A cardiovascular phenotype in warfarin-resistant Vkorc1 mutant rats.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The inhibition of the vitamin K cycle by warfarin promotes arterial calcification in the rat. Conceivably, genetically determined vitamin K-deficiency owing to a mutant epoxide reductase subcomponent 1 (Vkorc1) gene, a key component of the vitamin K cycle, might also promote arterial calcification. In the absence of an available Vkorc1 gene knockout model we used a wild-derived Vkorc1 mutant rat strain (Rattus norvegicus) to explore the validity of this hypothesis. METHODS: We provide histopathological descriptions of a naturally occurring Vkorc1 gene knockdown: wild-derived lab-reared rats that are resistant to the anticoagulant warfarin owing to a non-synonymous mutation in the Vkorc1 gene (Vkorc1(Y->C)), which, in vitro, reduces the basal activity of the vitamin K epoxide re

SUBMITTER: Kohn MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2638062 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature