Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Apr 27, 2019; 11(4): 359-369
Published online Apr 27, 2019. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v11.i4.359
Beneficial effects of losartan or telmisartan on the local hepatic renin-angiotensin system to counter obesity in an experimental model
Francielle Graus-Nunes, Felipe de Oliveira Santos, Thatiany de Souza Marinho, Carolline Santos Miranda, Sandra Barbosa-da-Silva, Vanessa Souza-Mello
Francielle Graus-Nunes, Felipe de Oliveira Santos, Thatiany de Souza Marinho, Carolline Santos Miranda, Sandra Barbosa-da-Silva, Vanessa Souza-Mello, Laboratório de Morfometria, Metabolismo e Doenças Cardiovasculares, Departamento de Anatomia, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcântara Gomes, Rio de Janeiro 20551-030, Brazil
Author contributions: Graus-Nunes F performed the majority of experiments and analyzed the data; Santos FO, Marinho TS and Miranda CS performed the molecular investigations; Graus-Nunes F, Oliveira FO, Marinho TS and Miranda CS participated equally in the handling of animals; Graus-Nunes F, Barbosa-da-Silva S and Souza-Mello V designed and coordinated the research; Graus-Nunes F, Oliveira FO and Souza-Mello V wrote the paper.
Supported by: Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Apoio àPesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, No. E-26/202.888/2015 for V.S-M.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol is in line with the National Institute of Health (NIH, publication number 85–23, revised in 1996) and was approved by the Institutional Review (scientific) Board (IBRAG IRB-013/15) of the Institute of Biology Roberto Alcântara Gomes (IBRAG), State University of Rio de Janeiro.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The study was approved by the local animal care and use committee, protocol CEUA/013/2015.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have a conflict of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Vanessa Souza-Mello, Adjunct professor, Laboratório de Morfometria, Metabolismo e Doenças Cardiovasculares, Departamento de Anatomia, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcântara Gomes, Av. 28 de setembro 87 fundos, Rio de Janeiro 20551-030, Brazil. souzamello.uerj@gmail.com
Telephone: +55-21-28688689 Fax: +55-21-2868-8033
Received: December 11, 2018
Peer-review started: December 11, 2018
First decision: January 27, 2019
Revised: February 23, 2019
Accepted: March 16, 2019
Article in press: March 16, 2019
Published online: April 27, 2019
Core Tip

Core tip: Studies that address regulation of the local renin-angiotensin system (RAS) have accumulated since it was established that obese subjects overexpress components of the classical RAS in organs like the liver. Herein, we show evidence that two different angiotensin II receptor blockers modulate the intrahepatic RAS, favoring the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) 2/rMAS axis over the ACE1/angiotensin II type 1 receptor in mice fed a high-fat diet. These drugs mitigated hepatic steatosis by reducing hepatic triacylglycerol levels and decreasing body mass and improving glycemic control. These drugs could be a viable option to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in obese and/or hypertensive patients.