Taken together, these data suggest that ALDH2 serves as an indispensable factor against cardiac anomalies in diet-induced obesity through a mechanism related to autophagy regulation and facilitation of the SUV39H-Sirt1-dependent PGC-1α deacetylation.
Cold exposure is associated with an increased prevalence for cardiovascular disease although the mechanism is unknown. Metallothionein, a heavy metal scavenging antioxidant, protects against cardiac anomalies. This study was designed to examine the impact of metallothionein on cold exposure-induced myocardial dysfunction, intracellular Ca2+ derangement, fibrosis, ER stress and apoptosis. Echocardiographic, cardiomyocyte function and Masson trichrome staining were evaluated in friendly virus B (FVB) and cardiac-specific metallothionein transgenic mice following cold exposure (3 mo, 4°C). Cold exposure increased plasma levels of norepinephrine, endothelin-1 and TGF-β, reduced plasma NO levels and cardiac antioxidant capacity, enlarged ventricular end systolic diameter, compromised fractional shortening, promoted ROS production and apoptosis, and suppressed ER stress marker Bip, calregulin and phospho-eIF2α accompanied with cardiac fibrosis and elevated levels of matrix metalloproteinases and Smad-2/3 in FVB mice. Cold exposure-induced echocardiographic, histological, ER stress, ROS, apoptotic and fibrotic signaling changes (but not plasma markers) were greatly improved by metallothionein. In vitro metallothionein induction by zinc chloride ablated H2O2- but not TGF-β-induced cell proliferation in fibroblasts. In summary, our data suggested that metallothionein protects against cold exposure-induced cardiac anomalies possibly through attenuation of myocardial fibrosis.
ER stress triggers myocardial contractile dysfunction while effective therapeutic regimen is still lacking. Mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2), an essential mitochondrial enzyme governing mitochondrial and cardiac function, displays distinct beneficial effect on the heart. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of ALDH2 on ER stress-induced cardiac anomalies and the underlying mechanism involved with a special focus on autophagy. WT and ALDH2 transgenic mice were subjected to the ER stress inducer thapsigargin (1 mg/kg, i.p., 48 hrs). Echocardiographic, cardiomyocyte contractile and intracellular Ca2+ properties as well as myocardial histology, autophagy and autophagy regulatory proteins were evaluated. ER stress led to compromised echocardiographic indices (elevated LVESD, reduced fractional shortening and cardiac output), cardiomyocyte contractile and intracellular Ca2+ properties and cell survival, associated with upregulated autophagy, dampened phosphorylation of Akt and its downstream signal molecules TSC2 and mTOR, the effects of which were alleviated or mitigated by ALDH2. Thapsigargin promoted ER stress proteins Gadd153 and GRP78 without altering cardiomyocyte size and interstitial fibrosis, the effects of which were unaffected by ALDH2. Treatment with thapsigargin in vitro mimicked in vivo ER stress-induced cardiomyocyte contractile anomalies including depressed peak shortening and maximal velocity of shortening/relengthening as well as prolonged relengthening duration, the effect of which was abrogated by the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine and the ALDH2 activator Alda-1. Interestingly, Alda-1-induced beneficial effect against ER stress was obliterated by autophagy inducer rapamycin, Akt inhibitor AktI and mTOR inhibitor RAD001. These data suggest a beneficial role of ALDH2 against ER stress-induced cardiac anomalies possibly through autophagy reduction.
Despite high sequence identity among mammalian prion proteins, mammals
have varying rates of susceptibility to prion disease resulting in a so-called
species barrier. The species barrier follows no clear pattern, with closely
related species or similar sequences being no more likely to infect each other,
and remains an unresolved enigma. Variation of the conformationally flexible
regions may alter the thermodynamics of the conformational change, commonly
referred to as the conformational conversion, that occurs in the pathogenic
process of the mammalian prion protein. A conformational ensemble scenario is
supported by the species barrier in prion disease and evidence that there are
strains of pathogenic prion with different conformations within species. To
study how conformational flexibility has evolved in the prion protein, an
investigation was undertaken of the evolutionary dynamics of structurally
disordered regions in the mammalian prion protein, non-mammalian prion protein
that is not vulnerable to prion disease, and remote homologs Doppel and Shadoo.
Structural disorder prediction analyzed in an evolutionary context revealed that
the occurrence of increased or altered conformational flexibility in mammalian
prion proteins coincides with key events among PrP, Doppel, and Shadoo.
Comparatively rapid evolutionary dynamics of conformational flexibility in the
prion protein suggest that the species barrier is not a static phenomenon. A
small number of amino acid substitutions can repopulate the conformational
ensemble and have a disproportionately large effect on pathogenesis.
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