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O’Hare N, Millican K, Ebong EE. Unraveling neurovascular mysteries: the role of endothelial glycocalyx dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. Front Physiol 2024; 15:1394725. [PMID: 39027900 PMCID: PMC11254711 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1394725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/27/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024] Open
Abstract
While cardiovascular disease, cancer, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) mortality rates have decreased over the past 20 years, Alzheimer's Disease (AD) deaths have risen by 145% since 2010. Despite significant research efforts, effective AD treatments remain elusive due to a poorly defined etiology and difficulty in targeting events that occur too downstream of disease onset. In hopes of elucidating alternative treatment pathways, now, AD is commonly being more broadly defined not only as a neurological disorder but also as a progression of a variety of cerebrovascular pathologies highlighted by the breakdown of the blood-brain barrier. The endothelial glycocalyx (GCX), which is an essential regulator of vascular physiology, plays a crucial role in the function of the neurovascular system, acting as an essential vascular mechanotransducer to facilitate ultimate blood-brain homeostasis. Shedding of the cerebrovascular GCX could be an early indication of neurovascular dysfunction and may subsequently progress neurodegenerative diseases like AD. Recent advances in in vitro modeling, gene/protein silencing, and imaging techniques offer new avenues of scrutinizing the GCX's effects on AD-related neurovascular pathology. Initial studies indicate GCX degradation in AD and other neurodegenerative diseases and have begun to demonstrate a possible link to GCX loss and cerebrovascular dysfunction. This review will scrutinize the GCX's contribution to known vascular etiologies of AD and propose future work aimed at continuing to uncover the relationship between GCX dysfunction and eventual AD-associated neurological deterioration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas O’Hare
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Karina Millican
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Eno E. Ebong
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, United States
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Twamley SG, Gimber N, Sánchez-Ibarra HE, Christaller T, Isakzai V, Kratz H, Mitra R, Kampen L, Stach A, Heilmann H, Söhl-Kielczynski B, Ebong EE, Schmoranzer J, Münster-Wandowski A, Ludwig A. Lack of Laminar Shear Stress Facilitates the Endothelial Uptake of Very Small Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles by Modulating the Endothelial Surface Layer. Int J Nanomedicine 2024; 19:3123-3142. [PMID: 38585474 PMCID: PMC10998537 DOI: 10.2147/ijn.s437714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Purpose To study whether the absence of laminar shear stress (LSS) enables the uptake of very small superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (VSOP) in endothelial cells by altering the composition, size, and barrier function of the endothelial surface layer (ESL). Methods and Results A quantitative particle exclusion assay with living human umbilical endothelial cells using spinning disc confocal microscopy revealed that the dimension of the ESL was reduced in cells cultivated in the absence of LSS. By combining gene expression analysis, flow cytometry, high pressure freezing/freeze substitution immuno-transmission electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy, we investigated changes in ESL composition. We found that increased expression of the hyaluronan receptor CD44 by absence of shear stress did not affect the uptake rate of VSOPs. We identified collagen as a previously neglected component of ESL that contributes to its barrier function. Experiments with inhibitor halofuginone and small interfering RNA (siRNA) demonstrated that suppression of collagen expression facilitates VSOP uptake in endothelial cells grown under LSS. Conclusion The absence of laminar shear stress disturbs the barrier function of the ESL, facilitating membrane accessibility and endocytic uptake of VSOP. Collagen, a previously neglected component of ESL, contributes to its barrier function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shailey Gale Twamley
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Niclas Gimber
- Advanced Medical Bioimaging Core Facility (AMBIO), Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Héctor Eduardo Sánchez-Ibarra
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tobias Christaller
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Victoria Isakzai
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Harald Kratz
- Department of Radiology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ronodeep Mitra
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Lena Kampen
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anke Stach
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Heike Heilmann
- Institute of Integrative Neuroanatomy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Berit Söhl-Kielczynski
- Institute for Integrative Neurophysiology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Eno Essien Ebong
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jan Schmoranzer
- Advanced Medical Bioimaging Core Facility (AMBIO), Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Agnieszka Münster-Wandowski
- Institute of Integrative Neuroanatomy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Antje Ludwig
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Xia Y, Li Y, Fu BM. Differential effects of vascular endothelial growth factor on glycocalyx of endothelial and tumor cells and potential targets for tumor metastasis. APL Bioeng 2022; 6:016101. [PMID: 35071967 PMCID: PMC8769769 DOI: 10.1063/5.0064381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
On the surface of every mammalian cell, there is a matrix-like glycocalyx (GCX) consisting of proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Disruption of endothelial cell (EC) GCX by a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF, VEGF-A165), a tumor secretion, was found to be an early event in tumor cell (TC) metastasis across vascular barriers. However, how the TC secretion VEGF affects its own GCX is unknown. To investigate the VEGF effect on TC GCX and to elucidate the ultrastructural organization of EC and TC GCX and their alteration by VEGF, we employed super-resolution stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy to observe the spatio-chemical organizations of the heparan sulfate (HS) and hyaluronic acid (HA), two representative GAGs of GCX, on human cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (hCMEC) and malignant breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 (MB231). We found that HS and HA have distinct organizations on hCMEC and MB231. Only HS of hCMEC is perpendicular to the cell surface, while HA of hCMEC as well as HS and HA of MB231 all lie in the same plane as the cell surface where they appear to weave into a 2D network covering the cell. We also found that VEGF significantly reduces the length and coverage of HS on hCMEC but does not change the thickness and coverage of HA on hCMEC. On the contrary, VEGF significantly enhances the coverage of HS and HA on MB231 although it does not alter the thickness. The differential effects of VEGF on the GCX of TC and that of EC may favor TC adhesion and transmigration across EC barriers for their metastasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yifan Xia
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of the City University of New York, New York, New York 10031, USA
| | - Yunfei Li
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of the City University of New York, New York, New York 10031, USA
| | - Bingmei M. Fu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of the City University of New York, New York, New York 10031, USA
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