0122: The serotonergic system in pathological human cardiac valves. What is the role of progenitors cells expressing the 5-HT2B receptor?

Many compounds (pergolide, cabergoline, fenfluramine, ectasy) were described as inducers of fibrotic valvular lesions, a rare but severe drug reaction. All these drugs share in common the pharmacological property to activate a serotonergic receptor subtype, the 5HT2B. Together with the well known “carcinoid heart” that is a valvulopathy due to high amounts of circulating serotonin, these observations lead to the hypothesis that cardiac valves express a “serotonergic system” that could be activated by 5-HT or 5-HTR agonists. The aim of this work was to characterize the pattern of expression of 5-HT2A,2B,4 receptors, the serotonin transporter (SERT) and the biosynthesis peripheral enzyme (Tph1) in various valvulopathies. Thirty degenerated human valves were collected: 11 calcified aortic valves (CAV), 5 sclerotic aortic valves (SAV), 11 dystrophic mitral valves (DMV). They were analyzed by RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistery. All samples express 5HT2A,2B,4 receptors, SERT and Tph1. In these valve tissues, the amount of 5HT2B receptor (5HT2B R) mRNA is higher than the 5HT2A one (5HT2A R) : Δ Ct (5HT2B R -18S) = 12,53±1,12 vs Δ Ct (5HT2A R -18S) = 15,95±2,37 for CAV, Δ Ct (5HT2B R -18S) = 13,04±2,62 vs Δ Ct (5HT2A R - 18S)=16,00±1,46 for SAV, Δ Ct (5HT2B R -18S) = 12,34±0,77 vs Δ Ct (5HT2A R -18S) = 16,14±0,86 for DMV. The amounts of SERT, Tph1 and 5HT4 receptor mRNA are negligible whatever valve and etiology. At a topographical point of view, 5HT2BR expression is found in endothelial cells (at the valve surface) but also inside valve lesions, by interstitial cells (smooth muscle α-actin and vimentin positive cells) located in an abundant glycosaminoglycan matrix. Characterization of these cells is in progress. In particular, we characterize the high amount CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors that are highly present in fibromyxoid lesions. To summarize, 5HT2A,2B,4 receptors, SERT and Tph1 are expressed in aortic and mitral diseased valves. The amounts of 5HT2A,2B R mRNA are equal between mitral and aortic valves. The contribution of the two 5-HT2 receptors in valve degeneration is now under investigation whatever the pathological process considered

Ablation of SGK1 Impairs Endothelial Cell Migration and Tube Formation Leading to Decreased Neo-Angiogenesis Following Myocardial Infarction

Serum and glucocorticoid inducible kinase 1 (SGK1) plays a pivotal role in early angiogenesis during embryonic development. In this study, we sought to define the SGK1 downstream signalling pathways in the adult heart and to elucidate their role in cardiac neo-angiogenesis and wound healing after myocardial ischemia. To this end, we employed a viable SGK1 knockout mouse model generated in a 129/SvJ background. Ablation of SGK1 in these mice caused a significant decrease in phosphorylation of SGK1 target protein NDRG1, which correlated with alterations in NF-κB signalling and expression of its downstream target protein, VEGF-A. Disruption of these signalling pathways was accompanied by smaller heart and body size. Moreover, the lack of SGK1 led to defective endothelial cell (ECs) migration and tube formation in vitro, and increased scarring with decreased angiogenesis in vivo after myocardial infarct. This study underscores the importance of SGK1 signalling in cardiac neo-angiogenesis and wound healing after an ischemic insult in vivo

How Does Circadian Rhythm Impact Salt Sensitivity of Blood Pressure in Mice? A Study in Two Close C57Bl/6 Substrains

