In cerebral circulation, epileptic seizures associated with excessive release of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate cause endothelial injury. Heme oxygenase (HO), which metabolizes heme to a vasodilator, carbon monoxide (CO), and antioxidants, biliverdin/bilirubin, is highly expressed in cerebral microvessels as a constitutive isoform, HO-2, whereas the inducible form, HO-1, is not detectable. Using cerebral vascular endothelial cells from newborn pigs and HO-2-knockout mice, we addressed the hypotheses that 1) glutamate induces oxidative stress-related endothelial death by apoptosis, and 2) HO-1 and HO-2 are protective against glutamate cytotoxicity. In cerebral endothelial cells, glutamate (0.1-2.0 mM) increased formation of reactive oxygen species, including superoxide radicals, and induced major keystone events of apoptosis, such as NF-kappaB nuclear translocation, caspase-3 activation, DNA fragmentation, and cell detachment. Glutamate-induced apoptosis was greatly exacerbated in HO-2 gene-deleted murine cerebrovascular endothelial cells and in porcine cells with pharmacologically inhibited HO-2 activity. Glutamate toxicity was prevented by superoxide dismutase, suggesting apoptotic changes are oxidative stress related. When HO-1 was pharmacologically upregulated by cobalt protoporphyrin, apoptotic effects of glutamate in cerebral endothelial cells were completely prevented. Glutamate-induced reactive oxygen species production and apoptosis were blocked by a CO-releasing compound, CORM-A1 (50 microM), and by bilirubin (1 microM), consistent with the antioxidant and cytoprotective roles of the end products of HO activity. We conclude that both HO-1 and HO-2 have anti-apoptotic effects against oxidative stress-related glutamate toxicity in cerebral vascular endothelium. Although HO-1, when induced, provides powerful protection, HO-2 is an essential endogenous anti-apoptotic factor against glutamate toxicity in the cerebral vascular endothelium.
Abstract-Carbon monoxide (CO) is generated endogenously by the enzyme heme oxygenase. Although CO is a known vasodilator, cellular signaling mechanisms are poorly understood and are a source of controversy. The goal of the present study was to investigate mechanisms of CO dilation in porcine cerebral arterioles. Data indicate that exogenous or endogenously produced CO is a potent activator of large-conductance Ca 2ϩ -activated K ϩ (K Ca ) channels and Ca 2ϩ spark-induced transient K Ca currents in arteriole smooth muscle cells. In contrast, CO is a relatively poor activator of Ca 2ϩ sparks. To understand the apparent discrepancy between potent effects on transient K Ca currents and weak effects on Ca 2ϩ sparks, regulation of the coupling relationship between these events by CO was investigated. CO increased the percentage of Ca 2ϩ sparks that activated a transient K Ca current (ie, the coupling ratio) from Ϸ62% in the control condition to 100% and elevated the slope of the amplitude correlation between these events Ϸ2.6-fold, indicating that Ca 2ϩ sparks induced larger amplitude transient K Ca currents in the presence of CO. This signaling pathway for CO is physiologically relevant because ryanodine, a ryanodine-sensitive Ca 2ϩ release channel blocker that inhibits Ca 2ϩ sparks, abolished CO dilation of pial arterioles in vivo. Thus, CO dilates cerebral arterioles by priming K Ca channels for activation by Ca 2ϩ sparks. This study presents a novel dilatory signaling pathway for CO in the cerebral circulation and appears to be the first presents of a vasodilator that acts by increasing the effective coupling of Ca 2ϩ sparks to K Ca channels. (Circ Res. 2002;91:610-617.)
The extended postictal state is characterized by neurological problems in patients. Inadequate blood supply to the brain and impaired cerebral autoregulation may contribute to seizure-induced neuronal damage. Recent evidence in newborn pigs indicates that activation of the antioxidative enzyme heme oxygenase (HO) at the onset of seizures is necessary for increased cerebral blood flow during the ictal episode and for normal cerebral vascular functioning during the immediate postictal period. We hypothesized that seizures cause prolonged postictal cerebral vascular dysfunction that can be accentuated by HO inhibition and rescued by HO overexpression. Cerebral vascular responses to endothelium-dependent (hypercapnia, bradykinin) and -independent (isoproterenol, sodium nitroprusside) stimuli were assessed 48 h after bicuculline-induced seizures in: 1) saline-control newborn piglets, 2) HO-inhibited animals (HO was inhibited by tin protoporphyrin, SnPP, 3 mg/kg iv), and 3) HO-overexpressing piglets (HO-1 was upregulated by cobalt protoporphyrin, CoPP, 50 mg/kg ip). Extended alterations of HO expression in cerebral microvessels were confirmed by measuring CO production and inducible HO (HO-1) and constitutive HO (HO-2) proteins. Our data provide evidence that seizures cause a severe, sustained, postictal cerebral vascular dysfunction as reflected by impaired vascular reactivity to physiologically relevant dilators. During the delayed postictal state, vascular reactivity to all dilator stimuli was reduced in saline control and, to a greater extent, in HO-inhibited animals. In CoPP-treated piglets, no reduction in postictal cerebral vascular reactivity was observed. These findings may indicate that CoPP prevents postictal cerebral vascular dysfunction by upregulating HO-1, a finding that might have implications for preventing postictal neurological complications. cerebral circulation; epilepsy; postictal state; heme oxygenase; cobalt protoporphyrin THE POSTICTAL STATE as a consequence of epileptic seizures is associated with serious neurological problems and contributes to morbidity in patients. Debilitating effects of seizures are often extended to several days or even weeks of the postictal period (18). The multifactorial mechanisms of the postictal state are poorly understood. Human status epilepticus is consistently associated with cognitive problems and with widespread neuronal necrosis in the brain. Inadequate blood supply to the brain may contribute to seizure-induced neuronal damage and to the overall postictal state. During seizures, blood flow to the brain increases in patients (7, 9) and in animal models (11,34). In newborn piglets, neuronal activation at the onset of bicuculline-induced seizures is accompanied by the immediate increase in diameter of pial arterioles, major resistance vessels of the brain that determine the cerebral blood flow (30). The increase in the cerebral blood flow is required to match increased metabolic demands of activated neurons during the ictal episode and to prevent subsequent n...
