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CCN2/connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), a CCN family matricellular protein repressed in healthy hearts after birth, is induced in heart failure of various etiologies. Multiple cellular and biological functions have been assigned to CCN2/CTGF depending on cellular context. However, the functions and mechanisms of action of CCN2/CTGF in the heart as well as its roles in cardiac physiology and pathophysiology remain unknown. Transgenic mice with cardiac-restricted overexpression of CTGF (Tg-CTGF) were generated and compared with nontransgenic littermate control (NLC) mice. Tg-CTGF mice displayed slightly lower cardiac mass and inconspicuous increase of myocardial collagen compared with NLC mice but no evidence of contractile dysfunction. Analysis of the myocardial transcriptome by DNA microarray revealed activation of several distinct gene programs in Tg-CTGF hearts involved in cardioprotection and growth inhibition. Indeed, Tg-CTGF mice subjected to ischemia-reperfusion injury by in situ transient occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery in vivo displayed reduced vulnerability with markedly diminished infarct size. These findings were recapitulated in isolated hearts perfused with recombinant human (h)CTGF before the ischemia-reperfusion procedure. Consistently, Tg-CTGF hearts, as well as isolated adult cardiac myocytes exposed to recombinant hCTGF, displayed enhanced phosphorylation and activity of the Akt/p70S6 kinase/GSK-3β salvage kinase pathway and induction of several genes with reported cardioprotective functions. Inhibition of Akt activities also prevented the cardioprotective phenotype of hearts from Tg-CTGF mice. This report provides novel evidence that CTGF confers cardioprotection by salvage phosphokinase signaling leading to inhibition of GSK-3β activities, activation of phospho-SMAD2, and reprogramming of gene expression.

Lund J, Hafstad AD, Boardman NT, Rossvoll L, Rolim NP, Ahmed MS, Florholmen G, Attramadal H, Wisløff U, Larsen TS, Aasum E. Exercise training promotes cardioprotection through oxygen-sparing action in high fat-fed mice. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 308: H823-H829, 2015. First published January 30, 2015; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00734.2014.-Although exercise training has been demonstrated to have beneficial cardiovascular effects in diabetes, the effect of exercise training on hearts from obese/diabetic models is unclear. In the present study, mice were fed a high-fat diet, which led to obesity, reduced aerobic capacity, development of mild diastolic dysfunction, and impaired glucose tolerance. Following 8 wk on high-fat diet, mice were assigned to 5 weekly high-intensity interval training (HIT) sessions (10 ϫ 4 min at 85-90% of maximum oxygen uptake) or remained sedentary for the next 10 constitutive weeks. HIT increased maximum oxygen uptake by 13%, reduced body weight by 16%, and improved systemic glucose homeostasis. Exercise training was found to normalize diastolic function, attenuate diet-induced changes in myocardial substrate utilization, and dampen cardiac reactive oxygen species content and fibrosis. These changes were accompanied by normalization of obesity-related impairment of mechanical efficiency due to a decrease in work-independent myocardial oxygen consumption. Finally, we found HIT to reduce infarct size by 47% in ex vivo hearts subjected to ischemia-reperfusion. This study therefore demonstrated for the first time that exercise training mediates cardioprotection following ischemia in diet-induced obese mice and that this was associated with oxygen-sparing effects. These findings highlight the importance of optimal myocardial energetics during ischemic stress. cardiac efficiency; myocardial oxygen consumption; mechanoenergetics; high-intensity exercise; diet-induced obesity THERE HAS BEEN a dramatic transition from physical activity to sedentary lifestyle during the last century. This has resulted in an epidemic increase in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, obesity, and diabetes, all of which increase the risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic disorders (15, 42). Cardiovascular diseases are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in type 2 diabetic patients (25) who are at higher risk of developing heart failure, angina, acute myocardial infarction, and dying from an acute myocardial infarction (2).Diabetes-related cardiac complications are due to increased coronary artery disease as well as the development of a specific diabetic cardiomyopathy characterized by ventricular dysfunction in the absence of coronary artery disease or hypertension (24). Although the pathogenesis of diabetes/obesity-related cardiomyopathy is multifactorial and complex, decreased cardiac efficiency seems to play an essential role and is an early hallmark of the diabetic heart (5, 9, 22, 36).Physical training is a well-documented measure to reduce the development of obesity/diabetes, as well as an effec...