© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.
Articles |
Effect of Mechanical Forces on Growth and Matrix Protein Synthesis in the In Vitro Pulmonary Artery
Analysis of the Role of Individual Cell Types
From the Department of Pediatrics (V.K., W.H.W., T.J.K.), Division of Pediatric Cardiology, and the Department of Pathology (M.D.R., D.G.), University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor.
Correspondence to Dr Thomas J. Kulik, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Michigan Hospitals, MCHC F 1310, Box 0204, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0204.
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Abstract |
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Abstract The effect of mechanical stimuli on pulmonary artery growth and matrix tissue synthesis (and how individual cell types in the vessel wall respond to such stimuli) is incompletely characterized. Rabbit pulmonary arteries were placed in tissue culture medium and subjected to varying magnitudes of stretch or hydrostatic pressure (separately) for 4 days. The rate of protein synthesis in smooth muscle cells (by quantitative autoradiography) was positively related to the magnitude of stretch, as were the percentage of procollagen type I–positive cells and the rate of cell replication. In adventitial fibroblasts, stretch increased the rate of replication but not of protein synthesis. Hydrostatic pressure had little or no effect on the variables measured in either smooth muscle cells or fibroblasts. Stretch also increased the rate of elastin and collagen synthesis in the whole pulmonary artery segment, and after 4 days of stretch, the contents of actin and elastin were increased. Removal of the endothelium did not affect stretch-induced protein, collagen, or elastin synthesis but augmented stretch-induced smooth muscle replication. These data suggest that in the intact pulmonary artery, stretch, but not pressure, can stimulate hypertrophy and hyperplasia in smooth muscle cells and hyperplasia in fibroblasts. Matrix protein synthesis and accumulation are also increased by stretch. Neither stretch-mediated growth nor matrix protein synthesis required endothelium in this model.
Key Words: mechanical stress • growth • pulmonary hypertension • vascular smooth muscle • autoradiography
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Introduction |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMaterials and MethodsResultsDiscussionReferences |
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Several pieces of data lend support to the notion that mechanical stimuli are important in modulating growth and matrix protein synthesis in pulmonary blood vessels: (1) Patients with heart lesions that increase PA pressure and flow develop pathological remodeling of the pulmonary vessels, whereas those with increased pulmonary blood flow but normal PA pressures are much less likely to do so, suggesting that increased intravascular pressure per se may stimulate medial hypertrophy and fibrosis.1 (2) Similar observations have been made in somewhat better-defined systems. For example, in the developing lamb, the pattern of tropoelastin mRNA expression in the PA closely parallels PA pressure.2 (3) Research has clearly shown stretch to modulate growth and phenotype in striated muscle in vitro.3 4 5 These observations, while suggestive, neither clearly establish a link between mechanical stimuli and alterations in pulmonary vascular biology nor specify in what way(s) such forces may alter PA structure and physiology.
In fact, several studies of cultured PA endothelial cells and SMCs suggest that mechanical forces may have little effect on growth and even inhibit it.6 7 8 However, such "negative" findings could be due to alterations in the biology of the cell related to culture: If the cell's response to mechanical forces depends on its shape, its orientation relative to the vector of the force, the matrix to which it adheres, and/or its interaction with other cell types, cell culture systems may be especially poor surrogates for in vivo conditions.4 9 There are only two published reports on the effect of mechanical stimuli in the intact PA in vitro.10 11 Both indicate that stretch of short duration (4 hours) causes an endothelium-dependent increase in matrix protein synthesis in PA segments in vitro. These experiments confirm that stretch can affect collagen and elastin expression in the intact PA but leave multiple essential questions unanswered: (1) The effect of mechanical forces on growth (hypertrophy and hyperplasia) of the cellular constituents of the intact PA is unreported. (2) Because previous analyses have not separated the media from the adventitia, it is not known whether SMCs or fibroblasts (or both) account for the stretch-induced increase in matrix protein synthesis. In vivo studies demonstrate that PA SMCs and adventitial fibroblasts respond in temporally and spatially distinct ways to hypoxia-induced PA hypertension,12 13 14 suggesting that SMCs and fibroblasts may respond in different ways to mechanical forces. How the individual cellular components of the intact vessel respond to mechanical stimuli is unexplored. (3) Increased intraluminal pressure is associated with an increase in both hydrostatic pressure and wall stress (given a fixed vessel radius and wall thickness), and the biological effect(s) of these forces may differ. Hydrostatic pressure can affect the release of growth regulators in cultured PA endothelial cells6 15 (and cultured systemic arterial endothelial cells16 and SMCs17 ), yet the effect of hydrostatic pressure on PA growth and matrix protein synthesis is unreported.
