wk, body weight and systolic arterial blood pressure (SABP) increased in HFD animals.

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Here we analyze the role of the angiotensinergic system in the differentiation of dendritic cells (DC). We found that human monocytes produce angiotensin II (AII) and express AT1 and AT2 receptors for AII. DC differentiated from human monocytes in the presence of AT1 receptor antagonists losartan or candesartan show very low levels of CD1a expression and poor endocytic and allostimulatory activities.

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Leptin, an adipocyte-released hormone, modifies food intake and energy expenditure regulating hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis function. We previously reported that thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) precursor gene overexpression induces hypertension in the normal rat and that spontaneously hypertensive rats have central TRH hyperactivity with increased TRH synthesis and release and an elevated TRH receptor number. In both models, intracerebroventricular antisense (AS) treatment against the TRH precursor produced a dose-dependent reduction of the increased diencephalic TRH content while normalizing high arterial blood pressure.

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