Fig. 2.
Inhibition of AT1 attenuates the pro-mitotic running effect in WT, but does not affect ACE2-deficient mice (ACE2). a Telmisartan (TEL) was injected once daily into running animals and sedentary WT controls (baseline) 2 days before, and during 6 days of running. The number of proliferating cells was quantified at day 7, 24 h after the first of three i.p. BrdU injections. b At baseline, no difference in the number of BrdU-positive cells was observed between saline and TEL-treated WT groups. Voluntary wheel running induced an increase in BrdU numbers in WT with an attenuated increase following TEL treatment. In ACE2, no changes in cell proliferation were observed following exercise, and TEL administration plus running. One-way ANOVA, saline treatment F(2,13) = 9.394, p = 0.0024; One-way ANOVA, TEL treatment F(2,13) = 6.601, p = 0.0105; followed by Dunnett’s post hoc tests, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 indicates statistical significance relatively to WT baseline groups, and #p < 0.05 between genotypes of the same condition; WTRUN vs. WTRUN+TEL Student’s t test $p = 0.0416; data are presented as mean ± SEM. c TEL did not alter running distances in mice of both genotypes with ACE2 generally running less kilometers. One-way ANOVA F(3,14) = 7.700, p = 0.0028. d Images of peroxidase-stained BrdU-positive cells in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus for WT baseline, running, and running plus TEL treatment. Scale bar 100 µm