The present study was therefore undertaken to approach four important but largely unaddressed questions: (1) Does stretch, or hydrostatic pressure, increase growth (as determined by the relative rate of total protein synthesis, the percentage of cells synthesizing DNA, and accumulation of total cellular actin) in the intact PA segment in vitro? (2) Does stretch increase the relative rate of synthesis of collagen and/or elastin or the accumulation of elastin in the intact PA segment in vitro? (3) Which cells (SMCs, fibroblasts) in the PA are affected by stretch or pressure? (4) What effect does removal of endothelium have on the response to mechanical stimulation in the PA?
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Materials and Methods |
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Procurement of PA Vessel Strips: Tissue Culture Setup
Male New Zealand rabbits (2.3 to 2.7 kg) were killed by use of inhaled ether, and before cessation of cardiac activity, heparin (100 U/kg IV) was given. The right and left proximal PAs were sterilely removed. During the procedure, the vessels were kept moist with tissue culture medium (medium 199 [Earle's salts] with L-glutamine [2 mmol/L], penicillin [100 U/mL], streptomycin [0.1 mg/mL], amphotericin B [0.25 µg/mL], and 10% fetal calf serum; all were obtained from Sigma Chemical Co) containing papaverine (1 mmol/L). These cylinders of PAs were incised longitudinally to convert them into strips (4 mm wide,
5 mm long).
Plexiglas "clamps" were affixed to the two ends of the strip; one
clamp was used to suspend the strip, and a weight was attached to the
other clamp so that the strip could be subjected to the desired level
of wall stress (Fig 1
). The strips were stretched in the
direction of the long axis of the SMCs, presuming that these cells are
circumferentially arranged in the vessel wall.
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Three or four PA strips were removed from each animal (each proximal PA is divided into one or two strips), put into culture (using the culture medium noted above, lacking papaverine), and maintained under identical conditions except for wall stress or hydrostatic pressure. For studies of the effect of wall stress on PA growth, different strips (from the same rabbit) were exposed to loads comparable to intraluminal pressures of 12, 25, and 45 mm Hg, all at a hydrostatic pressure of 12 mm Hg. (For some experiments, as noted, only two levels of stress were used [12 and 45 mm Hg].)
For studies of the effect of hydrostatic pressure on vessel growth, PA
strips were subjected to hydrostatic pressures of 12, 25, and 45
mm Hg, all at a wall stress of 12 mm Hg. Hydrostatic pressure was
adjusted by altering the height of a column of fluid (culture medium),
which was in continuity with the (closed) culture chamber (Fig 1
). The
hydrostatic pressure (in millimeters of mercury) was taken as the
distance (in millimeters) between the midpoint of the PA strip and the
top of the fluid column divided by 13.6 (the specific gravity of
mercury).
The strips were suspended vertically in custom-built culture
chambers of 10 mL volume (one strip per chamber), which were kept in
a humidified incubator (37°C, 5% CO2/balance air)
(see Fig 1). The culture medium was changed daily. Intentional removal
of endothelium was performed by gently abrading the
inner surface of the vessel with a cotton-tipped rod. In all
experiments, the presence (or absence) of endothelium
was confirmed by using en face silver staining18 at the
end of the experiment.
The protocol for these studies was approved by the University Committee on Use and Care of Animals, the University of Michigan.
Setting the Wall Stress
Wall stresses were chosen to correspond to
physiologically relevant intravascular PA
pressures. As noted above, a weight was hung from each PA strip in
order to subject it to a given load. The load corresponding to a given
intravascular pressure—and hence wall stress—was calculated
as follows: 
=r/t(P), where for a cylinder, is tangential wall
stress, r is internal radius, t is wall thickness, and P is
intraluminal pressure.19 The for a given P can be
related to the load necessary to cause that
:w= · l · t, where w is tangential load (dynes) and l
is the width of vessel strip.
