Introduction:
Shear stress forces play an integral role in dictating the endothelial cell (EC) response to changes in blood flow, pro-inflammatory response and hence development of atherosclerosis. Previously, our group has identified EC microRNA-155 (miR-155) as one of the key signature dysregulated miRNAs in areas of chronic low magnitude oscillatory shear stress (OSS) in vasculature and OSS models of in-vitro.
Hypothesis:
we hypothesized that acute induction of OSS mediates EC oxidative stress, inflammation and dysfunction, via dysregulation of EC miR-155.
Methods:
12-week old C57B/6J mice were subjected to abdominal aortic coarctation (AAC), a unique model of acute induction of OSS, for 3 days and downstream segments of acute OSS were compared to upstream unidirectional shear stress (USS) segments of the thoracic aorta.
Results:
Acute OSS resulted in down regulation of EC miR-155 expression and inverse upregulation of EC RhoA and Myosin light chain kinase (MYLK), known targets of miR-155-mediated EC cytoskeleton organization, in OSS segments compared with USS. This was associated with impaired EC dependent relaxation, differential contractile response to phenylephrine, and loss of EC barrier function as evaluated by extravasation of Evans-blue dye assay. In parallel, En-face immunohistochemical staining also showed increased expression of EC nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) along with increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrotyrosine (NY) formation in OSS segments compared with USS.
Conclusions:
Together, our studies shed light on the early changes in EC response to acute induction of OSS and resulting down-regulation of EC mir-155, including; oxidative/inflammatory stress, EC dysfunction, loss of barrier function and cytoskeletal changes. Despite the early upregulation of eNOS, it could also potentially synergize with the activation of the RhoA-MYLK pathway in EC oxidative (ROS/NY)/inflammatory stress and associated EC dysfunction. Further studies are in progress to dissect the interplay between these different pathways and their causal relationships as downstream targets of EC miR-155.
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