New Findings r What is the central question of this study?The aim of this study is to identify genes that are involved in vascular adaptations after physical deconditioning and exercise training in humans. r What is the main finding and its importance?Using unique human in vivo models for local deconditioning and exercise training, we demonstrate that the vascular endothelial growth factor signalling pathway, regulation through transforming growth factor β1 and extracellular matrix-related genes are likely to be involved in vascular adaptations after physical (in)activity.Physical inactivity and exercise training result in opposite adaptations of vascular structure. However, the molecular mechanisms behind these adaptations are not completely understood. We used a unique study design to examine both vascular characteristics of the superficial femoral artery (using ultrasound) and gene expression levels (from a muscle biopsy) in human models for physical deconditioning and exercise training. Initially, we compared able-bodied control subjects (n = 6) with spinal cord-injured individuals (n = 8) to assess the effects of long-term deconditioning. Subsequently, able-bodied control subjects underwent short-term lower limb deconditioning using 3 weeks of unilateral limb suspension. Spinal cord-injured individuals were examined before and after 6 weeks of functional electrical stimulation exercise training. Baseline femoral artery diameter and hyperaemic flow were lower after short-and long-term deconditioning and higher after exercise training, whilst intima-media thickness/lumen ratio was increased with short-and long-term deconditioning and decreased with exercise training. Regarding gene expression levels of vasculature-related genes, we found that groups of genes including the vascular endothelial growth factor pathway, transforming growth factor β1 and extracellular matrix proteins were strongly associated with vascular adaptations in humans. This approach resulted in the identification of important genes that may be involved in vascular adaptations after physical deconditioning and exercise.

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are linear negatively charged polysaccharides and important components of extracellular matrices and cell surface glycan layers such as the endothelial glycocalyx. The GAG family includes sulfated heparin, heparan sulfate (HS), dermatan sulfate (DS), chondroitin sulfate (CS), keratan sulfate, and non-sulfated hyaluronan. Because relative expression of GAGs is dependent on cell-type and niche, isolating GAGs from cell cultures and tissues may provide insight into cell- and tissue-specific GAG structure and functions. In our objective to obtain structural information about the GAGs expressed on a specialized mouse glomerular endothelial cell culture (mGEnC-1) we adapted a recently published GAG isolation protocol, based on cell lysis, proteinase K and DNase I digestion. Analysis of the GAGs contributing to the mGEnC-1 glycocalyx indicated a large HS and a minor CS content on barium acetate gel. However, isolated GAGs appeared resistant to enzymatic digestion by heparinases. We found that these GAG extracts were heavily contaminated with RNA, which co-migrated with HS in barium acetate gel electrophoresis and interfered with 1,9-dimethylmethylene blue (DMMB) assays, resulting in an overestimation of GAG yields. We hypothesized that RNA may be contaminating GAG extracts from other cell cultures and possibly tissue, and therefore investigated potential RNA contaminations in GAG extracts from two additional cell lines, human umbilical vein endothelial cells and retinal pigmental epithelial cells, and mouse kidney, liver, spleen and heart tissue. GAG extracts from all examined cell lines and tissues contained varying amounts of contaminating RNA, which interfered with GAG quantification using DMMB assays and characterization of GAGs by barium acetate gel electrophoresis. We therefore recommend routinely evaluating the RNA content of GAG extracts and propose a robust protocol for GAG isolation that includes an RNA digestion step.

The voltage-gated potassium channel, Kv1.1, was recently identified as a causative gene in isolated dominant hypomagnesemia. The channel is situated in the distal convoluted tubule, where it participates in maintaining a favorable electrical gradient for driving magnesium ion into the cell through the transient receptor potential melastatin 6 channel. Pull-down experiments coupled to mass spectrometry using the carboxy-terminal domain of Kv1.1 as bait were used in mouse kidney lysates. Ankyrin-3 (ANK3) was identified as a binding partner of Kv1.1 and was enriched in isolated distal convoluted tubules as compared to whole kidney. Electrophysiology studies performed in HEK293 cells expressing Kv1.1 showed that ANK3 significantly inhibited Kv1.1-mediated currents (267 compared to 125 pA/pF) for control and ANK3, respectively. Finally, to evaluate a potential role of ANK3 in magnesium handling, the intrarenal abundance of ANK3 was measured in mice fed a low-, normal-, or high-magnesium diet for 10 days. Mice maintained on high dietary magnesium significantly doubled their fractional urinary excretion of magnesium, which coincided with a 1.8-fold increase in the renal expression of ANK3 compared to mice on a normal- or low-magnesium diet. Thus, our observations demonstrate a novel role for ANK3 in modulating the biophysical properties of Kv1.1. Such regulation appears to be particularly important in conditions of high dietary magnesium.