In preliminary studies, the average radius and wall thickness of PAs from rabbits the same size as those used for the present experiments were measured by using cut sections of paraffin-embedded and -fixed PAs. Ten vessels were measured as follows: r=0.90 to 1.20 mm (mean=1.0±0.1 mm): t=0.114 to 0.177 mm (mean=0.141±0.02 mm). These mean dimensions were used to calculate the load necessary for the desired wall stress (for 12 mm Hg, 0.67 g; for 25 mm Hg, 1.40 g; and for 45 mm Hg, 2.52 g).
Measurement of Relative Rates of Total Protein Synthesis and
Cell Replication
For measuring the relative rate of protein synthesis, PA
segments were placed in culture under the wall stress or hydrostatic
pressure noted above. After 4 days of incubation, the culture medium
was replaced with identical media, lacking antibiotics and containing 3
µCi/mL L-[4,5-3H]leucine (60.0 Ci/mmol;
DuPont NEN). The previous stretch conditions were maintained during the
4-hour labeling period, after which time the vessels were washed three
times with PBS (4°C) containing "cold" leucine (10 mmol/L),
fixed for 10 minutes in 6% formalin/0.5% TCA with 0.76 mol/L cold
leucine,20 and processed for quantitative
autoradiography as detailed below.
For measurement of cell replication, BrdU (0.010 mmol/L, Boehringer Mannheim or Amersham) was added to the culture media 24 hours before the termination of the experiment. Fixation was by the above-noted formalin-TCA fixative. Five-micrometer-thick sections of the strips were immunostained by use of anti-BrdU antibodies and secondary antibodies as per directions of the manufacturer of the kit (either Boehringer Mannheim or Amersham). Secondary antibodies were applied as detailed below. Cell nuclei were counterstained with hematoxylin.
Immunostaining for Procollagen Type I
Mouse anti-sheep procollagen I amino-terminal monoclonal
antibody SPI.D8 was obtained from the Developmental Studies Hybridoma
Bank maintained by the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular
Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md,
and the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa
City, under contract NO1-HD-6-2915 from the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development. This antibody recognizes only newly
synthesized procollagen (before cleavage of the amino terminal
end)21 and hence does not reflect collagen
accumulation.
The PA strips were fixed as above and embedded in paraffin. Five-micrometer-thick sections of vessels were deparaffinized, and the antibody (dilution, 1:20) was applied overnight at 4°C. Nonimmune mouse or rabbit serum was used as a negative control. The secondary antibody (biotinylated horse anti-mouse antibody; dilution, 1:500; Vector Laboratories) was applied for 3 hours at 4°C, followed by avidin-biotin amplification (ABC Elite Kit, Vector Laboratories) for 30 minutes. Incubation with 0.1% 3,3'-diaminobenzidine (Sigma) and H2O2 at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes produced a brown reaction product. Gill's hematoxylin was used for nuclear counterstaining, followed by dehydration and coverslip mounting. As a positive tissue control for procollagen type I protein expression, human hypertrophic scar tissue was used, which yielded a pattern of well-localized immunostaining among reactive dermal fibroblasts, with negative staining of skin epithelial cells (data not shown).
Quantitative Autoradiography
The procedures followed were generally those of Baserga and
Malamud.20 The vessel segments were kept in fixative at
4°C for 3 days (to wash out all unincorporated 3H label),
rinsed in running tap water for 12 hours, and embedded in paraffin.
