NO plays critical roles in vascular function. We show that modulation of the eNOS serine 1179 (S1179) phosphorylation site affects vascular reactivity and determines stroke size in vivo. Transgenic mice expressing only a phosphomimetic (S1179D) form of eNOS show greater vascular reactivity, develop less severe strokes, and have improved cerebral blood flow in a middle cerebral artery occlusion model than mice expressing an unphosphorylatable (S1179A) form. These results provide a molecular mechanism by which multiple diverse cardiovascular risks, such as diabetes and obesity, may be centrally integrated by eNOS phosphorylation in vivo to influence blood flow and cardiovascular disease. They also demonstrate the in vivo relevance of posttranslational modification of eNOS in vascular function.
Dmitriy N. Atochin, Annie Wang, Victor W.T. Liu, Jeffrey D. Critchlow, Ana Paula V. Dantas, Robin Looft-Wilson, Takahisa Murata, Salvatore Salomone, Hwa Kyoung Shin, Cenk Ayata, Michael A. Moskowitz, Thomas Michel, William C. Sessa, Paul L. Huang
Single gene mutations in β integrins can account for functional defects of individual cells of the hematopoietic system. In humans, mutations in β2 integrin lead to leukocyte adhesion deficiency (LAD) syndrome and mutations in β3 integrin cause the bleeding disorder Glanzmann thrombasthenia. However, multiple defects in blood cells involving various β integrins (β1, β2, and β3) occur simultaneously in patients with the recently described LAD type III (LAD-III). Here we show that the product of a single gene, Ca2+ and diacylglycerol-regulated guanine nucleotide exchange factor I (CalDAG-GEFI), controlled the activation of all 3 integrins in the hematopoietic system. Neutrophils from CalDAG-GEFI–/– mice exhibited strong defects in Rap1 and β1 and β2 integrin activation while maintaining normal calcium flux, degranulation, and ROS generation. Neutrophils from CalDAG-GEFI–deficient mice failed to adhere firmly to stimulated venules and to migrate into sites of inflammation. Furthermore, CalDAG-GEFI regulated the activation of β1 and β3 integrins in platelets, and CalDAG-GEFI deficiency caused complete inhibition of arterial thrombus formation in mice. Thus, mice engineered to lack CalDAG-GEFI have a combination of defects in leukocyte and platelet functions similar to that of LAD-III patients.
Wolfgang Bergmeier, Tobias Goerge, Hong-Wei Wang, Jill R. Crittenden, Andrew C.W. Baldwin, Stephen M. Cifuni, David E. Housman, Ann M. Graybiel, Denisa D. Wagner
K-Cl cotransport activity in rbc is a major determinant of rbc volume and density. Pathologic activation of erythroid K-Cl cotransport activity in sickle cell disease contributes to rbc dehydration and cell sickling. To address the roles of individual K-Cl cotransporter isoforms in rbc volume homeostasis, we disrupted the Kcc1 and Kcc3 genes in mice. As rbc K-Cl cotransport activity was undiminished in Kcc1–/– mice, decreased in Kcc3–/– mice, and almost completely abolished in mice lacking both isoforms, we conclude that K-Cl cotransport activity of mouse rbc is mediated largely by KCC3. Whereas rbc of either Kcc1–/– or Kcc3–/– mice were of normal density, rbc of Kcc1–/–Kcc3–/– mice exhibited defective volume regulation, including increased mean corpuscular volume, decreased density, and increased susceptibility to osmotic lysis. K-Cl cotransport activity was increased in rbc of SAD mice, which are transgenic for a hypersickling human hemoglobin S variant. Kcc1–/–Kcc3–/– SAD rbc lacked nearly all K-Cl cotransport activity and exhibited normalized values of mean corpuscular volume, corpuscular hemoglobin concentration mean, and K+ content. Although disruption of K-Cl cotransport rescued the dehydration phenotype of most SAD rbc, the proportion of the densest red blood cell population remained unaffected.
Marco B. Rust, Seth L. Alper, York Rudhard, Boris E. Shmukler, Rubén Vicente, Carlo Brugnara, Marie Trudel, Thomas J. Jentsch, Christian A. Hübner
Platelets are critical for normal hemostasis. Their deregulation can lead to bleeding or to arterial thrombosis, a primary cause of heart attack and ischemic stroke. Src homology 2 domain–containing inositol 5-phosphatase 1 (SHIP1) is a 5-phosphatase capable of dephosphorylating the phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate second messenger into phosphatidylinositol 3,4-bisphosphate. SHIP1 plays a critical role in regulating the level of these 2 lipids in platelets. Using SHIP1-deficient mice, we found that its loss affects platelet aggregation in response to several agonists with minor effects on fibrinogen binding and β3 integrin tyrosine phosphorylation. Accordingly, SHIP1-null mice showed defects in arterial thrombus formation in response to a localized laser-induced injury. Moreover, these mice had a prolonged tail bleeding time. Upon stimulation, SHIP1-deficient platelets showed large membrane extensions, abnormalities in the open canalicular system, and a dramatic decrease in close cell-cell contacts. Interestingly, SHIP1 appeared to be required for platelet contractility, thrombus organization, and fibrin clot retraction. These data indicate that SHIP1 is an important element of the platelet signaling machinery to support normal hemostasis. To our knowledge, this is the first report unraveling an important function of SHIP1 in the activation of hematopoietic cells, in contrast to its well-documented role in the negative regulation of lymphocytes.
