Amphiphile-induced heart muscle-cell (myocyte) injury: effects of intracellular fatty acid overload

Oxidative damage compromises energy metabolism in the axonal degeneration mouse model of X-adrenoleukodystrophy

AIMS

Chronic metabolic impairment and oxidative stress are associated with the pathogenesis of axonal dysfunction in a growing number of neurodegenerative conditions. To investigate the intertwining of both noxious factors, we have chosen the mouse model of adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD), which exhibits axonal degeneration in spinal cords and motor disability. The disease is caused by loss of function of the ABCD1 transporter, involved in the import and degradation of very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA) in peroxisomes. Oxidative stress due to VLCFA excess appears early in the neurodegenerative cascade.

RESULTS

In this study, we demonstrate by redox proteomics that oxidative damage to proteins specifically affects five key enzymes of glycolysis and TCA (Tricarboxylic acid) cycle in spinal cords of Abcd1(-) mice and pyruvate kinase in human X-ALD fibroblasts. We also show that NADH and ATP levels are significantly diminished in these samples, together with decrease of pyruvate kinase activities and GSH levels, and increase of NADPH.

INNOVATION

Treating Abcd1(-) mice with the antioxidants N-acetylcysteine and α-lipoic acid (LA) prevents protein oxidation; preserves NADH, NADPH, ATP, and GSH levels; and normalizes pyruvate kinase activity, which implies that oxidative stress provoked by VLCFA results in bioenergetic dysfunction, at a presymptomatic stage.

CONCLUSION

Our results provide mechanistic insight into the beneficial effects of antioxidants and enhance the rationale for translation into clinical trials for X-adrenoleukodystrophy.

Phospholipid homeostasis and lipotoxic cardiomyopathy: a matter of balance

Obesity has reached pandemic proportions globally and is often associated with lipotoxic heart diseases. In the obese state, caloric surplus is accommodated in the adipocytes as triglycerides. As the storage capacity of adipocytes is exceeded or malfunctioning, lipids begin to infiltrate and accumulate in non-adipose tissues, including the myocardium of the heart, leading to organ dysfunction. While the disruption of caloric homeostasis has been widely viewed as a principal mechanism in contributing to peripheral tissue steatosis and lipotoxicity, our recent studies in Drosophila have led to the novel finding that deregulation of phospholipid homeostasis may also significantly contribute to the pathogenesis of lipotoxic cardiomyopathy. Fly mutants that bear perturbations in phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) biosynthesis, such as the easily-shocked (eas) mutants defective in ethanolamine kinase, incurred aberrant activation of the sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) pathway, thereby causing chronic lipogenesis and cardiac steatosis that culminates in the development of lipotoxic cardiomyopathy. Here, we describe the potential relationship between SREBP and other eas-associated phenotypes, such as neuronal excitability defects. We will further discuss the additional implications presented by our work toward the effects of altered lipid metabolism on cellular growth and/or proliferation in response to defective phospholipid homeostasis.

Phospholipid homeostasis regulates lipid metabolism and cardiac function through SREBP signaling in Drosophila

The epidemic of obesity and diabetes is causing an increased incidence of dyslipidemia-related heart failure. While the primary etiology of lipotoxic cardiomyopathy is an elevation of lipid levels resulting from an imbalance in energy availability and expenditure, increasing evidence suggests a relationship between dysregulation of membrane phospholipid homeostasis and lipid-induced cardiomyopathy. In the present study, we report that the Drosophila easily shocked (eas) mutants that harbor a disturbance in phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) synthesis display tachycardia and defects in cardiac relaxation and are prone to developing cardiac arrest and fibrillation under stress. The eas mutant hearts exhibit elevated concentrations of triglycerides, suggestive of a metabolic, diabetic-like heart phenotype. Moreover, the low PE levels in eas flies mimic the effects of cholesterol deficiency in vertebrates by stimulating the Drosophila sterol regulatory element-binding protein (dSREBP) pathway. Significantly, cardiac-specific elevation of dSREBP signaling adversely affects heart function, reflecting the cardiac eas phenotype, whereas suppressing dSREBP or lipogenic target gene function in eas hearts rescues the cardiac hyperlipidemia and heart function disorders. These findings suggest that dysregulated phospholipid signaling that alters SREBP activity contributes to the progression of impaired heart function in flies and identifies a potential link to lipotoxic cardiac diseases in humans.