After the first 500 µm of the vessel (which, being immediately
adjacent to the clamp, may have suffered damage) was discarded,
multiple 5-micrometer-thick sections were cut and
mounted on silane-coated slides. Sections from each of the two or
three vessel strips from each experiment were mounted side by side on a
single slide so that they would be exposed to identical conditions of
emulsion, exposure, developing, etc. Previously 3H-labeled
(hot) and unlabeled (cold) vessel segments were included on each slide
for controls. After deparaffinization, the slides were coated with
undiluted Kodak NTB 2 emulsion (Kodak) (at 40°C). The slides were
allowed to dry for 15 minutes, kept in a humidified chamber at 37°C
for 60 minutes (to reduce background), and then stored in a
light-tight box with desiccant at 4°C for 7 days. Preliminary
experiments showed that a 7-day exposure results in a large enough
number of grains to be easily discriminated from the background (<1%
of total grains) but that the grain distribution is so sparse that
there is relatively little overlap of grains. The slides were developed
by use of Kodak D 19 developer (4 minutes at 15°C), fixed by use of
Kodak fixer (5 minutes at 15°C), and rinsed in distilled
H2O. The cytoplasm was lightly counterstained by using
eosin.
Quantification
The percent area of media and adventitial fibroblasts covered by
silver grains was used as a measure of the relative rate of protein
synthesis and was determined by using the IMAGE I system of
computer color image analysis (Universal Imaging Corp). This
system can readily distinguish silver grains from the underlying
cellular material and can precisely quantify the relative area of
silver grains. For determining protein synthesis in the media, at least
10 contiguous nonoverlapping microscopic fields (magnification, x1000)
from at least five sections (total, 
50 fields) of each artery segment
were analyzed. For measuring protein synthesis in adventitial
fibroblasts, the cluster of silver grains overlying the fibroblast is
encircled using the IMAGE I system's area delineation
system, and the percent area of silver grains within that area
determined. As noted in preliminary observations of the organ culture
system (below), fibroblasts at the outer edge of the adventitia appear
to be highly activated, presumably because of an injury
response related to dissection of the PA, and were therefore excluded
from analysis.
For cell replication in medial SMCs, the number of BrdU-labeled nuclei per total nuclei in each of at least five sections was determined. At least 500 cells were counted. The rate of cell proliferation in the adventitia was determined by counting the number of BrdU-labeled fibroblasts within the interior of the adventitia; fibroblasts at the outer edge of the adventitia were excluded for the reason noted above.
The number of cells synthesizing procollagen type I was quantified by counting the number of procollagen-positive cells in the media and normalizing to the total number of cells (determined by counting nuclei). Because virtually all adventitial fibroblasts stained positively in the PA strips, no attempt was made to quantify procollagen production in these cells.
Validation of the Use of Quantitative
Autoradiography for Measuring the Relative Rate of
Protein Synthesis in This System
Although quantitative autoradiography is a
well-described technique for measuring the relative rate of protein
synthesis in similar systems,13 20 we conducted initial
studies to confirm its suitability for use in our model. Segments of
rabbit PA and aorta (n=4 experiments) were incubated in tissue culture
medium containing 3 µCi/mL of [3H]leucine for 30, 60,
and 90 minutes and for 90 minutes in identical medium with
cycloheximide (0.010 mmol/L) to inhibit protein synthesis. The segments
were divided into two parts: one was prepared for
autoradiography (as described above); in the other,
the relative rate of protein synthesis was determined by measuring the
number of TCA-precipitated counts (in disintegrations per minute)
normalized to total protein, which was measured according to the
Bradford assay.8
Measurement of the Relative Rate of Elastin Synthesis
PA strips were treated as for determination of total protein
synthesis, but they were subjected to only two different wall stresses
(12 and 45 mm Hg, 4 days) and were labeled (4 hours) with 3 µCi/mL
media of L-[2,3,4,5-3H]proline (127 Ci/mmol;
DuPont NEN). At the end of the labeling period, the strips were removed
from culture, rinsed in cold PBS three times, and weighed. The strips
were digested with CNBr (5% CNBr in 70% formic acid [both from
Sigma] under N2 at 20°C for 24 hours) to digest all
nonelastin protein.11 (In a preliminary experiment, amino
acid analysis confirmed that only elastin residue remained
after the CNBr digestion.) The elastin was washed in 100°C
H2O three times and dissolved in Soluble (DuPont NEN),
liquid scintillation fluid was added, and rate of disintegrations per
minute was measured. The value of disintegrations per minute
(representing the relative rate of elastin synthesis) was
normalized to the wet weight of the strip.