Background Mouse transgenesis has provided the unique opportunity to investigate mechanisms underlying sodium kidney reabsorption as well as end organ damage. However, understanding mouse background and the experimental conditions effects on phenotypic readouts of engineered mouse lines such as blood pressure presents a challenge. Despite the ability to generate high sodium and chloride plasma levels during high-salt diet, observed changes in blood pressure are not consistent between wild-type background strains and studies. Methods The present work was designed in an attempt to determine guidelines in the field of saltinduced hypertension by recording continuously blood pressure by telemetry in mice submitted to different sodium and potassium loaded diets and changing experimental conditions in both C57BL/6N and C57BL/6J mice strain (Normal salt vs. Low salt vs. High-salt/normal potassium vs. High salt/low potassium, standard vs. modified light cycle, Non-invasive tail cuff blood pressure vs. telemetry). Results In this study, we have shown that, despite a strong blood pressure (BP) basal difference between C57BL/6N and C57BL/6J mice, High salt/normal potassium diet increases BP and heart rate during the active phase only (dark period) in the same extent in both strains. On the other hand, while potassium level has no effect on salt-induced hypertension in C57BL/6N mice, high-salt/low potassium diet amplifies the effect of the high-salt challenge only in C57BL/6J mice. Indeed, in this condition, salt-induced hypertension can also be detected during light period even though this BP increase is lower compared to the one occurring during the dark period. Finally, from a methodological perspective, light cycle inversion has no effect on this circadian BP phenotype and tail-cuff method is less sensitive than telemetry to detect BP phenotypes due to salt challenges. Conclusions Therefore, to carry investigations on salt-induced hypertension in mice, chronic telemetry and studies in the active phase are essential prerequisites

A subpopulation of smooth muscle cells, derived from melanocyte-competent precursors, prevents patent ductus arteriosus

BACKGROUND: Patent ductus arteriosus is a life-threatening condition frequent in premature newborns but also present in some term infants. Current mouse models of this malformation generally lead to perinatal death, not reproducing the full phenotypic spectrum in humans, in whom genetic inheritance appears complex. The ductus arteriosus (DA), a temporary fetal vessel that bypasses the lungs by shunting the aortic arch to the pulmonary artery, is constituted by smooth muscle cells of distinct origins (SMC1 and SMC2) and many fewer melanocytes. To understand novel mechanisms preventing DA closure at birth, we evaluated the importance of cell fate specification in SMC that form the DA during embryonic development. Upon specific Tyr::Cre-driven activation of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling at the time of cell fate specification, melanocytes replaced the SMC2 population of the DA, suggesting that SMC2 and melanocytes have a common precursor. The number of SMC1 in the DA remained similar to that in controls, but insufficient to allow full DA closure at birth. Thus, there was no cellular compensation by SMC1 for the loss of SMC2. Mice in which only melanocytes were genetically ablated after specification from their potential common precursor with SMC2, demonstrated that differentiated melanocytes themselves do not affect DA closure. Loss of the SMC2 population, independent of the presence of melanocytes, is therefore a cause of patent ductus arteriosus and premature death in the first months of life. Our results indicate that patent ductus arteriosus can result from the insufficient differentiation, proliferation, or contractility of a specific smooth muscle subpopulation that shares a common neural crest precursor with cardiovascular melanocytes

Nat Genet

The function of the majority of genes in the mouse and human genomes remains unknown. The mouse embryonic stem cell knockout resource provides a basis for the characterization of relationships between genes and phenotypes. The EUMODIC consortium developed and validated robust methodologies for the broad-based phenotyping of knockouts through a pipeline comprising 20 disease-oriented platforms. We developed new statistical methods for pipeline design and data analysis aimed at detecting reproducible phenotypes with high power. We acquired phenotype data from 449 mutant alleles, representing 320 unique genes, of which half had no previous functional annotation. We captured data from over 27,000 mice, finding that 83% of the mutant lines are phenodeviant, with 65% demonstrating pleiotropy. Surprisingly, we found significant differences in phenotype annotation according to zygosity. New phenotypes were uncovered for many genes with previously unknown function, providing a powerful basis for hypothesis generation and further investigation in diverse systems.Comment in : Genetic differential calculus. [Nat Genet. 2015] Comment in : Scaling up phenotyping studies. [Nat Biotechnol. 2015

Claude Bernard et les récepteurs nicotiniques : de la jonction neuromusculaire au sevrage tabagique

