In skeletal muscle, oxygen (O 2 ) delivery to appropriately meet metabolic need requires mechanisms for detection of the magnitude of O 2 demand and the regulation of O 2 delivery. Erythrocytes, when exposed to decreases in O 2 tension, release both O 2 and the vasodilator, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The aims of this study were to establish that erythrocytes release ATP in response to reduced O 2 tension and determine if erythrocytes are necessary for dilation of isolated skeletal muscle arterioles exposed to reduced extra-luminal O 2 tension. Rabbit erythrocytes exposed to reduced O 2 tension in a tonometer (n = 5, PO 2 = 27 ± 3, p<0.01) released ATP in response to reduced O 2 tension. ATP release increased proportional to the decrease in O 2 tension. The contribution of erythrocytes to the response of skeletal muscle arterioles to reduced extra-luminal O 2 tension was determined using isolated hamster cheek pouch retractor muscle arterioles perfused with buffer (n = 11, mean diameter 52 ± 3 μm) in the absence and presence of rabbit erythrocytes. Without erythrocytes, arterioles did not dilate when exposed to reduced extraluminal O 2 tension (PO 2 = 32 ± 4 mm Hg). In contrast, when rabbit erythrocytes were present in the perfusate (hematocrit 15%) the same decrease in O 2 tension resulted in a 20 ± 4% dilation (p<0.01). These results provide support for the hypothesis that erythrocytes, via their ability to release O 2 along with ATP in response to exposure to reduced O 2 tension, can participate in the matching of O 2 delivery with metabolic need in skeletal muscle.

Endothelial-myocardial interactions may be critically important for ischemia/reperfusion injury. Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is a required cofactor for nitric oxide (NO) production by endothelial NO synthase (eNOS). Hyperglycemia (HG) leads to significant increases in oxidative stress, oxidizing BH4 to enzymatically incompetent dihydrobiopterin. How alterations in endothelial BH4 content impact myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury remains elusive. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of endothelial-myocardial interaction on ischemia/reperfusion injury, with an emphasis on the role of endothelial BH4 content. Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts were treated by triton X-100 to produce endothelial dysfunction and subsequently subjected to 30 min of ischemia followed by 2 h of reperfusion. The recovery of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function during reperfusion was impaired in triton X-100 treated hearts compared with vehicle-treated hearts. Cardiomyocytes (CMs) were co-cultured with endothelial cells (ECs) and subsequently subjected to 2 h of hypoxia followed by 2 h of reoxygenation. Addition of ECs to CMs at a ratio of 1∶3 significantly increased NO production and decreased lactate dehydrogenase activity compared with CMs alone. This EC-derived protection was abolished by HG. The addition of 100 µM sepiapterin (a BH4 precursor) or overexpression of GTP cyclohydrolase 1 (the rate-limiting enzyme for BH4 biosynthesis) in ECs by gene trasfer enhanced endothelial BH4 levels, the ratio of eNOS dimer/monomer, eNOS phosphorylation, and NO production and decreased lactate dehydrogenase activity in the presence of HG. These results demonstrate that increased BH4 content in ECs by either pharmacological or genetic approaches reduces myocardial damage during hypoxia/reoxygenation in the presence of HG. Maintaining sufficient endothelial BH4 is crucial for cardioprotection against hypoxia/reoxygenation injury.

Cholesteryl esters (CE) are important lipid storage molecules. The present study demonstrates that sodiated adducts of CE molecular species form positive ions that can be detected in both survey scan mode as well as by exploiting class-specific fragmentation in MS/MS scan modes. A common neutral loss for CEs is the loss of cholestane (NL 368.5), which can be used to specifically quantify tissue CE molecular species. Using this MS/MS technique CE molecular species were quantified in mouse monocyte-derived macrophages (J774 cells) incubated with either linoleic (18:2) or arachidonic acid (20:4). These studies revealed that arachidonic acid was not only incorporated into the CE pool, but also was elongated resulting in the accumulation of 22:4 and 24:4 CE molecular species in macrophages. Additionally, this technique was used to quantify CE molecular species present in crude lipid extracts from plasma of female mice fed a Western diet, which led to an enrichment in CE molecular species containing monounsaturated fatty acids compared to female mice fed a normal chow diet. Last, NL 368.5 spectra revealed the oxidation of the aliphatic fatty acid residues of CE molecular species containing polyunsaturated fatty acids. Taken together, these studies demonstrate the utility of using sodiated adducts of CE in conjunction with direct infusion electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry to rapidly quantify CE molecular species in biological samples.

Background and Aims High blood pressure and reduced aortic compliance are associated with increased atherosclerotic plaque accumulation in humans. Animal studies support these associations, but additional factors, such as fragmented elastic fibers, are present in most previous animal studies. Elastin heterozygous (Eln+/−) mice have high blood pressure and reduced aortic compliance, with no evidence of elastic fiber fragmentation and represent an appropriate model to directly investigate the effects of these factors on atherosclerosis Methods and Results Eln+/− and Eln+/+ mice were crossed with low density lipoprotein receptor knockout (Ldlr−/−) and wild-type (Ldlr+/+) mice and fed normal or Western diet (WD) for 16 weeks. We hypothesized that on WD, Eln+/−Ldlr−/− mice with high blood pressure and reduced aortic compliance would have increased atherosclerotic plaque accumulation compared to Eln+/+Ldlr−/− mice. We measured serum cholesterol and cytokine levels, blood pressure, aortic compliance, and plaque accumulation. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that on WD, Eln+/−Ldlr−/− mice do not have increased plaque accumulation compared to Eln+/+Ldlr−/− mice. At the aortic root, there are no significant differences in plaque area between Eln+/−Ldlr−/− and Eln+/+Ldlr−/− mice on WD (p = .89), while in the ascending aorta, Eln+/−Ldlr−/− mice on WD have 29% less normalized plaque area than Eln+/+Ldlr−/− mice on WD (p = 0.009). Conclusion Using an atherogenic mouse model, we conclude that increased blood pressure and reduced aortic compliance are not direct causes of increased aortic plaque accumulation. We propose that additional insults, such as fragmentation of elastic fibers, are necessary to alter plaque accumulation.