Measurement of the Relative Rate of Collagen
Synthesis
A technique previously described was used.8 Paired
PA strips were placed in culture under 12 and 45 mm Hg–equivalent
stresses for 4 days and were labeled with [3H]prolene (3
µCi/mL) for the last 4 hours of culture (n=4 independent
experiments). The strips were then homogenized in cold
buffer (0.65 mol/L NaCl, 0.1 mol/L Tris [pH 7.4], 4.7 mmol/L
CaCl2, and 2.5 mg/mL N-ethylmaleimide)
and freeze-thawed. Bovine serum albumin (100 µg/mL) was
added as a carrier. An aliquot was removed, 10% TCA was added, and the
material was allowed to flocculate for 30 minutes at 4°C. The
TCA-precipitated material was pelleted, washed twice with 5% TCA and
twice with cold 95% ethanol, dried, and dissolved in 0.1N NaOH, and
the rate of disintegrations per minute was determined with a liquid
scintillation counter. A second aliquot was digested with a highly
specific collagenase (collagenase form III, 10
U/mL media, Advance Biofactures Corp) for 90 minutes at 37°C and then
treated identically as the nondigested aliquot. The rates of
disintegrations per minute representing total protein and
total protein minus collagen were normalized to the total protein in
the sample (Bradford assay). The relative rate of collagen synthesis
was determined, assuming that the ratio of proline residues in collagen
relative to noncollagen protein is 5.4.22
Measurement of the Total Elastin Content of PA Strips
Paired PA rings were weighed and then placed in culture under 12
and 45 mm Hg–equivalent stresses for 4 days. (PA rings rather
than strips were used for this and the experiment described below but
were subjected to loads and culture conditions identical to the PA
strips in the other experiments.) The rings were then digested with
CNBr as described above, and the resulting elastin residue was washed
with water, dried, and weighed.23 The weight of the
elastin was normalized to the (preculture) weight of the PA strip (n=4
independent experiments).
Measurement of the Total Actin Content of PA Strips by
Western Blotting
Paired PA rings were placed in culture under 12 and 45
mm Hg–equivalent stresses for 4 days; they were then divided into
two halves, and each one was weighed. One of the halves of the strip
was homogenized in 0.5 mL of lysis buffer (9.5 mol/L urea,
1.6% Triton X-100, and 5% ß-mercaptoethanol) and
freeze-thawed, and undissolved material was removed by
centrifugation. Equal aliquots of the supernatant were
boiled in 1% SDS for 10 minutes, added to 5' Laemmli loading buffer,
size-fractionated with an SDS–polyacrylamide gel (3.6%
stacking gel, 10% running gel), and transferred to an Immobilon-P
(Millipore) membrane. The membrane was blocked by using 5% bovine
serum albumin in TBS (20 mmol/L Tris [pH 8.0] and 150 mmol/L
NaCl) for 1 hour, washed, and then incubated with a monoclonal antibody
to all actin isoforms (Sigma, clone AC-40) for 1 hour. After it was
washed, the membrane was incubated with the secondary antibody
(anti-mouse IgG conjugated to horseradish peroxidase, Jackson
Immuno Research Lab Inc) for 1 hour, and the immunoreactive band was
detected by using the Amersham enhanced chemiluminescence system. The
autoradiographic signals were quantified by using the
Eagle Eye II still video system (Stratagene) and the National
Institutes of Health IMAGE 1.54 program. The relative
amount of actin (arbitrary units) was normalized to the DNA content of
the strip (see below) (n=7 independent experiments).
For measuring DNA, one half of the PA strip was homogenized in buffer (1' standard saline citrate with 0.25% SDS), freeze-thawed, and incubated overnight at 37°C. Insoluble material was removed by centrifugation. The amount of DNA in an aliquot of the supernatant was measured by use of bisbenzimide H33258, with calf thymus DNA used for standards,24 and normalized to the weight of the strip.
Statistical Analysis
For each independent experiment, tissue from a single rabbit was
divided into two or three portions, and each was subjected to different
magnitudes of stretch or pressure. Hence, for statistical
analysis of multiple experiments in which only two comparisons
were made, Student's paired t test was used. When three
different measurements were compared, a two-tailed ANOVA with post
hoc comparisons using the Tukey test was performed.25 A
significant difference was taken at P<.05. Data are given
as mean±SD.
