Research for the mechanism of aldosterone synthesis in the adrenal gland and the heart.

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We aimed at the establishment of the experimental system which showed small quantity of aldosterone (Aldo) synthesized in the heart. Various conditions of culture medium and time course were examined using the cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCs). We found that CYP11B2 gene was expressed by short time stimulation of high glucose. This system will be extensively utilizable in the future research of cardiac Aldo synthesis. On the other hand, an unknown action of Aldo was examined by using the Langendorff system. It was found that the pre-treatment of Aldo attenuated ischemia reperfusion injury, suggesting that Aldo per se has a preconditioning action. Also, we newly established the cell culture system which showed the precise intracellular sodium concentration. By this system, we could measure the absolute increase in the intra-cellular sodium concentration stimulated by Aldo and cortisol. This system is also utilizable for the future studies of cardiac hypertrophy and others.