Loss of ischemic preconditioning's cardioprotection in aged mouse hearts is associated with reduced gap junctional and mitochondrial levels of connexin 43

2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (4) ◽  
pp. H1764-H1769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Boengler ◽  
Ina Konietzka ◽  
Astrid Buechert ◽  
Yvonne Heinen ◽  
David Garcia-Dorado ◽  
...  

Connexin 43 (Cx43) is localized at left ventricular (LV) gap junctions and in cardiomyocyte mitochondria. A genetically induced reduction of Cx43 as well as blockade of mitochondrial Cx43 import abolishes the infarct size (IS) reduction by ischemic preconditioning (IP). With progressing age, Cx43 content in ventricular and atrial tissue homogenates is reduced. We now investigated whether or not 1) the mitochondrial Cx43 content is reduced in aged mice hearts and 2) IS reduction by IP is lost in aged mice hearts in vivo. Confirming previous results, sarcolemmal Cx43 content was reduced in aged (>13 mo) compared with young (<3 mo) C57Bl/6 mice hearts, whereas the expression levels of protein kinase C ε and endothelial nitric oxide synthase remained unchanged. Also in mitochondria isolated from aged mice LV myocardium, Western blot analysis indicated a 40% decrease in Cx43 content compared with mitochondria isolated from young mice hearts. In young mice hearts, IP by one cycle of 10 min ischemia and 10 min reperfusion reduced IS (% of area at risk) following 30 min regional ischemia and 120 min reperfusion from 67.7 ± 3.3 ( n = 17) to 34.2 ± 6.6 ( n = 5, P < 0.05). In contrast, IP's cardioprotection was lost in aged mice hearts, since IS in nonpreconditioned (57.5 ± 4.0, n = 10) and preconditioned hearts (65.4 ± 6.3, n = 8, P = not significant) was not different. In conclusion, mitochondrial Cx43 content is decreased in aged mouse hearts. The reduced levels of Cx43 may contribute to the age-related loss of cardioprotection by IP.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 666-666
Author(s):  
Adam Nyul Toth ◽  
Stefano Tarantini ◽  
Jordan DelFavero ◽  
Feng Yan ◽  
Zoltan Ungvari ◽  
...  

Abstract Age-related blood-brain barrier disruption and cerebromicrovascular rarefaction contribute importantly to the pathogenesis of both vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent advances in geroscience research enable development of novel interventions to reverse age-related alterations of the cerebral microcirculation for prevention of VCID and AD. To facilitate this research there is an urgent need for sensitive and easy-to-adapt imaging methods, which enable longitudinal assessment of changes in BBB permeability and brain capillarization in aged mice, that could be used in vivo to evaluate treatment efficiency. To enable longitudinal assessment of changes in BBB permeability in aged mice equipped with a chronic cranial window, we adapted and optimized two different intravital two-photon imaging approaches. By assessing relative fluorescence changes over the baseline within a volume of brain tissue, after qualitative image subtraction of the brain microvasculature, we confirmed that in 24 month old C57BL/6J mice cumulative permeability of the microvessels to fluorescent tracers of different molecular weights (0.3 kDa to 40 kDa) is significantly increased as compared to that of 5 month old mice. Real-time recording of vessel cross-sections showed that apparent solute permeability of single microvessels is significantly increased in aged mice vs. young mice. Cortical capillary density, assessed both by intravital two-photon microscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT) was also decreased in aged mice vs. young mice. The presented methods have been optimized for longitudinal (over the period of 36 weeks) in vivo assessment of cerebromicrovascular health in preclinical geroscience research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miwa Nahata ◽  
Sachiko Mogami ◽  
Hitomi Sekine ◽  
Seiichi Iizuka ◽  
Naoto Okubo ◽  
...  