Propofol displays no protective effect against hypoxia/reoxygenation injury in rat liver slices

Using precision-cut liver slices (20-25 mg wet weight) from male Wistar rats, we examined whether clinically relevant propofol concentrations have hepatoprotective or -toxic effects during hypoxia/reoxygenation. Slices were preincubated for 2 h in sealed roller vials (three slices per vial) containing Waymouth's medium (37 degrees C; 95% oxygen/5% CO(2)). Then, propofol or Intralipid was added to create four different groups (control, Intralipid, small-concentration propofol [0.5-1.5 micro g/mL], and large-concentration propofol [2.0-6.0 micro g/mL]). Thereafter, each group was incubated for 4 h under 95% oxygen/5% CO(2) (no hypoxia) or for 2 h under 100% nitrogen plus 2 h under 95% oxygen/5% CO(2) (hypoxia/reoxygenation). Slice viability and hypoxia/reoxygenation injury were assessed at 2, 3, and 4 h after incubation began by using the slice intracellular K(+) concentration, energy status (adenosine triphosphate content, total adenine nucleotides content, and energy charge), and liver enzyme leakage (aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase). Propofol and Intralipid caused a significant delay in energy charge recovery in comparison with the control. There were no significant differences between the propofol groups and the other two groups in intracellular K(+) content or liver enzyme leakage. Propofol had no hepatotoxic effect under no-hypoxia conditions in rat liver slices, nor did it have a protective effect against hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced hepatic injury.

IMPLICATIONS

Propofol had no hepatotoxic effect under no-hypoxia conditions in rat liver slices, nor did it have a protective effect against hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced hepatic injury.

Nutritional aspects of nitric oxide: human health implications and therapeutic opportunities

Nitric oxide (NO), the most potent natural vasorelaxant known, has close historical ties to cardiovascular physiology, despite NO's rich physiologic chemistry as an ubiquitous, signal-transducing radical. Aspects of NO biology critical to gastrointestinal health and, consequently, nutritional status are increasingly being recognized. Attempts are underway to exploit the gastrointestinal actions of NO for therapeutic gain. Cross-talk between NO and micronutrients within and outside the gastrointestinal system affects the establishment or progression of several diseases with pressing medical needs. These concepts imply that NO biology can influence nutrition and be nutritionally modulated to affect mammalian (patho)physiology. At least four nutritional facets of NO biology are at the forefront of contemporary biomedical research: 1) NO as modulator of feeding behavior and mediator of gastrointestinal homeostasis; 2) NO supplementation as a therapeutic modality for preserving gastrointestinal health; 3) interactions among elemental micronutrients (e.g., zinc), NO, and inflammation as potential contributors to diarrheal disease; and 4) vitamin micronutrients (e.g., vitamins E and C) as protectors of NO-dependent vascular function. Discussion of extant data on these topics prompts speculation that future research will broaden NO's nutritional role as an integrative signaling molecule supporting gastrointestinal and nutritional well-being.