Astrocytes can act as intermediaries between neurons and cerebral arterioles to regulate vascular tone in response to neuronal activity. Release of glutamate from presynaptic neurons increases blood flow to match metabolic demands. CO is a gasotransmitter that can be related to neural function and blood flow regulation in the brain. The present study addresses the hypothesis that glutamatergic stimulation promotes perivascular astrocyte CO production and pial arteriolar dilation in the newborn brain. Experiments used anesthetized newborn pigs with closed cranial windows, piglet astrocytes, and cerebrovascular endothelial cells in primary culture and immunocytochemical visualization of astrocytic markers. Pial arterioles and arteries of newborn pigs are ensheathed by astrocytes visualized by glial fibrillary acidic protein staining. Treatment (2 h) of astrocytes in culture with L-2-␣-aminoadipic acid (L-AAA), followed by 14 h in toxin free medium, dose-dependently increased cell detachment, suggesting injury. Conversely, 16 h of continuous exposure to L-AAA caused no decrease in endothelial cell attachment. In vivo, topical L-AAA (2 mM, 5 h) disrupted the cortical glia limitans histologically. Such treatment also eliminated pial arteriolar dilation to the astrocytedependent dilator ADP and to glutamate but not to isoproterenol or CO. Glutamate stimulated CO production by the brain surface that also was abolished following L-AAA. In contrast, tetrodotoxin blocked dilation to N-methyl-D-aspartate but not to glutamate, isoproterenol, or CO or the glutamate-induced increase in CO. The concurrent loss of CO production and pial arteriolar dilation to glutamate following astrocyte injury suggests astrocytes may employ CO as a gasotransmitter for glutamatergic cerebrovascular dilation. glia limitans; cerebrovascular circulation; gasotransmitter; glia toxin IN THE CEREBROVASCULAR circulation, signals to vascular smooth muscle can come from endothelium, nerves, astrocytes, or pericytes, which interact to form a neurovascular unit (15). L-Glutamic acid (glutamate) is the principal excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (38). It is a dilator of cerebral arterioles in vivo (8, 12), although direct effects of glutamate on the vascular smooth muscle are uncertain. Release of glutamate from presynaptic neurons dilates cerebral arterioles, causing blood flow to increase to match metabolic demands (37).Astrocytes are the most abundant cell type in the higher mammalian brain. They function as intermediaries between neurons and cerebral arterioles in regulation of cerebral vascular tone in response to neuronal activity, thereby adjusting cerebral blood flow to metabolism (15,25). Whether astrocytes are involved in dilation in response to glutamate released at excitatory synapses and the nature of astrocyte-derived vasodilator(s) employed remain uncertain.The gas CO is produced physiologically by catabolism of heme to CO, iron, and biliverdin (36). This reaction is catalyzed by heme oxygenase (HO) with oxidation of...
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) causes oxidative stress and apoptosis in a variety of cell types. Heme oxygenase (HO) degrades heme to bilirubin, an antioxidant, and carbon monoxide (CO), a cell cycle modulator, and a vasodilator. Newborn pig cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (CMVEC) highly express constitutive HO-2. We investigated the role of HO-2 in protection against TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis in cerebral vascular endothelium. In CMVEC from mice and newborn pigs, 15 ng/ml TNF-alpha alone, or with 10 microg/ml cycloheximide (CHX) caused apoptosis detected by nuclear translocation of p65 NF-kappaB, caspase-3 activation, DNA fragmentation, cell-cell contact destabilization, and cell detachment. TNF-alpha did not induce HO-1 expression in CMVEC. CMVEC from HO-2 knockout mice showed greater sensitivity to apoptosis caused by serum deprivation and TNF-alpha than did wild-type mice. TNF-alpha increased reactive oxygen species generation, including hydrogen peroxide and superoxide radicals, as detected by dihydrorhodamine-123 and dihydroethidium. The TNF-alpha response was inhibited by superoxide dismutase and catalase suggesting apoptosis is oxidative stress related. Inhibition of endogenous HO-2 in newborn pig CMVEC increased oxidative stress and exaggerated apoptosis caused by serum deprivation and TNF-alpha. In HO-1-overexpressing CMVEC (HO-1 selective induction by cobalt portophyrin), TNF-alpha did not cause apoptosis. A CO-releasing compound, CORM-A1, and bilirubin blocked TNF-alpha-induced reactive oxygen species accumulation and apoptosis consistent with the antioxidant and antiapoptotic roles of the end products of HO activity. We conclude that HO-2 is critical for protection of cerebrovascular endothelium against apoptotic changes induced by oxidative stress and cytokine-mediated inflammation.
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