AbstractChronic undernutrition contributes to the increase in frailty observed among elderly adults, which is a pressing issue in the sector of health care for older people worldwide. Autophagy, an intracellular recycling system, is closely associated with age-related pathologies. Therefore, decreased autophagy in aging could be involved in the disruption of energy homeostasis that occurs during undernutrition; however, the physiological mechanisms underlying this process remain unknown. Here, we showed that 70% daily food restriction (FR) induced fatal hypoglycemia in 23–26-month-old (aged) mice, which exhibited significantly lower hepatic autophagy than 9-week-old (young) mice. The liver expressions of Bcl-2, an autophagy-negative regulator, and Beclin1–Bcl-2 binding, were increased in aged mice compared with young mice. The autophagy inducer Tat-Beclin1 D11, not the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin, decreased the plasma levels of the glucogenic amino acid and restored the blood glucose levels in aged FR mice. Decreased liver gluconeogenesis, body temperature, physical activity, amino acid metabolism, and hepatic mitochondrial dynamics were observed in the aged FR mice. These changes were restored by treatment with hochuekkito that is a herbal formula containing several autophagy-activating ingredients. Our results indicate that Bcl-2 upregulation in the liver during the aging process disturbs autophagy activation, which increases the vulnerability to undernutrition. The promotion of liver autophagy may offer clinical therapeutic benefits to frail elderly patients.


2011 ◽  
Vol 109 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Shao ◽  
Peiyong Zhai ◽  
Junichi Sadoshima

Lats2 is a tumor suppressor and a serine/threonine kinase, acting downstream of mammalian sterile 20 like kinase1 (Mst1), which stimulates apoptosis and inhibits hypertrophy in cardiomyocytes (CM). We investigated the role of Lats2 in mediating myocardial injury after ischemia/reperfusion (IR). Phosphorylation of YAP, an in vivo substrate of Lats2, was increased after 45 minutes ischemia followed by 24 hours reperfusion in control mouse hearts compared with sham, but not in dominant negative (DN) Lats2 transgenic mouse (Tg) hearts, suggesting that Lats2 is activated by IR. The size of myocardial infarction (MI)/area at risk was significantly smaller in Tg mice than in NTg mice (19% and 49%, p<0.01). And there were fewer TUNEL positive cells in Tg than in NTg mice (0.04% and 0.11%, p<0.05). Following 30 min of global ischemia and 60 min of reperfusion in Langendorff perfused heart preparations, left ventricular (LV) systolic pressure (100 vs 71mmHg, p<0.05) and LV developed pressure (79 vs 47 mmHg, p<0.05) were significantly greater in Tg than in NTg mice, indicating that suppression of Lats2 induces better functional recovery after IR. Oxidative stress, as evaluated by 8-OHdG staining, was attenuated in Tg mice. In cultured CMs, DN-Lats2 significantly decreased H 2 O 2 -induced cell death. Overexpression of Lats2 significantly downregulated (51% and 75%, p<0.05), whereas that of DN-Last2 upregulated (100 and 70%, p<0.05), MnSOD and catalase, suggesting that Lats2 negatively regulates expression of antioxidants. Reporter gene assays showed that overexpression of Lats2 significantly inhibits (−70%), whereas knocking down Lats2 by sh-Lats2 increases (+60%), FoxO3-mediated transcriptional activity. Overexpression of Lats2 in CMs inhibited FoxO3 expression, whereas that of DN-Lats2 significantly inhibited FoxO3 downregulation after IR in vivo, suggesting that Lats2 negatively regulates FoxO3 protein expression, which may lead to the downregulation of MnSOD and catalase. Taken together, these results suggest that endogenous Lats2 plays an important role in mediating myocardial injury in response to IR, In part through downregulation of FoxO3 and consequent downregulation of antioxidants and increased oxidative stress in the heart.


Circulation ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 116 (suppl_16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monte S Willis ◽  
Mauricio Rojas ◽  
Pamela Lockyer ◽  
Thomas G Hampton ◽  
Luge Li ◽  
...  