Sonia Séverin, Marie-Pierre Gratacap, Nadège Lenain, Laetitia Alvarez, Etienne Hollande, Josef M. Penninger, Christian Gachet, Monique Plantavid, Bernard Payrastre
Adhesion of platelets to an injured vessel wall and platelet activation are critical events in the formation of a thrombus. Of the agonists involved in platelet activation, thrombin, collagen, and vWF are known to induce in vitro calcium mobilization in platelets. Using a calcium-sensitive fluorochrome and digital multichannel intravital microscopy to image unstimulated and stimulated platelets, calcium mobilization was monitored as a reporter of platelet activation (as distinct from platelet accumulation) during thrombus formation in live mice. In the absence of vWF, platelet activation was normal, but platelet adherence and aggregation were attenuated during thrombus formation following laser-induced injury in the cremaster muscle microcirculation. In WT mice treated with lepirudin, platelet activation was blocked, and platelet adherence and aggregation were inhibited. The kinetics of platelet activation and platelet accumulation were similar in FcRγ–/– mice lacking glycoprotein VI (GPVI), GPVI-depleted mice, and WT mice. Our results indicate that the tissue factor–mediated pathway of thrombin generation, but not the collagen-induced GPVI-mediated pathway, is the major pathway leading to platelet activation after laser-induced injury under the conditions employed. In the tissue factor–mediated pathway, vWF plays a role in platelet accumulation during thrombus formation but is not required for platelet activation in vivo.
Christophe Dubois, Laurence Panicot-Dubois, Justin F. Gainor, Barbara C. Furie, Bruce Furie
The regulation of HSC proliferation and engraftment of the BM is an important but poorly understood process, particularly during ontogeny. Here we show that in mice, all HSCs are cycling until 3 weeks after birth. Then, within 1 week, most became quiescent. Prior to 4 weeks of age, the proliferating HSCs with long-term multilineage repopulating activity displayed an engraftment defect when transiting S/G2/M. During these cell cycle phases, their expression of CXC chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12; also referred to as stromal cell–derived factor 1 [SDF-1]) transiently increased. The defective engrafting activity of HSCs in S/G2/M was reversed when cells were allowed to progress into G1 prior to injection or when the hosts (but not the cells) were pretreated with a CXCL12 antagonist. Interestingly, the enhancing effect of CXCL12 antagonist pretreatment was exclusive to transplants of long-term multilineage repopulating HSCs in S/G2/M. These results demonstrate what we believe to be a new HSC regulatory checkpoint during development. They also suggest an ability of HSCs to express CXCL12 in a fashion that changes with cell cycle progression and is associated with a defective engraftment that can be overcome by in vivo administration of a CXCL12 antagonist.
Michelle B. Bowie, Kristen D. McKnight, David G. Kent, Lindsay McCaffrey, Pamela A. Hoodless, Connie J. Eaves
Inhibitory immune response to exogenously infused factor VIII (FVIII) is a major complication in the treatment of hemophilia A. Generation of such inhibitors has the potential to disrupt gene therapy for hemophilia A. We explore what we believe to be a novel approach to overcome this shortcoming. Human B-domain–deleted FVIII (hBDDFVIII) was expressed under the control of the platelet-specific αIIb promoter in platelets of hemophilic (FVIIInull) mice to create 2bF8trans mice. The FVIII transgene product was stored in platelets and released at the site of platelet activation. In spite of the lack of FVIII in the plasma of 2bF8trans mice, the bleeding phenotype of FVIIInull mice was corrected. More importantly, the bleeding phenotype was corrected in the presence of high inhibitory antibody titers introduced into the mice by infusion or by spleen cell transfer from recombinant hBDDFVIII–immunized mice. Our results demonstrate that this approach to the targeted expression of FVIII in platelets has the potential to correct hemophilia A, even in the presence of inhibitory immune responses to infused FVIII.