Elastic fibers provide reversible elasticity to the large arteries and are assembled during development when hemodynamic forces are increasing. Mutations in elastic fiber genes are associated with cardiovascular disease. Mice lacking expression of the elastic fiber genes elastin ( Eln−/−), fibulin-4 ( Efemp2−/−), or lysyl oxidase ( Lox−/−) die at birth with severe cardiovascular malformations. All three genetic knockout models have elastic fiber defects, aortic wall thickening, and arterial tortuosity. However, Eln−/− mice develop arterial stenoses, while Efemp2−/− and Lox−/− mice develop ascending aortic aneurysms. We performed comparative gene array analyses of these three genetic models for two vascular locations and developmental stages to determine differentially expressed genes and pathways that may explain the common and divergent phenotypes. We first examined arterial morphology and wall structure in newborn mice to confirm that the lack of elastin, fibulin-4, or lysyl oxidase expression provided the expected phenotypes. We then compared gene expression levels for each genetic model by three-way ANOVA for genotype, vascular location, and developmental stage. We found three genes upregulated by genotype in all three models, Col8a1, Igfbp2, and Thbs1, indicative of a common response to severe elastic fiber defects in developing mouse aorta. Genes that are differentially regulated by vascular location or developmental stage in all three models suggest mechanisms for location or stage-specific disease pathology. Comparison of signaling pathways enriched in all three models shows upregulation of integrins and matrix proteins involved in early wound healing, but not of mature matrix molecules such as elastic fiber proteins or fibrillar collagens.

Kim J, Procknow JD, Yanagisawa H, Wagenseil JE. Differences in genetic signaling, and not mechanical properties of the wall, are linked to ascending aortic aneurysms in fibulin-4 knockout mice. Am

Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) have been reported to contract intralobar pulmonary arteries (PA) of the rabbit in a cyclooxygenase (COX)-dependent manner. In the present study, we observed that COX-1 and COX-2 isoforms were expressed in freshly isolated PA of healthy rabbits. We examined the hypothesis that both COX isoforms participate in 5,6-EET-induced contraction of rabbit intralobar PA. Selective inhibition of COX-1 with 300 nM 5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazole (SC-560) prevented 5,6-EET (1 ϫ 10 Ϫ8 -1 ϫ 10 Ϫ5 M)-induced contractions of isolated intralobar rabbit PA rings in a manner similar to that observed with the nonselective cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin at 10 M. Selective inhibition of COX-2 with either 100 nM 5-bromo-2-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-(4-methylsulfonyl) thiophene (DUP-697) or 3 M N-(2-cyclohexyloxy-4-nitrophenyl) methanesulfonamide (NS-398) shifted the EC 50 value of 5,6-EET-induced PA contraction to the right but with considerably lower efficacy than SC-560. In rabbit PA, 5,6-EET-induced contraction was primarily dependent on COX-1 activity. Differential metabolism of 5,6-EET by COX-1 and COX-2 does not explain the primary dependence of PA contraction on COX-1 activity because 5,6-EET was metabolized similarly by both COX isoforms. COX-1 and -2 were expressed primarily in PA endothelium where COX-1 expression was dense and uniform, whereas COX-2 expression was sparse and nonuniform. 5,6-EET-induced PA contraction was endothelium-dependent. These results suggest that 5,6-EET-induced contraction is primarily dependent on COX-1 activity.

Background We investigated the hypothesis that isoflurane modulates NO synthesis and protection against myocardial infarction through time-dependent changes in expression of key NO regulatory proteins, guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase (GTPCH) -1, the rate-limiting enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Methods Myocardial infarct size, NO production (ozone-mediated chemiluminescence), GTPCH-1 and eNOS expression (real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and western blotting), were measured in male Wistar rats with or without APC (1.0 minimum alveolar concentration isoflurane for 30 min) and in the presence or absence of an inhibitor of GTPCH-1, 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine. Results NO−2 production (158±16 and 150±13 pmol/mg protein at baseline in control and APC groups, respectively) was significantly (P<0.05) increased 1.5±0.1 and 1.4±0.1 fold by APC (n=4) at 60 and 90 min of reperfusion, concomitantly, with increased expression of GTPCH-1 (1.3±0.3 fold; n=5) and eNOS (1.3±0.2 fold; n=5). In contrast, total NO (NO−2 and NO−3) was decreased after reperfusion in control experiments. Myocardial infarct size was decreased [43±2% of the area at risk for infarction; n=6] by APC as compared to control experiments (57±1%; n=6). 2, 4-Diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine decreased total NO production at baseline (221±25 and 175±31 pmol/mg protein at baseline in control and APC groups, respectively), abolished isoflurane-induced increases in NO at reperfusion, and prevented reductions of myocardial infarct size by APC (60±2%; n=6). Conclusions APC favorably modulated a NO biosynthetic pathway by upregulating GTPCH-1 and eNOS, and this action contributed to protection of myocardium against ischemia and reperfusion injury.