Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic progressive systemic inflammatory condition, leads to considerable pain and joint destruction, diminished function and disability. RA is associated with excess morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular complications. Evidence suggests that common pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are produced in the body in response to the disease, are involved in the development and progression of RA as well as other inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. In the body, renin-angiotensin system (RAS) regulates blood pressure and fluid balance and contributes to the inflammatory response in the vascular wall. The activation of RAS by inflammation plays an important role in the physiology and pathophysiology of cardiovascular system. An important therapeutic approach in dealing with cardiovascular complications of RA, therefore, is to mitigate the process of activation of RAS. We have focused on a therapeutic intervention that may prevent cardiovascular events by inhibiting the activation of RAS caused by experimental arthritis. Glucosamine is a naturally occurring aminosugar that in our preliminary studies appears to exert anti-inflammatory effects in the heart through the RAS. We showed that inflammation activates RAS in rat heart and increases its cardiotoxic metabolites and disrupts the physiological balance of the RAS system. Administration of glucosamine, however, restored the normal balance and proved to be cardioprotective by decreasing cardiotoxic and increasing cardioprotective metabolites of RAS.