Qizhen Shi, David A. Wilcox, Scot A. Fahs, Hartmut Weiler, Clive W. Wells, Brian C. Cooley, Drashti Desai, Patricia A. Morateck, Jack Gorski, Robert R. Montgomery
Caveolae in endothelial cells have been implicated as plasma membrane microdomains that sense or transduce hemodynamic changes into biochemical signals that regulate vascular function. Therefore we compared long- and short-term flow-mediated mechanotransduction in vessels from WT mice, caveolin-1 knockout (Cav-1 KO) mice, and Cav-1 KO mice reconstituted with a transgene expressing Cav-1 specifically in endothelial cells (Cav-1 RC mice). Arterial remodeling during chronic changes in flow and shear stress were initially examined in these mice. Ligation of the left external carotid for 14 days to lower blood flow in the common carotid artery reduced the lumen diameter of carotid arteries from WT and Cav-1 RC mice. In Cav-1 KO mice, the decrease in blood flow did not reduce the lumen diameter but paradoxically increased wall thickness and cellular proliferation. In addition, in isolated pressurized carotid arteries, flow-mediated dilation was markedly reduced in Cav-1 KO arteries compared with those of WT mice. This impairment in response to flow was rescued by reconstituting Cav-1 into the endothelium. In conclusion, these results showed that endothelial Cav-1 and caveolae are necessary for both rapid and long-term mechanotransduction in intact blood vessels.
Jun Yu, Sonia Bergaya, Takahisa Murata, Ilkay F. Alp, Michael P. Bauer, Michelle I. Lin, Marek Drab, Teymuras V. Kurzchalia, Radu V. Stan, William C. Sessa
Transgenic sickle mice expressing βS hemoglobin have activated vascular endothelium that exhibits enhanced expression of NF-κB and adhesion molecules that promote vascular stasis in sickle, but not in normal, mice in response to hypoxia/reoxygenation. Sickle mice hemolyze rbcs in vivo as demonstrated by increased reticulocyte counts, plasma hemoglobin and bilirubin, and reduced plasma haptoglobin. The heme content is elevated in sickle organs, which promotes vascular inflammation and heme oxygenase-1 expression. Treatment of sickle mice with hemin further increases heme oxygenase-1 expression and inhibits hypoxia/reoxygenation–induced stasis, leukocyte-endothelium interactions, and NF-κB, VCAM-1, and ICAM-1 expression. Heme oxygenase inhibition by tin protoporphyrin exacerbates stasis in sickle mice. Furthermore, treatment of sickle mice with the heme oxygenase enzymatic product carbon monoxide or biliverdin inhibits stasis and NF-κB, VCAM-1, and ICAM-1 expression. Local administration of heme oxygenase-1 adenovirus to subcutaneous skin increases heme oxygenase-1 and inhibits hypoxia/reoxygenation–induced stasis in the skin of sickle mice. Heme oxygenase-1 plays a vital role in the inhibition of vaso-occlusion in transgenic sickle mice.
John D. Belcher, Hemachandra Mahaseth, Thomas E. Welch, Leo E. Otterbein, Robert P. Hebbel,, Gregory M. Vercellotti
Anemia due to chronic disease or chemotherapy often is ameliorated by erythropoietin (Epo). Present studies reveal that, unlike steady-state erythropoiesis, erythropoiesis during anemia depends sharply on an Epo receptor–phosphotyrosine-343–Stat5 signaling axis. In mice expressing a phosphotyrosine-null (PY-null) Epo receptor allele (EpoR-HM), severe and persistent anemia was induced by hemolysis or 5-fluorouracil. In short-term transplantation experiments, donor EpoR-HM bone marrow cells also failed to efficiently repopulate the erythroid compartment. In each context, stress erythropoiesis was rescued to WT levels upon the selective restoration of an EpoR PY343 Stat5-binding site (EpoR-H allele). As studied using a unique primary culture system, EpoR-HM erythroblasts exhibited marked stage-specific losses in Epo-dependent growth and survival. EpoR-H PY343 signals restored efficient erythroblast expansion, and the selective Epo induction of the Stat5 target genes proviral integration site-1 (Pim-1) and oncostatin-M. Bcl2-like 1 (Bcl-x), in contrast, was not significantly induced via WT-EpoR, EpoR-HM, or EpoR-H alleles. In Kit+CD71+ erythroblasts, EpoR-PY343 signals furthermore enhanced SCF growth effects, and SCF modulation of Pim-1 kinase and oncostatin-M expression. In maturing Kit–CD71+ erythroblasts, oncostatin-M exerted antiapoptotic effects that likewise depended on EpoR PY343–mediated events. Stress erythropoiesis, therefore, requires stage-specific EpoR-PY343-Stat5 signals, some of which selectively bolster SCF and oncostatin-M action.
Madhu P. Menon, Vinit Karur, Olga Bogacheva, Oleg Bogachev, Bethany Cuetara, Don M. Wojchowski