Chronic Blockade of NMDAR Subunit 2A in the Hypothalamic Paraventricular Nucleus Alleviates Hypertension through Suppression of MEK/ERK/CREB Pathway.

BACKGROUND N-methyl-D-aspartate Receptor (NMDAR) in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) plays critical roles in regulating sympathetic outflow. Studies showed that acute application of the antagonists of NMDAR or its subunits would reduce sympathetic nerve discharges. However, little is known about the effect of long-term management of NMDAR in hypertensive animals. METHODS PEAQX, the specific antagonist of NMDAR subunit 2A (GluN2A) was injected into both side of the PVN of two-kidney, one clip (2K1C) renal hypertensive rats and control (normotensive rats) for three weeks. RESULTS Three weeks of PEAQX infusion significantly reduced the blood pressure of the 2K1C rats. It managed to resume the balance between excitatory and inhibitory neural transmitters, reduce the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species in the PVN, and reduce the level of norepinephrine in plasma of the 2K1C rats. PEAQX administration also largely reduced the transcription and translation levels of GluN2A and changed the expression levels of NMDAR subunit 1 and 2B (GluN1 and GluN2B). In addition, NMDAR was known to function through activating the extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK) or phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) pathways. In our study we found that in the PVN of 2K1C rats treated with PEAQX, the phosphorylation levels of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK), ERK1/2 and cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) significantly reduced, while the phosphorylation level of PI3K didn't change significantly. CONCLUSIONS Chronic blockade of GluN2A alleviates hypertension through suppression of MEK/ERK/CREB pathway.