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(Hypertension. 2008;51:19.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.
Hypothesis |
From the Center for Vascular Biology (Z.L., X.X., G.Z., E.D.v.D., Y.C.) and Cardiovascular Division (Z.L., X.X., X.H., G.Z., P.Z., J.P.F., J.T.F., R.J.B., Y.C.), Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis; Department of Pathology (T.D.O.), University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pa; and the Division of Experimental Cardiology (E.D.v.D.), Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research School COEUR, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Correspondence to Yingjie Chen, University of Minnesota, Mayo Mail Code 508, 420 Delaware St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail chenx106{at}tc.umn.edu
| Abstract |
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Key Words: extracellular SOD hypertrophy congestive heart failure oxidative stress ventricular fibrosis MMP
| Introduction |
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| Methods |
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Echocardiography and Evaluation of LV Hemodynamics
Mice were anesthetized with 1.5% isoflurane. Echocardiographic images were obtained with a Visualsonics high-resolution Veve 660 system as described previously (n=8 to 13 mice each group).14 For aortic and LV pressure measurement, a 1.2-F pressure catheter (Scisense Inc) was introduced through the right common carotid artery into the ascending aorta and then advanced into the LV for measurement of systolic and end-diastolic pressures and positive and negative LV rate of pressure development (dP/dtmax) as described previously.14
Western Blots, Chemical Analysis, and Histological Analysis
The detailed methods for Western blot, chemical analysis for SOD activity, superoxide anion production, the ratio of glutathione (GSH):glutathione disulfide (GSSG), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) content are included in the online supplementary data (please see http://hyper.ahajounals.org). Tissue sections (8 µm) from the central portion of the LV were stained with Sirius red (Sigma) for fibrosis and fluorescein isothiocyanate–conjugated wheat germ agglutinin (AF488, Invitrogen) to evaluate myocyte size. For mean myocyte size, the cross-sectional area of
120 cells per sample and 4 samples per group was averaged. The percentage of fibrosis was determined as described previously.15
Data and Statistical Analysis
All of the values are expressed as mean±SE. Statistical significance was defined as P<0.05. One-way ANOVA was used to test each variable for differences among the treatment groups with StatView (SAS Institute Inc). If ANOVA demonstrated a significant effect, pairwise posthoc comparisons were made with Fishers least significant difference test.
| Results |
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SOD3–/– Exacerbated TAC-Induced LV Dysfunction
Aortic pressure, LV systolic pressure, and LV dP/dtmax were not different between wild-type mice and SOD3–/– mice under control conditions. TAC caused significant increases of LV systolic pressure in both wild-type and SOD3–/– mice (Table). Six weeks after TAC, LV peak systolic pressure, LV dP/dtmax, and LV dP/dtmin were significantly less in SOD3–/– mice as compared with wild-type mice, indicating LV dysfunction (Table). The lower LV systolic pressure in the SOD3–/– mice 6 weeks after TAC could not be ascribed to a lesser initial pressure overload in these mice, because the identical TAC procedure was performed on both groups by the same surgeon randomly on the same days, and the SOD3–/– mice developed more LV hypertrophy after TAC than did the wild-type mice.
Echocardiographic imaging of the heart 6 weeks after TAC demonstrated significant increases of LV end-systolic diameter and LV end-diastolic diameter in both SOD3–/– and wild-type mice in comparison with mice of similar body weight without TAC (Table). However, the degree of LV dilatation, assessed as LV end-diastolic diameter, was significantly greater in SOD3–/– mice than in wild-type mice. TAC caused significant increases in LV end-diastolic wall thickness that were similar in SOD3–/– and wild-type mice (Table); the greater increase in LV mass in the SOD3–/– mice was accounted for by the increased LV chamber diameter in these animals. Systolic dysfunction was more severe in the SOD3–/– mice, as demonstrated by greater decreases of LV systolic shortening fraction and ejection fraction after TAC in the SOD3–/– mice (Table), as well as a greater increase in end-systolic diameter, as compared with the wild-type mice (Table).
TAC resulted in significantly greater increases in lung weight and ratio of lung weight:body weight in SOD3–/– versus wild-type mice (Table), suggesting more pulmonary congestion in the SOD3–/– mice. In addition, SOD3–/– also exacerbated the TAC-induced increase of myocardial atrial natriuretic peptide (Figure 2A and 2B). Taken together, these data indicate that the SOD3–/– mice developed more LV dysfunction in response to the sustained pressure overload produced by TAC.
