Effect of Galectin-3 antagonist modified citrus pectin on pulmonary hypertension in rats

LUO Hui; YU Zai-xin; ZHAO Lin

doi:10.13820/j.cnki.gdyx.20231946

Abstract：Objective To investigate the therapeutic effects of modified citrus pectin(MCP)on pulmonary arte-rial hypertension(PAH)by using a Galectin-3-specific ligand antagonist in an animal model of PAH.Methods Sprague-Dawley(SD)rats were randomly divided into four groups:Control,Monocrotaline(MCT),MCT+Saline,and MCT+MCP.PAH was induced in the MCT group by subcutaneous injection of monocrotaline,while the MCT+MCP group received MCP solution orally after MCT injection.The MCT+Saline group received saline orally after MCT injection.Rats in the Control group were maintained under standard conditions.Various parameters including hemodynam-ics,cardiac morphology,histology,and protein expression were evaluated in each group.Additionally,Galectin-3 levels in plasma were measured in PAH patients and healthy controls.Results Plasma Galectin-3 levels were significantly ele-vated in PAH patients compared to healthy controls.MCP significantly reduced mean pulmonary artery pressure,right ven-tricular systolic pressure,and right ventricle/(left ventricle+septum)weight ratio in MCT-induced PAH rats.MCP significantly alleviated pulmonary arterial vascular remodeling in PAH rats,although it did not reduce Galectin-3 expres-sion in the pulmonary vascular adventitia.MCP significantly reduced collagen I and collagen Ⅲ protein content in lung tis-sues of PAH rats but did not alleviate Galectin-3 protein expression in lung tissues.Conclusion MCP effectively re-duces pulmonary artery pressure and alleviates pulmonary arterial vascular remodeling in PAH rats,suggesting that Galec-tin-3 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of PAH.Targeted intervention against Gal-3 may provide a new thera-peutic approach for PAH treatment.