Alpinate Oxyphyllae Fructus Inhibits IGFII-Related Signaling Pathway to Attenuate Ang II-Induced Pathological Hypertrophy in H9c2 Cardiomyoblasts

Angiotensin II (Ang II) is a very important cardiovascular disease inducer and may cause cardiac pathological hypertrophy and remodeling. We evaluated a Chinese traditional medicine, alpinate oxyphyllae fructus (AOF), for therapeutic efficacy for treating Ang II-induced cardiac hypertrophy. AOF has been used to treat patients with various symptoms accompanying hypertension and cerebrovascular disorders in Korea. We investigated its protective effect against Ang II-induced cytoskeletal change and hypertrophy in H9c2 cells. The results showed that treating cells with Ang II resulted in pathological hypertrophy, such as increased expression of transcription factors NFAT-3/p-NFAT-3, hypertrophic response genes (atrial natriuretic peptide [ANP] and b-type natriuretic peptide [BNP]), and Gαq down-stream effectors (PLCβ3 and calcineurin). Pretreatment with AOF (60-100 μg/mL) led to significantly reduced hypertrophy. We also found that AOF pretreatment significantly suppressed the cardiac remodeling proteins, metalloproteinase (MMP9 and MMP2), and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), induced by Ang II challenge. In conclusion, we provide evidence that AOF protects against Ang II-induced pathological hypertrophy by specifically inhibiting the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) II/IIR-related signaling pathway in H9c2 cells. AOF might be a candidate for cardiac hypertrophy and ventricular remodeling prevention in chronic cardiovascular diseases.