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Results |
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Preliminary Observations of the Organ Culture System
Preliminary observations were as follows: (1) Rabbit PA segments can be maintained in organ culture for at least 5 days with excellent viability, as judged by their histological appearance (Fig 2
) and ability to synthesize protein. En face
silver staining (n=7) showed endothelium to cover
80% of the vessel segment in all cases after 4 days in culture.
(2) In [3H]leucine-labeled strips, silver grains were
uniformly arrayed over SMCs in the media. In the adventitia, clusters
of grains were seen over individual fibroblasts. At the outer edge of
the adventitia (which was, of course, separated from the surrounding
tissue during the dissection of the PA), there was a very dense display
of silver grains, representing a high rate of protein
synthesis of fibroblasts, which are presumably reacting to injury
related to PA dissection (Fig 3). (3) Application of
load to the PA segments caused them to elongate (segment lengths were
3 mm before application of load, 4 mm at 12
mm Hg–equivalent stress, 5 mm at 25 mm Hg–equivalent
stress, and 6.5 mm at 45 mm Hg–equivalent stress); hence, both
stress and strain differed with different loads.
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Validation of the Use of Quantitative
Autoradiography in This System
The background level of silver grains was very low (area of
background grains was 0.01±0.002%, with the area of grains over the
media being 3% to 10%). PA strips fixed and treated identically to
the experimental strips but not [3H]leucine-labeled
(negative controls) showed no silver grains other than background.
There was good correspondence between the number of silver grains per
unit area and the TCA-precipitated disintegrations per minute per total
protein (Fig 4), indicating that the relative rate of
protein synthesis as determined by autoradiography
is proportional to that measured by TCA-precipitated counts.
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Effect of Wall Stress and Hydrostatic Pressure on the Relative Rate
of Protein Synthesis
In the media, the relative rate of protein synthesis, as measured
by the percent area of silver grains, was positively and significantly
related to the magnitude of wall stress. Removal of the
endothelium did not affect the stress-related
increase in protein synthesis (Fig 5).
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In adventitial fibroblasts, the relative rate of protein synthesis was
considerably higher than in medial SMCs but was the same regardless of
the wall stress: The percent area of silver grains over fibroblasts in
strips with endothelium was 9.35±0.32% at a wall
stress of 12 mm Hg, 9.46±0.12% at a wall stress of 25 mm Hg, and
9.65±0.17% at a wall stress of 45 mm Hg (P=NS for all,
n=7 independent experiments). For
deendothelialized strips, the percent area of
silver grains over fibroblasts was 9.14±0.40% at a wall stress of 12
mm Hg, 9.36±0.33% at a wall stress of 25 mm Hg, and 9.84±0.29% at
a wall stress of 45 mm Hg (P=NS for all, n=7 independent
experiments). The relative rate of total protein synthesis was not
related to hydrostatic pressure in either the media (Fig 5) or the
adventitia (data not shown).
Effect of Wall Stress and Hydrostatic Pressure on Cell
Replication
The percentage of BrdU-labeled nuclei in the media was the same in
endothelialized strips at 12 and 25
mm Hg–equivalent wall stresses but increased significantly at a
wall stress of 45 mm Hg. In the
deendothelialized strips, the number of medial
SMCs undergoing DNA synthesis at the 12 mm Hg load was the same as in
endothelialized strips, but the percent BrdU-positive
cells was increased in both the 25 and 45 mm Hg–equivalent strips
relative to 12 mm Hg deendothelialized strips
(Figs 6 and 7). In addition, the
percentage of BrdU-positive cells was significantly higher in the
deendothelialized strips at loads of 25 and 45
mm Hg than in strips with intact endothelium,
suggesting that the endothelium may serve to negatively
regulate the stretch-induced proliferation of SMCs (Fig 7).
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The percentage of BrdU-labeled adventitial fibroblasts was
significantly and positively related to the magnitude of wall stress in
both endothelialized and
deendothelialized strips (Fig 8).
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The percentage of BrdU-labeled cells was only weakly related to the
level of hydrostatic pressure: A small but significant increase in
BrdU-positive cells was seen in the media at the highest pressure (Fig 7) and in fibroblasts when 12 mm Hg pressure was compared with 25
mm Hg (Fig 8).