We previously identified a critical role for MuRF1 in suppressing pathologic cardiac hypertrophy. To extend these observations to other pathologic processes, we tested the role of MuRF1 in cardiac ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury. We challenged MuRF1 transgenic (Tg) mice to I/R injury both ex situ and in vivo. First, we examined isolated MuRF1 Tg and age-matched sibling wild-type (WT) hearts after global ischemia (15 min) followed by reperfusion (20 min) in a Langendorff apparatus. Baseline function of MuRF1 Tg hearts did not significantly differ from WT hearts (mean left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) 88.5 +/− 18 vs. 82.5 +/− 6.7, respectively; n = 4/group). Mean LVDP of hearts from MuRF1 Tg mice after reperfusion was 76.0 +/− 22.9% of baseline function compared to 27.2 +/− 13.3% in WT hearts (N = 5/group, P< 0.05)). To confirm that MuRF1 is cardioprotective in vivo, we subjected MuRF1 Tg and WT mice to a 30 minute ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery, followed by 24 hours reperfusion. Mice underwent conscious echocardiography at baseline and after 24 hours; cardiac function was further interrogated by Millar pressure volume catheterization at 24 hours. Additionally, hearts underwent a histological evaluation of area at risk and infarct size. By echocardiography, a ~7% decrease in fractional shortening was identified in MuRF1 Tg mice after 24 hours reperfusion compared to baseline. This was in striking contrast to WT mice, which exhibited ~48% decrease in fractional shortening. Steady state catheterization measurements showed a significantly higher ejection fraction in MuRF1 Tg compared to WT mice after I/R injury (81.6 ± 2.3% vs. 49.0 +/− 4.0%, P < 0.05). Contractility reflected by +dP/dt max was better preserved in MuRF1 Tg compared to WT mice after I/R injury (12,614 +/− 776 vs. 7,448 +/−752, N = 3–12/group, P < 0.05). Histologically, the area of infarct in MuRF1 Tg mice was significantly smaller (10.0 +/− 0.8%) than in WT mice (25.5 +/− 2.5%, N = 4/group, P < 0.05). We demonstrate here for the first time that cardiac MuRF1 expression preserves function after I/R injury in vivo. Since MuRF1 is known to interact with metabolic and structural targets, this model will allow us to identify mechanisms by which MuRF1 modifies cardiac pathophysiology.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihyun Park ◽  
Takuya Miyakawa ◽  
Aya Shiokawa ◽  
Haruyo Nakajima-Adachi ◽  
Masaru Tanokura ◽  
...  

Inflamm-aging indicates the chronic inflammatory state resulting from increased secretion of proinflammatory cytokines and mediators such as IL-6 in the elderly. Our principle objective was to identify cell types that were affected with aging concerning IL-6 secretion in the murine model. We compared IL-6 production in spleen cells from both young and aged mice and isolated several types of cells from spleen and investigated IL-6 mRNA expression and protein production. IL-6 protein productions in cultured stromal cells from aged mice spleen were significantly high compared to young mice upon LPS stimulation. IL-6 mRNA expression level of freshly isolated stromal cells from aged mice was high compared to young mice. Furthermore, stromal cells of aged mice highly expressed IL-6 mRNA after LPS injection in vivo. These results suggest that stromal cells play a role in producing IL-6 in aged mice and imply that they contribute to the chronic inflammatory condition in the elderly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 46-46
Author(s):  
Jing Li ◽  
Dong Zhang ◽  
Yiping Ren ◽  
Zhongdong Qiao ◽  
Doug Stevenson ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Age-related bone loss occurs in both men and women, and is the leading cause of elderly disability. An age-related bone loss model was established in mice to investigate the protective effects of curcumin and broccoli seed extract. Methods 20 young (6-month-old) male C57BL/6 J mice after administration with vehicle once daily were sacrificed at four time points: day 0, 30, 60 and 90. 8 out of the 109 aged (18-month-old) male C57BL/6 J mice were sacrificed at the beginning and used as control. The rest of these aged mice were then randomly divided into four groups: one group served as control (vehicle), the other three groups were administrated with curcumin (CMN) and/or broccoli seed extract (BSE) by oral gavage. Mice in each group were sacrificed at four time points: day 0, 30, 60 and 90. L2 vertebrae of mice were fixed with paraformaldehyde and scanned with a Scanco Medical μCT40 scanner. Quantitative analyses of bone volume (BV), tissue volume (TV), trabecular number (Tb.N), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) and trabecular spacing (Tb.Sp) were performed with the Scanco Medical's software. Results BV/TV of the young mice group were significantly higher compared to the aged mice group at all four time points. Similarly, Tb.N and Tb.Th were also higher in the young mice group compared to the aged mice group. In contrast, Tb.Sp was lower in the young mice group. When comparing different groups in the aged mice, we found that mice administered with CMN had a higher BV/TV value compared to the mice in the control group at all three time points. Such a difference is significant by day 30. The mice administered with combined CMN and BSE also showed significant increase in BV/TV on day 30. For Tb.N, both mice administered with either CMN or BSE had higher values at all three time points. But no obvious difference in Tb.N was found for mice administered with combined CMN and BSE. For Tb.Th, both mice administered with CMN and with combined CMN and BSE had higher values compared to the control. For Tb.Sp, both mice administered with either CMN or BSE had lower values compared to the control. Conclusions This study showed that curcumin could slow down bone loss in the mouse model. There is no obvious positive effect with broccoli seed extract or with curcumin and broccoli seed extract combined. The curcumin used in this study may shed light on the alleviation of bone loss in humans. Funding Sources Nu Skin Enterprises.


