Objective: To investigate the effects of different doses of Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) on collagen synthesis and Nogo expression in cardiac fibroblasts and the potential role of Nogo in myocardial fibrosis.
Methods: The cultured neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts were induced by angiotensin II and TMP at the same time. The mRNA expression of Nogo-A, Nogo-B and collagen I were detected with real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. And Nogo protein was semi-quantitatively detected by using Western blot method.
Results: Under the intervention of TMP, the increased mRNA expression of Nogo-A and collagen I induced by angiotensin II were decreased, while the decreased mRNA expression of Nogo-B was increased. Compared with the control group, the expression of Nogo-A protein and Nogo-B protein showed similar changes as evaluated with Western blot.
Conclusion: TMP could inhibit collagen synthesis in cardiac fibroblast induced by angiotensin II. The accompanying differential expression of Nogo-A and Nogo-B indicated that the anti-fibrosis effect of TMP might be related to the regulation effects of Nogo gene.