Acute mechanoadaptation of vascular smooth muscle cells in response to continuous arteriolar vasoconstriction: implications for functional remodeling

Comparison of continuous and intermittent vibration effects on rat-tail artery and nerve

Hand-transmitted vibration from powered-tools can cause peripheral vasospasm and neuropathy. A rat-tail model was used to investigate whether the pattern of vibration influenced the type and severity of tissue damage. The tails of awake rats were vibrated continuously or intermittently for a total of 4 hours at 60 HZ, 49 m/s(2). Nerves and arteries were harvested immediately or 24 hours after treatment. Tails subjected to intermittent vibration showed transiently increased sensitivity to thermal stimuli. Intermittent vibration caused the most nerve injury immediately and 24 hours after vibration. Continuous vibration invoked a persistent reduction in vascular lumen size. Compared to epinephrine-induced transient vacuolation in vascular smooth muscle cells, both continuous and intermittent vibration caused greater persistence of vacuoles, indicating a vibration-induced pathological process. All vibration groups exhibited elevated nitrotyrosine immunoreactivity indicative of free-radical damage. Pattern of vibration exposure may exert a major influence on the type of vibration injury.

Effect of red wine on the intestinal absorption of thiamine and folate in the rat: comparison with the effect of ethanol alone

BACKGROUND

This work aimed to investigate, in the rat, the acute in vitro effect of red wine and the effect of chronic red wine ingestion on the intestinal absorption of thiamine and folate and to compare them with the effects of ethanol alone.

METHODS

The effects of red wine and of an ethanol solution (same ethanol concentration as that in the red wine, i.e., 12% [v/v]) on rat jejunal apparent permeability (Papp) to H-thiamine and H-folate in the mucosal-to-serosal direction were investigated. Red wine and ethanol were tested both chronically (21-day consumption) and acutely in vitro.

RESULTS

Acutely, both red wine and ethanol 12% (v/v) (both diluted 1:5) reduced (to 65 and 60% of control, respectively) the mucosal-to-serosal Papp to H-thiamine across rat jejunum. Chronic (21-day) ethanol (12% [v/v]) consumption also decreased the Papp to H-thiamine (to 33% of control), but red wine consumption for the same period did not change it. Mucosal-to-serosal Papp to H-folate across rat jejunum was not changed by chronic ingestion of red wine or ethanol. Similarly, it was not affected by acute exposition of the tissue to red wine or ethanol. Acute ethanol (0.05% [v/v]) did not affect the Papp to H-thiamine or H-folate in jejunal tissues obtained from control and red wine-treated rats, but it significantly increased the Papp to both H-thiamine and H-folate (to 183 and 197% of control, respectively) in tissues from chronically ethanol-treated rats.

CONCLUSIONS

Acute and chronic red wine or ethanol had no effect on the intestinal absorption of folate. However, ethanol, both acutely and chronically, decreased the jejunal absorption of thiamine, and red wine reduced the jejunal absorption of thiamine, but only when tested acutely. These findings show that it is not correct to extrapolate from results obtained with ethanol alone on intestinal permeability to the effect of alcoholic beverage consumption.

Small artery structure and hypertension: adaptive changes and target organ damage

Hypertension is known to be associated with an increase in the wall/lumen ratio (W/L) of the resistance arteries. Growth, eutrophic remodelling and changes in arterial distensibility can all contribute to an increase W/L. Wall stress may stimulate growth, whereas remodelling and/or reduced distensibility may be the result of prolonged contraction. Impaired or overwhelmed pressure-induced myogenic constriction, causing increased wall stress, may explain the small artery growth seen in diabetes and secondary hypertension, respectively. We find that small artery growth is a greater predictor of cardiovascular events than an increased W/L.

Toward functional genomics of flow-induced outward remodeling of resistance arteries

In resistance-sized arteries, a chronic increase in blood flow leads to increases in arterial structural luminal diameter and arterial wall mass. In this review, we summarize recent evidence that outward remodeling of resistance arteries 1) can help maintain and restore tissue perfusion, 2) is not intimately related to flow-induced vasodilatation, 3) involves transient dedifferentiation and turnover of arterial smooth muscle cells, and 4) is preceded by increased expression of matricellular proteins, which have been shown to promote disassembly of focal adhesion sites. Studies of experimental and physiological resistance artery remodeling involving differential gene expression analyses and the use of knockout and transgenic mouse models can help unravel the mechanisms of outward remodeling.

