Yong-Hoon Kim, Jung Hwan Hwang, Kyung-Shim Kim, Jung-Ran Noh, Gil-Tae Gang, Sang-Woo Kim, Seung Pil Jang, Sang-Ju Lee, Sung-Ho Her, Kyeong-Hoon Jeong, Tae Hwan Kwak, Woo Jin Park, Irina V Balyasnikova, Minho Shong, Chul-Ho Lee
AIMS: Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) plays a key role in blood pressure (BP) homeostasis via regulation of angiotensin II. Active ACE ectodomain is enzymatically cleaved and released into body fluids, including plasma, and elevated plasma ACE levels are associated with increased BP. β-lapachone (βL) has been shown to increase cellular NAD(+)/NADH ratio via activation of NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1). In this study, we evaluated whether NQO1 activation by βL modulates BP through regulation of ACE shedding in an animal model of hypertension...
September 1, 2013: Cardiovascular Research