Vascular calcification contributes to the high risk of cardiovascular mortality in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Dysregulation of calcium (Ca) and phosphate (P) metabolism is common in CKD patients, and drives vascular calcification. In this article, we review the physiological regulatory mechanisms for Ca and P homeostasis and the basis for their dysregulation in CKD. In addition, we highlight recent findings indicating that elevated Ca and P have direct effects on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) that promote vascular calcification, including stimulation of osteo/chondrogenic differentiation, vesicle release, apoptosis, loss of inhibitors, and ECM matrix degradation. These studies suggest a major role for elevated P in promoting osteo/chondrogenic differentiation of VSMC, whereas elevated Ca has a predominant role in promoting VSMC apoptosis and vesicle release. Furthermore, the effects of elevated Ca and P are synergistic providing a major stimulus for vascular calcification in CKD. Unravelling the complex regulatory pathways that mediate the effects of both Ca and P on VSMCs will ultimately provide novel targets and therapies to limit the destructive effects of vascular calcification in CKD patients.

Rationale: Matrix vesicles (MVs), secreted by vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), form the first nidus for mineralization and fetuin-A, a potent circulating inhibitor of calcification, is specifically loaded into MVs. However, the processes of fetuin-A intracellular trafficking and MV biogenesis are poorly understood. Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the regulation, and role, of MV biogenesis in VSMC calcification. Methods and Results: Alexa488-labeled fetuin-A was internalized by human VSMCs, trafficked via the endosomal system, and exocytosed from multivesicular bodies via exosome release. VSMC-derived exosomes were enriched with the tetraspanins CD9, CD63, and CD81, and their release was regulated by sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3. Comparative proteomics showed that VSMC-derived exosomes were compositionally similar to exosomes from other cell sources but also shared components with osteoblast-derived MVs including calcium-binding and extracellular matrix proteins. Elevated extracellular calcium was found to induce sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3 expression and the secretion of calcifying exosomes from VSMCs in vitro, and chemical inhibition of sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3 prevented VSMC calcification. In vivo, multivesicular bodies containing exosomes were observed in vessels from chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis, and CD63 was found to colocalize with calcification. Importantly, factors such as tumor necrosis factor-α and platelet derived growth factor-BB were also found to increase exosome production, leading to increased calcification of VSMCs in response to calcifying conditions. Conclusions: This study identifies MVs as exosomes and shows that factors that can increase exosome release can promote vascular calcification in response to environmental calcium stress. Modulation of the exosome release pathway may be as a novel therapeutic target for prevention.

Objectives: To determine the mechanisms that promote mineralization of VSMC-MVs in response to calcium stress. Methods and Results: Transmission electron microscopy showed that both nonmineralized and mineralizedMVs were abundantly deposited in the extracellular matrix at sites of calcification. Using cultured human VSMCs, we showed that MV mineralization is calcium dependent and can be inhibited by BAPTA-AM. MVs released by VSMCs in response to extracellular calcium lacked the key mineralization inhibitor matrix Gla protein and showed enhanced matrix metalloproteinase-2 activity. Proteomics revealed that VSMC-MVs share similarities with chondrocyte-derived MVs, including enrichment of the calcium-binding proteins annexins (Anx) A2, A5, and A6. Biotin cross-linking and flow cytometry demonstrated that in response to calcium, AnxA6 shuttled to the plasma membrane and was selectively enriched in MVs. AnxA6 was also abundant at sites of vascular calcification in vivo, and small interfering RNA depletion of AnxA6 reduced VSMC mineralization. Flow cytometry showed that in addition to AnxA6, calcium induced phosphatidylserine exposure on the MV surface, thus providing hydroxyapatite nucleation sites. Conclusions:In contrast to the coordinated signaling response observed in chondrocyte MVs, mineralization of VSMC-MVs is a pathological response to disturbed intracellular calcium homeostasis that leads to inhibitor depletion and the formation of AnxA6/phosphatidylserine nucleation complexes. (Circ Res. 2011;109:e1-e12.) Key Words: matrix vesicles Ⅲ annexin Ⅲ calcification Ⅲ vascular smooth muscle cells Ⅲ calcium Ⅲ proteomics V ascular calcification is the deposition of apatite mineral in the medial or intimal layers of the vessel wall and is a clinically significant pathology in atherosclerosis, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and aging. Once established, vascular calcification is progressive, particularly in association with raised levels of extracellular mineral ions such as calcium and phosphate. 1 Recent nuclear magnetic resonance studies have shown that the structural organization of the molecular components of vascular mineralizations are identical to those in bone. 2,3 This implies mechanistic similarities during the earliest phases of initiation of mineral nucleation in both tissues.During developmental osteogenesis/chondrogenesis, specialized membrane-bound bodies called matrix vesicles (MVs), which originate from the plasma membrane of chondrocytes and osteoblasts, serve as nucleation sites for hydroxyapatite. 4 In cartilage, MV production occurs throughout the growth plate, but MVs are "mineralization competent" only in the hypertrophic zone. 4 This transition is induced by an intracellular calcium signal that initiates changes in gene transcription and the subsequent release of MVs that are able to nucleate mineral to form hydroxyapatite nanocrystals. 5 Mineralization-competent MVs are enriched with the calcium-binding annexins (Anx) A2, A5, and A6 and surface Original received December 8, 2010; revisi...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to tissue damage and remodelling mediated by the inflammatory response after injury. Here we show that ROS, which promote axonal dieback and degeneration after injury, are also required for axonal regeneration and functional recovery after spinal injury. We find that ROS production in the injured sciatic nerve and dorsal root ganglia requires CX3CR1-dependent recruitment of inflammatory cells. Next, exosomes containing functional NADPH oxidase 2 complexes are released from macrophages and incorporated into injured axons via endocytosis. Once in axonal endosomes, active NOX2 is retrogradely transported to the cell body through an importin-β1-dynein-dependent mechanism. Endosomal NOX2 oxidizes PTEN, which leads to its inactivation, thus stimulating PI3K-phosporylated (p-)Akt signalling and regenerative outgrowth. Challenging the view that ROS are exclusively involved in nerve degeneration, we propose a previously unrecognized role of ROS in mammalian axonal regeneration through a NOX2-PI3K-p-Akt signalling pathway.