Absence of cardiac lipid accumulation in transgenic mice with heart-specific HSL overexpression

Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) hydrolyzes triglyceride (TG) in adipose tissue. HSL is also expressed in heart. To explore the actions of cardiac HSL, heart-specific, tetracycline (Tc)-controlled HSL-overexpressing mice were generated. Tc-responsive element-HSL transgenic (Tg) mice were generated and crossed with myosin heavy chain (MHC)alpha-tTA Tg mice, which express the Tc-responsive transactivator (tTA) in the heart. The double-Tg mice (MHC-HSL) were maintained with doxycycline (Dox) to suppress Tg HSL. Upon removal of Dox, cardiac HSL activity and protein increased 12- and 8-fold, respectively, and the expression was heart specific. Although cardiac TG content increased twofold in control mice after an overnight fast, it did not increase in HSL-induced mice. Electron microscopy showed numerous lipid droplets in the myocardium of fasted control mice, whereas fasted HSL-induced mice showed virtually no droplets. Microarray analysis showed altered expression of cardiac genes for fatty acid oxidation, transcription factors, signaling molecules, cytoskeletal proteins, and histocompatibility antigens in HSL-induced mice. Thus cardiac HSL plays a role in controlling accumulation of triglyceride droplets and can affect the expression of a number of cardiac genes.

Demonstration of potent lipid-lowering activity by a thyromimetic agent devoid of cardiovascular and thermogenic effects

A potent lipid-lowering thyromimetic (CGS 26214) devoid of cardiac and thermogenic activity was identified based on its ability to preferentially access and bind the nuclear fraction of hepatocytes over that of myocytes in culture. The difference in access achieved with CGS 26214 was at least 100-fold better for hepatocytes than for myocytes. This in vitro hepatoselectivity resulted in a compound with unprecedented in vivo lipid-lowering potency with a minimal effective dose of 1 microgram/kg in rats and dogs (approximately 25x that of L-T3). At the same time, CGS 26214 was free of any cardiovascular effects up to the highest dose tested of 25 mg/kg and 100 micrograms/kg in rats and dogs, respectively.

Ischemic heart disease and antioxidants: mechanistic aspects of oxidative injury and its prevention

The disease state of myocardial ischemia results from a hypoperfusion-induced insufficiency of heart-muscle oxidative metabolism due to inadequate coronary circulation. Myocardial ischemia is an important, lifespan-limiting medical problem and a major economic health-care concern. Reperfusion, although avidly pursued in the clinic as essential to the ultimate survival of acutely ischemic heart muscle, may itself carry an injury component. Cardiac reperfusion injury appears to reflect, at least in part, an oxidant burden established upon reoxygenation of ischemic myocardium. Laboratory evidence demonstrates that oxidative stress to the heart-muscle cell (cardiomyocyte) can elicit the three known types of ischemia-reperfusion injury that directly affect the myocardium: arrhythmia, stunning, and infarction. The limited clinical occurrence of serious reperfusion arrhythmias has restricted the importance of antioxidants as antiarrhythmic agents against this form of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion damage. Despite the utmost clinical significance of lethal cardiomyocyte injury as a negative prognostic indicator for the ischemic heart-disease patient, inconsistent results of antioxidant interventions in reducing infarct size have somewhat tempered interest in antioxidant infarct trials. By contrast, the negative clinical consequences of stunning may indeed be preventable by utilizing antioxidants to help restore postischemic cardiac pump function. Several as yet unanswered questions remain regarding oxidative stress in the reperfused heart, its significance to cardiomyocyte damage, and its ability to elicit specific postischemic myocardial derangements. Targeted mechanistic studies are required to address these questions and to define the pathogenic role of oxidative stress (and, hence, the therapeutic potential of antioxidant intervention) in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. The overall aim of current research in this area is to enable the cardiac surgeon/cardiologist to advance beyond the largely palliative drugs now available for management of the coronary heart-disease patient and attack directly the pathogenic determinants of heart-muscle ischemia-reperfusion injury. Optimal use of antioxidants may help address this important medical need.