Claude Bernard (1813–1878) avait une passion pour l'étude du mode d'action des poisons. Dans des expériences riches d'imagination et de méthodologie, il précisa l'action périphérique à l'origine de la paralysie mortelle induite par le curare. Ses travaux ont généré des débats scientifiques dans une période où les développements méthodologique et technique s'adaptaient à l'évolution des connaissances. De ses débats animés avec Albert Vulpian naquit la notion de toxicité de ces poisons pour la jonction neuromusculaire. Ces deux brillants chercheurs ne mesuraient pas l'ampleur de leurs découvertes puisqu'elles permirent à John Langley, un physiologiste anglais, de proposer, toujours sur le même système biologique, le concept de récepteur au début du 20e siècle. Au même moment l'immunologiste allemand Paul Ehrlich évoquait le ciblage de ces récepteurs par des drogues pour développer des médicaments. On découvrit plus tard le substrat moléculaire de ces effets comme étant le récepteur nicotinique de la plaque motrice. Grâce à ces travaux, nous disposons maintenant de bloqueurs de ces récepteurs avec les différentes familles de curares utilisés en anesthésie. Le sugammadex est l'antidote de deux d'entre eux dont peut-être Claude Bernard avait rêvé. Nous disposons aussi d'agonistes nicotiniques agissant dans le système nerveux central. La varénicline, un agoniste partiel, est maintenant à disposition des malades pour le sevrage tabagique. Cette histoire riche nous montre à quel point la recherche biomédicale se nourrit de collaborations, d'imagination, de clairvoyance mais aussi les conséquences qu'elle peut avoir à distance, sans que le chercheur puisse réellement mesurer toute la portée de ses travaux

Effets du blocage du récepteur 5-HT2b dans le remodelage myocardique et l'hémodynamique cardiovasculaire dans un modèle expérimental d'hypertrophie cardiaque et de dysfonction diastolique induite par l'hypertension artérielle chez le rat

STRASBOURG-Medecine (674822101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Kinetic mRNA Profiling in a Rat Model of Left-Ventricular Hypertrophy Reveals Early Expression of Chemokines and Their Receptors

Left-ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), a risk factor for heart failure and death, is characterized by cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, interstitial cell proliferation, and leukocyte infiltration. Chemokines interacting with G protein-coupled chemokine receptors may play a role in LVH development by promoting recruitment of activated leukocytes or modulating left-ventricular remodeling. Using a pressure overload-induced kinetic model of LVH in rats, we examined during 14 days the expression over time of chemokine and chemokine receptor mRNAs in left ventricles from aortic-banded vs sham-operated animals. Two phases were clearly distinguished: an inflammatory phase (D3-D5) with overexpression of inflammatory genes such as il-1ß, tnfa, nlrp3, and the rela subunit of nf-kb, and a hypertrophic phase (D7-D14) where anp overexpression was accompanied by a heart weight/body weight ratio that increased by more than 20% at D14. No cardiac dysfunction was detectable by echocardiography at the latter time point. Of the 36 chemokines and 20 chemokine receptors analyzed by a Taqman Low Density Array panel, we identified at D3 (the early inflammatory phase) overexpression of mRNAs for the monocyte chemotactic proteins CCL2 (12-fold increase), CCL7 (7-fold increase), and CCL12 (3-fold increase), for the macrophage inflammatory proteins CCL3 (4-fold increase), CCL4 (2-fold increase), and CCL9 (2-fold increase), for their receptors CCR2 (4-fold increase), CCR1 (3-fold increase), and CCR5 (3-fold increase), and for CXCL1 (8-fold increase) and CXCL16 (2-fold increase). During the hypertrophic phase mRNA expression of chemokines and receptors returned to the baseline levels observed at D0. Hence, this first exhaustive study of chemokine and chemokine receptor mRNA expression kinetics reports early expression of monocyte/macrophage-related chemokines and their receptors during the development of LVH in rats, followed by regulation of inflammation as LVH progresses

Cardiovascular remodeling and the peripheral serotonergic system

International audiencePlasma 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; serotonin), released from blood platelets, plays a major role in the human cardiovascular system. Besides the effect of endogenous serotonin, many drugs targeting serotonergic receptors are widely used in the general population (antiobesity agents, antidepressants, antipsychotics, antimigraine agents), and may enhance the cardiovascular risk. Depending on the type of serotonin receptor activated and its location, the use of these compounds triggers acute and chronic effects. The acute cardiovascular response to 5-HT, named the Bezold-Jarish reflex, leads to intense bradycardia associated with atrioventricular block, and involves 5-HT3, 5-HT1B/1D, 5-HT7 and 5-HT2A/2B receptors. The chronic contribution of 5-HT and its receptors (5-HT4 and 5-HT2A/2B) in cardiovascular tissue remodeling, with a particular emphasis on cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis and valve degeneration, will be explored in this review. Finally, through the analysis of the effects of sarpogrelate, some new aspects of 5-HT2A receptor pharmacology in vasomotor tone regulation and the interaction between endothelial and smooth muscle cells will also be discussed. The aim of this review is to emphasize the cardiac side effects caused by serotonin receptor activation, and to highlight their possible prevention by the development of new drugs targeting this system