Apoptosis of arterial smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) could play an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and restenosis. Recent studies have demonstrated that extracellular adenosine induces apoptosis in various cell types. Our aim was to delineate the capacity of this nucleoside to induce ASMC apoptosis in arterial diseases. We demonstrate that adenosine dose-dependently triggers apoptosis of cultured human ASMCs. Apoptotic cell death was quantified by analysis of nuclear chromatin morphology and characterized by DNA laddering. The involvement of adenosine receptors was suggested, because neither an adenosine deaminase inhibitor, erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl) adenine hydrochloride, nor an inhibitor of cellular nucleoside transport, dipyridamole, was able to inhibit adenosine-induced ASMC apoptosis. In contrast, an A(1)/A(2)-adenosine receptor antagonist, xanthine amine congener, totally inhibited adenosine-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, among more selective inhibitors of P(1) purinoceptor subtypes, only alloxazine, an antagonist of A(1)- and A(2)-adenosine receptors, completely inhibited adenosine-induced ASMC apoptosis, suggesting that adenosine triggers ASMC apoptosis via either 1 or both of these receptors. However, 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine, 8-(3-chlorostyryl) caffeine, and 3-ethyl-5-benzyl-2-methyl-4-phenylethynyl-6-phenyl-1, 4-(+/-)-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate, which are A(1)-, A(2a)-, and A(3)-adenosine receptor antagonists, did not inhibit adenosine-induced apoptosis, suggesting an involvement of the A(2b)-receptor in this process. Moreover, the cAMP increase followed by cAMP-dependent protein kinase activation appears essential to mediate adenosine-induced ASMC apoptosis, thus confirming the previous hypothesis. These results indicate that adenosine-induced apoptosis of ASMCs is essentially mediated via A(2b)-adenosine receptor and involves a cAMP-dependent pathway.
Key Points Maturation of vascular endothelial growth factor–induced new vessels in cornea involves a PDGF-Shh axis. Shh promotes PDGF-BB–mediated SMC migration by inducing ERK1/2 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase γ activation and increased motility.
Abstract-Many factors have been shown to be involved in the development of hyperplasic lesions of vessels, but the role of extracellular nucleotides remains largely unknown. The presence of P2Y and P2X nucleotide receptors on arterial endothelial and smooth muscle cells suggests a potential role for nucleotides in the vessel pathophysiology. Although the role of P2X in physiology of vessels is well documented, that of P2Y is not completely understood. We recently demonstrated that extracellular nucleotides, and particularly UTP, induced migration of cultured arterial smooth muscle cells (ASMCs). This migration is dependent on osteopontin expression and involves the Rho and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathways. An important question is to determine the specific role of the different P2Y receptors of rat ASMCs in the UTP-induced migration process. Therefore, we first quantified mRNA levels of P2Y 2 , P2Y 4 , and P2Y 6 nucleotide receptors in cultured rat ASMCs by a competitive RT-PCR approach and demonstrated that P2Y 2 is the most highly expressed among these receptors potentially involved in the UTP-mediated response. In addition to UTP, UDP also induced ASMC migration even when UTP regeneration was inhibited, suggesting the involvement of UDP receptor P2Y 6 . Moreover, suramin, a specific antagonist of rat P2Y 2 receptor, acted as an inhibitor of UTP-induced migration. Taken together, these results suggest a prominent role for the UTP receptor, P2Y 2 , and for the UDP receptor, Key Words: purinergic receptors Ⅲ migration Ⅲ UTP Ⅲ smooth muscle cells T he important role of arterial smooth muscle cell (ASMC) migration and proliferation in arterial hyperplasia is well documented in experimental models for atherosclerosis and restenosis. 1 Although proliferation can be easily demonstrated in arterial injury models, evidence for in vivo ASMC migration is suggested only by the presence of these cells in the intima.Many factors have been shown to be involved in the development of hyperplasic lesions of vessels. 2 Among these, the role of extracellular nucleotides remains largely unknown. Two families of receptors have been identified for these compounds: inotropic P2X receptors and metabotropic P2Y receptors. The presence of P2Y and P2X receptors on endothelial and ASMCs suggests a potential role for nucleotides in the arterial pathophysiology. Although the role of P2X receptors in vasomotoricity of vessels is well documented, that of P2Y receptors in the vessel wall is still under investigation.Several studies have shown that ATP and UTP binding to P2Y G protein-coupled receptors mediates ASMC activation, 3 cell-cycle progression, 4 and cell proliferation. 5,6 Moreover, we recently demonstrated that UTP induces ASMC migration and that this migration is dependent on osteopontin expression and involves the Rho and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathways. 7 The overexpression of the ATP/UTP P2Y 2 receptor in ASMCs of rat aortic intimal lesion 8 and in ASMCs of human coronary atherosclerotic/restenotic ...
Rationale: Blood vessel growth and patterning have been shown to be regulated by nerve-derived signals. Desert hedgehog (Dhh), one of the Hedgehog family members, is expressed by Schwann cells of peripheral nerves. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of Dhh to angiogenesis in the setting of ischemia. Methods and Results: We induced hindlimb ischemia in wild-type and Dhh –/– mice. First, we found that limb perfusion is significantly impaired in the absence of Dhh. This effect is associated with a significant decrease in capillary and artery density in Dhh –/– . By using mice in which the Hedgehog signaling pathway effector Smoothened was specifically invalidated in endothelial cells, we demonstrated that Dhh does not promote angiogenesis by a direct activation of endothelial cells. On the contrary, we found that Dhh promotes peripheral nerve survival in the ischemic muscle and, by doing so, maintains the pool of nerve-derived proangiogenic factors. Consistently, we found that denervation of the leg, immediately after the onset of ischemia, severely impairs ischemia-induced angiogenesis and decreases expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A, angiopoietin 1, and neurotrophin 3 in the ischemic muscle. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the crucial roles of nerves and factors regulating nerve physiology in the setting of ischemia-induced angiogenesis.
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