Cardioprotective effects of zofenopril, enalapril and valsartan against ischaemia/reperfusion injury as well as doxorubicin cardiotoxicity.

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare possible protective effects of zofenopril, enalapril and valsartan against both ischaemia/reperfusion injury as well as acute doxorubicin cardiotoxicity. All three agents have never been compared in this setting before.

Methods And Results: Sixty-four male rats were divided into eight groups by computer-generated random numbers and each group included 8 rats.

Divergent roles of prokineticin receptors in the endothelial cells: angiogenesis and fenestration.

Prokineticins are secreted peptides that activate two G protein-coupled receptors: PKR1 and PKR2. Prokineticins induce angiogenesis and fenestration, but the cognate receptors involved in these functions are unknown. We hypothesized a role for prokineticin receptor signaling pathways and expression profiles in determining the selective effects of prokineticins on coronary endothelial cells (H5V).

Transgenic myocardial overexpression of prokineticin receptor-2 (GPR73b) induces hypertrophy and capillary vessel leakage.

Aims: Prokineticins are small secreted bioactive molecules. They exert their biological activity by binding to two G protein-coupled receptors. Previously, we have shown that the overexpression of prokineticin receptor-1 (PKR1) in transgenic (TG) mouse hearts induced neovascularization.