Identification and biochemical characterization of a heart-muscle cell transforming growth factor beta-1 receptor

Binding of human-recombinant transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) to the neonatal rat heart-muscle cell (cardiomyocyte) was characterized as a potential element in the cardioprotective pharmacology of this growth factor. The cardiomyocytes were found to express a single class of specific, high-affinity TGF-beta 1 binding sites. Ligand binding to these sites was rapid, saturable, selective, and reversible, characteristics of a receptor-mediated process. Scatchard and iterative non-linear least-squares regression analyses demonstrated that the cardiomyocyte TGF-beta 1 receptor had a Kd < or = 40 pM, a Bmax of approximately 3.4 fmol/10(6) cells, and a density of approximately 2000 binding sites/cell. Binding was selective for TGF-beta 1 as compared with other TGF-beta isoforms (i.e. TGF-beta 2 and -beta 3) and nonrelated cytokines (e.g. acidic fibroblast growth factor). Affinity-binding experiments to probe the molecular nature of the specific binding revealed three types of cardiomyocyte TGF-beta 1 binding proteins, the most prominent of which corresponded to the high-molecular-mass proteoglycan observed in nonmuscle cell types. These data raise the possibility that the known pharmacological effects of TGF-beta 1 on heart muscle may be direct actions via specific receptor-mediated events.

Hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress to the mammalian heart-muscle cell (cardiomyocyte): nonperoxidative purine and pyrimidine nucleotide depletion

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) overload may contribute to cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury. We report utilization of a previously described cardiomyocyte model (J. Cell. Physiol., 149:347, 1991) to assess the effect of H2O2-induced oxidative stress on heart-muscle purine and pyrimidine nucleotides and high-energy phosphates (ATP, phosphocreatine). Oxidative stress induced by bolus H2O2 elicited the loss of cardiomyocyte purine and pyrimidine nucleotides, leading to eventual de-energization upon total ATP and phosphocreatine depletion. The rate and extent of ATP and phosphocreatine loss were dependent on the degree of oxidative stress within the range of 50 microM to 1.0 mM H2O2. At the highest H2O2 concentration, 5 min was sufficient to elicit appreciable cardiomyocyte high-energy phosphate loss, the extent of which could be limited by prompt elimination of H2O2 from the culture medium. Only H2O2 dismutation completely prevented ATP loss during H2O2-induced oxidative stress, whereas various free-radical scavengers and metal chelators afforded no significant ATP preservation. Exogenously-supplied catabolic substrates and glycolytic or tricarboxylic acid-cycle intermediates did not ameliorate the observed ATP and phosphocreatine depletion, suggesting that cardiomyocyte de-energization during H2O2-induced oxidative stress reflected defects in substrate utilization/energy conservation. Compromise of cardiomyocyte nucleotide and phosphocreatine pools during H2O2-induced oxidative stress was completely dissociated from membrane peroxidative damage and maintenance of cell integrity. Cardiomyocyte de-energization in response to H2O2 overload may constitute a distinct nonperoxidative mode of injury by which cardiomyocyte energy balance could be chronically compromised in the post-ischemic heart.

Identification and molecular characterization of a high-affinity cardiomyocyte transforming growth factor-beta 2 receptor

Rat neonatal heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) were found to express a high-affinity surface receptor for transforming growth factor-beta 2 (TGF-beta 2). Specific binding was rapid, saturable, ligand-selective, and reversible. Equilibrium binding analyses revealed that the cardiomyocyte had one class of specific binding sites with a Kd < or = 26 pM TGF-beta 2, a Bmax of approximately 9 fmol/10(6) cells, and approximately 5,000 binding sites/cardiomyocyte. Binding was selective for TGF-beta 2 in comparison to other TGF-beta isoforms and to unrelated growth factors. Affinity-binding experiments revealed three types of cardiomyocyte TGF-beta 2 binding proteins, the most prominent of which corresponded to the high-molecular mass proteoglycan. These data raise the possibility that the anti-ischemic cardioprotective effects of TGF-beta may reflect receptor-mediated signal transduction at the cardiomyocyte level.

Hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress to the mammalian heart-muscle cell (cardiomyocyte): lethal peroxidative membrane injury

Oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) may contribute to the pathogenesis of ischemic-reperfusion injury in the heart. For the purpose of investigating directly the injury potential of H2O2 on heart muscle, a cellular model of H2O2-induced myocardial oxidative stress was developed. This model employed primary monolayer cultures of intact, beating neonatal-rat cardiomyocytes and discrete concentrations of reagent H2O2 in defined, supplement-free culture medium. Cardiomyocytes challenged with H2O2 readily metabolized it such that the culture content of H2O2 diminished over time, but was not depleted. The consequent H2O2-induced oxidative stress caused lethal sarcolemmal disruption (as measured by lactate dehydrogenase release), and cardiomyocyte integrity could be preserved by catalase. During oxidative stress, a spectrum of cellular derangements developed, including membrane phospholipid peroxidation, thiol oxidation, consumption of the major chain-breaking membrane antiperoxidant (alpha-tocopherol), and ATP loss. No net change in the protein or phospholipid contents of cardiomyocyte membranes accompanied H2O2-induced oxidative stress, but an increased turnover of these membrane constituents occurred in response to H2O2. Development of lethal cardiomyocyte injury during H2O2-induced oxidative stress did not require the presence of H2O2 itself; a brief "pulse" exposure of the cardiomyocytes to H2O2 was sufficient to incite the pathogenic mechanism leading to cell disruption. Cardiomyocyte disruption was dependent upon an intracellular source of redox-active iron and the iron-dependent transformation of internalized H2O2 into products (e.g., the hydroxyl radical) capable of initiating lipid peroxidation, since iron chelators and hydroxyl-radical scavengers were cytoprotective. The accelerated turnover of cardiomyocyte-membrane protein and phospholipid was inhibited by antiperoxidants, suggesting that the turnover reflected molecular repair of oxidized membrane constitutents. Likewise, the consumption of alpha-tocopherol and the oxidation of cellular thiols appeared to be epiphenomena of peroxidation. Antiperoxidant interventions coordinately abolished both H2O2-induced lipid peroxidation and sarcolemmal disruption, demonstrating that an intimate pathogenic relationship exists between sarcolemmal peroxidation and lethal compromise of cardiomyocyte integrity in response to H2O2-induced oxidative stress. Although sarcolemmal peroxidation was causally related to cardiomyocyte disruption during H2O2-induced oxidative stress, a nonperoxidative route of H2O2 cytotoxicity was also identified, which was expressed in the complete absence of cardiomyocyte-membrane peroxidation. The latter mode of H2O2-induced cardiomyocyte injury involved ATP loss such that membrane peroxidation and cardiomyocyte disruption on the one hand and cellular de-energization on the other could be completely dissociated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Fasting in vivo delays myocardial cell damage after brief periods of ischemia in the isolated working rat heart

To assess the effects of fasting on recovery of function and exogenous glucose metabolism after 15 minutes of total ischemia, we perfused isolated working rat hearts from fed and fasted animals. Hearts were perfused in a recirculating system with bicarbonate buffer containing glucose (10 mM). Mechanical performance, release of marker proteins for ischemic membrane damage (lactate dehydrogenase, myoglobin, citrate synthase), and the concentrations of lactate and glucose in the perfusion medium were measured serially. Tissue metabolites were also measured. Fasting raised the myocardial glycogen content by 25%. Cardiac performance of perfused hearts from fed and fasted animals was the same during the preischemic and the post-ischemic period. The time of return of function to preischemic values was significantly less in hearts from fasted rats (2.3 versus 7.8 minutes, p less than 0.025). The release of cytosolic and mitochondrial marker proteins was significantly lower in hearts from fasted rats than in hearts from fed rats. Glucose metabolic rates during control and reperfusion were unchanged for hearts from fasted rats, but decreased for hearts from fed rats during reperfusion. The adenine nucleotide content at the end of ischemia was higher in hearts from fasted animals than in hearts from fed animals. We conclude that increasing glycogen levels prior to ischemia improves recovery of function, lessens membrane damage, and prevents loss of adenine nucleotides.