SOD3–/– Had No Apparent Effect on Oxidative Stress in Normal Hearts
As anticipated, SOD3 was undetectable in the SOD3–/– mice (Figure 3), and SOD3–/– did not affect myocardial SOD1 or SOD2 protein content under control conditions (Figure 3). Total myocardial SOD activity and myocardial superoxide anion content were not different between wild-type and SOD3–/– mice under control conditions (Figure 3), consistent with previous reports that SOD3 contributes only a small fraction to overall myocardial SOD activity.2,16 In addition, myocardial TBARS and nitrotyrosine were not different between SOD3–/– mice and wild-type mice under control conditions (Figure 4). Both myocardial GSH and GSSG were decreased in the SOD3–/– mice, but the ratio of GSH:GSSG was not different between wild-type and SOD3–/– mice. Myocardial catalase protein content was also not different between wild-type and SOD3–/– mice (data not shown). These findings indicate that SOD3–/– had no detectable effect on oxidative stress in the normal heart.
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SOD3–/– Exacerbated TAC-Induced Evidence of Myocardial Oxidative Stress
In comparison with wild-type mice, the ratio of myocardial GSH:GSSG was significantly decreased in SOD3–/– mice 6 weeks after TAC (Figure 4). TAC caused increases of myocardial TBARS and nitrotyrosine content both in wild-type mice and in SOD3–/– mice, but these increases were significantly greater in the SOD3–/– mice than in the wild-type mice (Figure 4). Consistent with a greater increase of oxidative stress in SOD3–/– mice after TAC, TAC significantly increased myocardial superoxide production in the SOD3–/– mice as compared with wild-type mice (in vitro assay; Figure 3). After TAC, myocardial SOD activity was significantly decreased both in wild-type mice and in SOD3–/– mice with no difference between the groups (Figure 3). Myocardial catalase protein content was not different between wild-type and SOD3–/– mice after TAC (data not shown). Taken together, the data indicate a greater degree of myocardial oxidative stress in SOD3–/– mice than in control mice after TAC.
| Discussion |
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In the present study SOD3–/– had no effect on ventricular SOD activity under control conditions. This is consistent with previous reports that SOD3 contributes minimally to overall SOD activity in the heart.2,16 Although myocardial TBARS and nitrotyrosine content, the ratio of GSH:GSSG, and superoxide anion production were unchanged in the SOD3–/– mice under unstressed conditions, the findings of mild but significant increases of ventricular fibrosis, myocyte hypertrophy, and the ratio of ventricular mass:body weight indicate that the absence of SOD3 did have a modest negative impact on the heart under control conditions. Therefore, the inability to detect increased oxidative stress in the hearts of SOD3–/– mice under control conditions likely indicates that the methods were not sensitive enough to detect a small increase of oxidative stress in the SOD3–/– hearts. The increased myocardial fibrosis in the SOD3–/– mice under control conditions is analogous to previous reports indicating that SOD3 has antifibrotic functions in the lung.5,12 An increase of myocardial fibrosis is often associated with a parallel increase of MMP protein content and activity.2,16 The greater increase of collagen I, collagen III, MMP-2, and MMP-9 in the SOD3–/– hearts after TAC is consistent with the greater degree of myocardial fibrosis in this strain.
Although no previous reports have directly examined the effect of SOD3–/– on systolic overload-induced LV hypertrophy and CHF, there is evidence that abnormalities of SOD3 can contribute to cardiovascular disease. In patients with coronary artery disease, both SOD activity in coronary artery segments and endothelium-bound SOD3 released by bolus injection of heparin were decreased.8,9 The lack of SOD3 exacerbates angiotensin-induced hypertension and vascular oxidative stress and attenuates vascular NO bioavailability.17–19 It is consequently not surprising that SOD3 deficiency would have a role in the development of vascular disease or hypertension. The present findings demonstrate that SOD3 also exerts protective effects when the heart is exposed to systolic overload.
