Therefore, it was suggested that the extent and duration

of mechanical stretch may determine the cellular fate, such as death or proliferation. Our experimental findings show that acute mechanical stretch for 4 h causes continuous RASMC death. These findings may imply that an acute rise in blood pressure leads to the death of SMCs, a main component of the aortic medial layer. However, further studies E7080 using in vivo experimental conditions are required to elucidate whether an acute rise in blood pressure directly causes SMC death. Next, stretch-induced changes in the intracellular signaling of RASMCs were examined. It was reported that a high level of phosphorylated JNK was observed in AAD tissues, and that degeneration and tear of the aortic media RO4929097 had occurred in the AAD lesion. (2) and (13). In addition, it was reported that inhibition of the phosphorylation of JNK lead to regression of AAD (23). In the present study, we found that acute mechanical stretch causes rapid phosphorylation of JNK and p38 (Fig. 3A and B), which may lead to SMC death. In fact, we also observed that SP600125, a JNK inhibitor, and SB203580, a p38 inhibitor, both recovered stretch-induced RASMC death evaluated based on the MTT reduction and LDH release from the cells (Fig. 5A and

B). Although we also found that ERK1/2 are phosphorylated by mechanical stretch, ERK inhibitors failed to inhibit stretch-induced of RASMC death (data not shown). Taking these observations together, mechanical stretch causes phosphorylation of JNK and p38, which may result in SMC death that

may ultimately lead to the onset of AAD. On the other hand, a previous study showed that angiotensin II acted as an agonist for a potent inducer of AAD (1). In contrast to these findings, mechanical stretch itself, which is independent of angiotensin II stimulation, phosphorylated JNK and p38, and induced SMC death in our experiments. Although we did not measure the amount of angiotensin II in the medium, angiotensin II itself is not likely involved in JNK and p38 phosphorylation because stretch-induced AT1 receptor activation was also observed in mesenteric and renal arteries from angiotensinogen-knockout mice (24). Therefore, it is conceivable that not only agonist stimulation, but also mechanical stretch could have an important role in triggering the occurrence of AAD. ARBs are used all over the world for the treatment of patients with hypertension (25). Olmesartan, one of the ARBs, is known as an inverse agonist, which inhibits basic and stretch-induced activation of the AT1 receptor (17) and (26). In our present study, we found that olmesartan inhibited phosphorylation of JNK and p38 (Fig. 4A and B), and SMC cell death (Fig. 2) induced by acute mechanical stretch. These results suggest that olmesartan inhibits stretch-induced SMC death by suppression of phosphorylation of JNK and p38.