Disruption of endothelial peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ reduces vascular nitric oxide production

JM Kleinhenz, DJ Kleinhenz, S You… - American Journal …, 2009 - journals.physiology.org
JM Kleinhenz, DJ Kleinhenz, S You, JD Ritzenthaler, JM Hansen, DR Archer, RL Sutliff…
American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 2009journals.physiology.org
Vascular endothelial cells express the ligand-activated transcription factor, peroxisome
proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ), which participates in the regulation of metabolism,
cell proliferation, and inflammation. PPARγ ligands attenuate, whereas the loss of function
mutations in PPARγ stimulate, endothelial dysfunction, suggesting that PPARγ may regulate
vascular endothelial nitric oxide production. To explore the role of endothelial PPARγ in the
regulation of vascular nitric oxide production in vivo, mice expressing Cre recombinase …
Vascular endothelial cells express the ligand-activated transcription factor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ), which participates in the regulation of metabolism, cell proliferation, and inflammation. PPARγ ligands attenuate, whereas the loss of function mutations in PPARγ stimulate, endothelial dysfunction, suggesting that PPARγ may regulate vascular endothelial nitric oxide production. To explore the role of endothelial PPARγ in the regulation of vascular nitric oxide production in vivo, mice expressing Cre recombinase driven by an endothelial-specific promoter were crossed with mice carrying a floxed PPARγ gene to produce endothelial PPARγ null mice (ePPARγ−/−). When compared with littermate controls, ePPARγ−/− animals were hypertensive at baseline and demonstrated comparable increases in systolic blood pressure in response to angiotensin II infusion. When compared with those of control animals, aortic ring relaxation responses to acetylcholine were impaired, whereas relaxation responses to sodium nitroprusside were unaffected in ePPARγ−/− mice. Similarly, intact aortic segments from ePPARγ−/− mice released less nitric oxide than those from controls, whereas endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression was similar in control and ePPARγ−/− aortas. Reduced nitric oxide production in ePPARγ−/− aortas was associated with an increase in the parameters of oxidative stress in the blood and the activation of nuclear factor-κB in aortic homogenates. These findings demonstrate that endothelial PPARγ regulates vascular nitric oxide production and that the disruption of endothelial PPARγ contributes to endothelial dysfunction in vivo.
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