Different Involvement of Extracellular Matrix Components in Small and Large Arteries During Chronic NO Synthase Inhibition

In essential hypertension, conduit arteries present hypertrophic remodeling (increased cross-sectional area), whereas small arteries undergo eutrophic remodeling. The involvement of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and de-adhesion proteins, such as tenascin-C and thrombospondin, has been relatively well characterized in large artery remodeling, but their contribution is not known in small artery remodeling. Rats received N ω -nitro- l -arginine methyl ester ( l -NAME; 50 mg/kg per day) in their drinking water on days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28. Arterial MMP-2 activity was measured by ELISA, whereas levels of tenascin-C and thrombospondin were assessed by Western blotting. To determine the involvement of MMPs, additional l -NAME rats received the nonselective MMP inhibitor doxycycline (30 mg/kg per day) on days 7, 14, and 28. Already, at day 1, pressure was elevated. Media/lumen ratio of mesenteric arteries and the aorta increased gradually to reach significance at 28 days. However, the cross-sectional area increased only in the aorta, confirming the heterogeneous remodeling process. In small arteries, MMP-2 activity increased after 7 and 14 days of treatment and returned to baseline at 28 days, whereas the elevation was more progressive but sustained in the aorta. The level of thrombospondin paralleled that of MMP-2 in small arteries, whereas tenascin-C levels declined rapidly and stayed below control values. Doxycycline blunted large artery remodeling but had no influence on the development of eutrophic remodeling despite elevation of MMP-2 activity in the process. Thus, in contrast to large artery hypertrophic remodeling, in which the contributions of cellular de-adhesion and matrix breakdown is manifest, the contribution of MMPs in eutrophic remodeling appears less crucial.

Small Artery Remodeling Depends on Tissue-Type Transglutaminase

Remodeling of small arteries is essential in the long-term regulation of blood pressure and blood flow to specific organs or tissues. A large part of the change in vessel diameter may occur through non-growth-related reorganization of vessel wall components. The hypothesis was tested that tissue-type transglutaminase (tTG), a cross-linking enzyme, contributes to the inward remodeling of small arteries. The in vivo inward remodeling of rat mesenteric arteries, induced by low blood flow, was attenuated by inhibition of tTG. Rat skeletal muscle arteries expressed tTG, as identified by Western blot and immunostaining. In vitro, activation of these arteries with endothelin-1 resulted in inward remodeling, which was blocked by tTG inhibitors. Small arteries obtained from rats and pigs both showed inward remodeling after exposure to exogenous transglutaminase, which was inhibited by addition of a nitric oxide donor. Enhanced expression of tTG, induced by retinoic acid, increased inward remodeling of porcine coronary arteries kept in organ culture for 3 days. The activity of tTG was dependent on pressure. Inhibition of tTG reversed remodeling, causing a substantial increase in vessel diameter. In a collagen gel contraction assay, tTG determined the compaction of collagen by smooth muscle cells. Collectively, these data show that small artery remodeling associated with chronic vasoconstriction depends on tissue-type transglutaminase. This mechanism may reveal a novel therapeutic target for pathologies associated with inward remodeling of the resistance arteries.

Imaging remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton in vascular smooth muscle cells after mechanosensitive arteriolar constriction

Experiments were performed to determine whether remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton contributes to arteriolar constriction. Mouse tail arterioles were mounted on cannulae in a myograph and superfused with buffer solution. The alpha1-adrenergic agonist phenylephrine (0.1-1 micromol/l) caused constriction that was unaffected by cytochalasin D (300 nmol/l) or latrunculin A (100 nmol/l), inhibitors of actin polymerization. In contrast, each compound abolished the mechanosensitive constriction (myogenic response) evoked by elevation in transmural pressure (PTM; 10-60 or 90 mmHg). Arterioles were fixed, permeabilized, and stained with Alexa-568 phalloidin and Alexa-488 DNAse I to visualize F-actin and G-actin, respectively, using a Zeiss 510 laser scanning microscope. Elevation in PTM, but not phenylephrine (1 micromol/l), significantly increased the intensity of F-actin and significantly decreased the intensity of G-actin staining in arteriolar vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). The increase in F-actin staining caused by an elevation in PTM was inhibited by cytochalasin D. In VSMCs at 10 mmHg, prominent F-actin staining was restricted to the cell periphery, whereas after elevation in PTM, transcytoplasmic F-actin fibers were localized through the cell interior, running parallel to the long axis of the cells. Phenylephrine (1 micromol/l) did not alter the architecture of the actin cytoskeleton. In contrast to VSMCs, the actin cytoskeleton of endothelial or adventitial cells was not altered by an elevation in PTM. Therefore, the actin cytoskeleton of VSMCs undergoes dramatic alteration after elevation in PTM of arterioles and plays a selective and essential role in mechanosensitive myogenic constriction.