Production of 1,2-diacylglycerol in PC12 cells by nerve growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor

The addition of nerve growth factor (NGF) or basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) to PC12 cells prelabeled with [3H]inositol and preincubated for 15 min in the presence of 10 mM LiCl stimulated the production of inositol phosphates with maximal increases of 120-180% in inositol monophosphate (IP), 130-200% in inositol bisphosphate (IP2), and 45-50% in inositol trisphosphate (IP3) within 30 min. The majority of the overall increase (approximately 85%) was in IP; the remainder was recovered as IP2 and IP3 (approximately 10% as IP2 and 5% as IP3). Under similar conditions, carbachol (0.5 mM) stimulated about a 10-fold increase in IP, a sixfold increase in IP2, and a fourfold increase in IP3. The mass level of 1,2-diacylglycerol (DG) in PC12 cells was found to be dependent on the incubation conditions; in growth medium [Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DME) plus serum], it was around 6.2 mol %, in DME without serum, 2.5 mol %, and after a 15-min incubation in Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline, 0.62 mol %. The addition of NGF and bFGF induced an increase in the mass level of DG of about twofold within 1-2 min, often rising to two- to threefold by 15 min, and then decreasing slightly by 30 min. This increase was dependent on the presence of extracellular Ca2+, and was inhibited by both phenylarsine oxide (25 microM) and 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine (3 mM). Under similar conditions, 0.5 mM carbachol stimulated the production of DG to the same extent as 200 ng/ml NGF and 50 ng/ml bFGF. Because carbachol is much more effective in stimulating the production of inositol phosphates, the results suggest that both NGF and bFGF stimulate the production of DG primarily from phospholipids other than the phosphoinositides.

Nonesterified fatty acid accumulation and release during heart muscle-cell (myocyte) injury: modulation by extracellular "acceptor"

Long-chain nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) accumulation in the heart muscle cell (myocyte) and NEFA release to the extracellular milieu are considered contributors to the pathogenesis of myocardial injury in a number of cardiovascular disease states. Reported here is a study of the factors which influence and control the interactions among NEFA formation, intracellular NEFA accumulation, and NEFA release to the extracellular compartment by the irreversibly injured myocyte. Under conditions of metabolic inhibition, neonatal rat myocytes in primary monolayer culture became virtually depleted of ATP within 8 h. The metabolically inhibited myocytes evidenced membrane phospholipid degradation and a resultant net accumulation of NEFA produced thereby in the extracellular medium. However, under conditions of nutrient deprivation, the injured myocytes retained the NEFA produced from phospholipid catabolism intracellularly and did not release it to the culture medium, although the extent of myocyte ATP depletion was the same as it had been from metabolic inhibition. Serum could elicit, in a concentration-dependent fashion, the quantitative release of NEFA from metabolically inhibited myocytes to the culture medium but did not influence the net production of NEFA by the injured cells. Similarly, NEFA release from nutrient-deprived myocytes incubated in serum-free, substrate-free medium or in physiological buffer could be induced by supplementing the medium or buffer with bovine serum albumin (BSA), and the extent of NEFA release, but not NEFA formation, was dependent upon the extracellular BSA concentration. No manipulations to media other than changing their serum content or supplementing them with BSA were found to influence the disposition of NEFA produced during phospholipid catabolism in the irreversibly injured, ATP-depleted myocyte. Therefore, although progressive metabolic compromise in the myocyte was correlated with increasing, net NEFA formation, the distribution of the NEFA between the intracellular and the extracellular compartments was not determined by the magnitude of ATP loss or by the nature or duration of at least two injury stimuli, metabolic inhibition and nutrient deprivation. Rather, the net release of NEFA from the ATP-depleted myocyte to the culture medium and the consequent reduction of intracellular myocyte NEFA overload were critically and causally dependent upon the presence and concentration of extracellular NEFA "acceptor". The influence of acceptor on the mobilization of NEFA from the injured myocyte has implications regarding the use of NEFA release as an index of myocyte pathology and could serve to modify the progression and extent of myocardial injury in vivo.