The decrease of the GSH:GSSG ratio and the increases of TBARS, nitrotyrosine, and myocardial superoxide anion production in the SOD3–/– mice exposed to TAC in the present study are consistent with previous reports demonstrating that oxidative stress is increased in the failing heart.1,14,20,21 Thus, in animals with aortic constriction, the development of heart failure was associated with increases of myocardial nitrotyrosine,14,21 TBARS, and superoxide14,21,22 and a decrease of the ratio of GSH:GSSG.22,23 Several sources for increased oxidative stress have been identified in the failing heart, including the mitochondrial respiratory chain,24 uncoupled endothelial NO synthase,14,21 reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase,25 and xanthine oxidase.26 There are several sources of superoxide in the endothelium where SOD3 has its principal site of action. We reported recently that systolic overload produced by TAC in mice caused increased expression of myocardial inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and endothelial NO synthase monomer (a structure that generates superoxide rather than NO), whereas iNOS deletion or selective pharmacological iNOS inhibition with 1400 W decreased markers of oxidative stress and improved LV function, suggesting that either iNOS uncoupling or iNOS-induced endothelial NO synthase uncoupling contributed to the increased oxidative stress and development of CHF in the wild-type mice.2,16 Furthermore, administration of BH4 to prevent NOS uncoupling,14,21 selective inhibition of xanthine oxidase, or reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase has been reported to attenuate oxidative stress and ventricular dysfunction in this model of cardiac overload.
Although there is evidence of increased free radical production in the failing heart, there is also evidence that decreased antioxidant reserves contribute to the increased oxidative stress in several models of myocardial dysfunction. Thus, CHF is associated with decreased SOD3 protein content and activity,8,9,27 and overexpression of SOD3 has been reported to protect the heart against ischemia-reperfusion injury28 and to reduce postinfarct LV remodeling.29 The present study shows that a decrease of SOD3 is not only a consequence of CHF but could also contribute to the development of CHF. The decrease of myocardial SOD activity and SOD1 protein content after TAC is consistent with previous reports in pressure overload–induced heart failure in guinea pigs,20 and myocardial infarct–induced heart failure rats.30 The significant decrease of SOD1 in SOD3–/– mice after TAC may partially contribute to the increased ventricular oxidative stress in SOD3–/– mice after TAC, although the molecular mechanism for the decrease of SOD1 in SOD3–/– mice after TAC is not clear. Oxidative stress has been shown to impair mitochondrial metabolism and contractile function, so it is reasonable that increased oxidative stress could exacerbate the contractile dysfunction in the SOD3–/– mice.
A limitation of the present study is that the effect of SOD3–/– on ventricular structure and function was only studied at baseline and 6 weeks after TAC so that information about changes in kinetics between wild-type and SOD3–/– mice cannot be determined. It should be pointed out that, because SOD3 was knocked out from these mice since conception, the mice have had a lifetime to adapt to the loss of SOD3, which might have allowed them to preserve LV function under basal conditions. Therefore, by using the global SOD3–/– mice, we may underestimate the physiological significance of SOD3 in regulating normal ventricular function.
The finding that SOD3–/– exacerbated TAC-induced LV oxidative stress, hypertrophy, dilation, fibrosis, and contractile dysfunction indicates that SOD3 provides an important protective effect against oxidative stress and contractile dysfunction when the heart is exposed to chronic pressure overload.
Perspectives
SOD3 is strategically located to scavenge free radicals in the extracellular compartment. However, it was not clear whether SOD3 can abrogate oxidative stress or modify ventricular remodeling after pressure overload. The present finding demonstrates for the first time that SOD3–/– exacerbated LV oxidative stress, hypertrophy, dilation, fibrosis, and dysfunction in response to pressure overload produced by TAC, indicating that SOD3 is critically important in protecting the heart from hemodynamic overload. These findings provide the first direct evidence that a reduction of extracellular SOD is not only a consequence of CHF but could also contribute to its development. Therefore, it is anticipated that strategies to decrease extracellular oxidative stress may protect the heart from pressure overload–induced ventricular hypertrophy and CHF.
| Acknowledgments |
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Sources of Funding
This study was supported by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grants HL71790 (Y.C.), HL21872 (R.J.B.), and HL63700 (T.D.O.) from the National Institutes of Health. P.Z. is recipient of a scientist development award from the American Heart Association. X.X. is a recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship award from the American Heart Association. J.T.F. is a recipient of a Scientist Developer Award from the American Heart Association.
Disclosures
None.
| Footnotes |
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Received July 18, 2007; first decision July 24, 2007; accepted October 18, 2007.
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