January - March 2014, Volume 10, Issue 1

Tekmen I, Cilaker Micili S., Arici M.A., Guneli M.E., Gumustekin M

Immunohistochemical Expression of Hepatocyte Growth Factor/c-MET in the Heart and Aorta of Diabetic Rats

Acta Endo (Buc) 2014, 10 (1): 21-30
doi: 10.4183/aeb.2014.21

Context. Diverse physiological or pathological events which are stimulated or contributed by HGF/c-Met pathway overlap by processes that play roles in etiopathogenesis of diabetes. Objective. In this study, it was aimed to analyse hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor c-Met by immunohistochemistry in the heart and aorta tissues of diabetic and insulin-treated diabetic rats. Subjects and Methods. Accordingly, 21 rats were (equally) divided into three groups: Control (C), Diabetic (D), and Insulin-treated Diabetic (D + I). Rats were treated with Streptozotocin (STZ) (45 mg/kg, i.p.) to induce diabetes. Rats in the control group were given saline once a day for 8 weeks, while rats in the D + I group received 6 U/kg NPH insulin once daily for 8 weeks. The heart and aorta tissues were examined with immunohistochemistry, using antibodies against HGF and c-Met. Results. HGF and c-Met expressions were observed to be increased both in heart and aorta tissues in group D, whereas they decreased in group D+I. Conclusions. As a result, insulin treatment was determined to have a reducing effect on the increased expression of HGF and c-Met in diabetic heart and aorta. According to our results, increased HGF ve c-Met values observed in the myocardium and aorta in diabetes, are shown to increase in parallel to tissue damage and decrease by insulin treatment which is an effective therapy method.

Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, immunohistochemistry, cardiovascular system, Hepatocyte growth factor, c-Met.

Correspondence: Isil Tekmen MD, Deu. Tip Fakultesi, Temel Bilimler Binasi, 7.Kat, Histoloji Ve Embriyoloji Ad, Inciralti, Izmir, 35340, Turkey, E-mail: isil.tekmen@deu.edu.tr