2013 ◽  
Vol 210 (11) ◽  
pp. 2223-2237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam N. Bouchlaka ◽  
Gail D. Sckisel ◽  
Mingyi Chen ◽  
Annie Mirsoian ◽  
Anthony E. Zamora ◽  
...  

Cancer commonly occurs in the elderly and immunotherapy (IT) is being increasingly applied to this population. However, the majority of preclinical mouse tumor models assessing potential efficacy and toxicities of therapeutics use young mice. We assessed the impact of age on responses to systemic immune stimulation. In contrast to young mice, systemic cancer IT regimens or LPS given to aged mice resulted in rapid and lethal toxicities affecting multiple organs correlating with heightened proinflammatory cytokines systemically and within the parenchymal tissues. This inflammatory response and increased morbidity with age was independent of T cells or NK cells. However, prior in vivo depletion of macrophages in aged mice resulted in lesser cytokine levels, increased survival, and decreased liver histopathology. Furthermore, macrophages from aged mice and normal human elderly volunteers displayed heightened TNF and IL-6 production upon in vitro stimulation. Treatment of both TNF knockout mice and in vivo TNF blockade in aged mice resulted in significant increases in survival and lessened pathology. Importantly, TNF blockade in tumor-bearing, aged mice receiving IT displayed significant anti-tumor effects. These data demonstrate the critical role of macrophages in the age-associated hyper-inflammatory cytokine responses to systemic immunostimulation and underscore the importance of performing preclinical assessments in aged mice.


2001 ◽  
Vol 226 (4) ◽  
pp. 320-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian P. Lipton ◽  
Joseph B. Delcarpio ◽  
Kathleen H. McDonough

We have previously shown that a nonlethal dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) decreases L-selectin expression of neutrophils (PMNs), thereby preventing PMN-mediated reperfusion injury in the isolated heart. In the present study we determined whether or not that dose of LPS would protect hearts during in vivo ischemia and reperfusion by preventing PMN-induced reperfusion injury. Rats receiving saline vehicle showed marked myocardial injury (necrotic area/area at risk = 82% ± 2%) and significant depression in left ventricular function as assessed in the isolated isovolumic heart preparation at constant flow rates of 5, 10, 15, and 20 ml/min. The administration of LPS (100 μg/kg body wt) 7 hr prior to ischemia resulted in a reduction in myocardial damage (necrotic area/area at risk = 42% ± 3%) and preservation of function. Myocardial function was similar to that of sham ischemic saline- and LPS-treated rats. Moreover, PMN infiltration as determined by histology was quantitatively more severe in hearts of saline-treated rats than in hearts of LPS-treated rats. Isolated hearts from vehicle- and LPS-treated animals undergoing sham ischemia in vivo recovered to the same extent after in vitro ischemia/reperfusion, suggesting that LPS did not induce protection by altering intrinsic properties of the heart. Our results indicate that LPS-induced protection of the heart from in vivo PMN-mediated ischemia/reperfusion injury may be due to decreased L-selectin expression of PMNs in LPS-treated animals.


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