Effect of Wall Stress and Hydrostatic Pressure on the Number of
Procollagen Type I–Positive SMCs
The percentage of SMCs positive for procollagen type I was
positively and significantly related to wall stress in the media of the
endothelialized strips. The percentage of
procollagen-positive SMCs was considerably higher in the
deendothelialized strips than in those with the
endothelium intact at all levels of stress, and the
number of procollagen-positive cells was greater in the 45
mm Hg–equivalent strips than those at lower stress (Figs 9 and 10).
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Effect of Wall Stress on the Relative Rate of Collagen
Synthesis
This experiment was performed to determine if the increase in
procollagen type I synthesis as measured by
immunostaining was also reflected in a change in the
rate of total collagen synthesis measured biochemically. The relative
rate of collagen synthesis was 62±6% greater in the strips maintained
at the 45 mm Hg–equivalent load than at the 12 mm Hg load
(P<.05).
Effect of Wall Stress on the Relative Rate of Elastin
Synthesis
The values of disintegrations per minute per milligram wet tissue
weight were significantly increased (P<.02) in the 45
mm Hg–equivalent strips relative to the 12 mm Hg strips in both
the endothelialized and
deendothelialized strips (n=6 independent
experiments in each of the two groups), indicating that stretch
increased the relative rate of elastin synthesis. For
endothelialized strips, values were 131±42 dpm/mg for
12 mm Hg–equivalent strips and 197±68 dpm/mg for 45 mm Hg
strips (+50%). For deendothelialized strips,
values were 137±78 dpm/mg for 12 mm Hg–equivalent strips and
183±67 dpm/mg for 45 mm Hg strips (+33%). The percent increase in
elastin synthesis evoked by stretch (12 mm Hg–equivalent stress
versus 45 mm Hg) was roughly the same as the percent increase in total
protein synthesis (measured by autoradiography) in
the media of similar strips at identical stresses (+59% in
endothelialized strips and +65% in
deendothelialized strips).
Effect of Wall Stress on PA Elastin Content After 4 Days in
Culture
The elastin content of the 12 mm Hg–equivalent PA rings was
0.077±0.004 mg elastin per milligram wet weight of tissue; the elastin
content of the 45 mm Hg–equivalent rings was 0.084±0.004 mg
elastin per milligram wet weight of tissue (+9%, P=.001).
Since the weight of elastin was normalized to the weight of the PA
rings before culture, this implies a significantly greater accumulation
(after 4 days of culture) of elastin in the rings subjected to a load
of 45 mm Hg than the more lightly loaded rings.
Effect of Wall Stress on PA Actin Content
The mean quantity of actin (arbitrary units) normalized to
micrograms of DNA in the 12 mm Hg–equivalent PA rings was 73±32;
the actin content of the 45 mm Hg–equivalent rings was 117±47
(+60%, P<.005).
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Discussion |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMaterials and MethodsResultsDiscussionReferences |
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Although the idea that mechanical stimuli can alter PA growth has come to be widely accepted, the available data are actually very limited and do not clearly support this notion.6 7 8 Even investigations of the more frequently studied aortic SMCs are incomplete and somewhat inconsistent with regard to the effect of mechanical stimuli on vascular growth (References 26 through 2926 27 28 29 and discussion in Reference 88 ). The experiments described here (summarized in the Table
) confirm previous studies
showing stretch to increase matrix protein synthesis in the intact
PA10 11 but also for the first time demonstrate the
following: (1) Stretch can increase the rate of total protein synthesis
in medial SMCs and the total actin content (normalized to DNA) of the
PA strip, indicating that it is a hypertrophic stimulus in the intact
PA in vitro. Adventitial fibroblasts did not increase total protein
synthesis with stretch, although the baseline rate of protein synthesis
was considerably higher in these cells and thus may not have been
capable of upregulation. It is unclear to what extent this high rate of
protein synthesis in the fibroblasts may have been related to
adventitial injury caused by vessel dissection and therefore perhaps
not reflective of in vivo biology. (2) Stretch can increase the rate of
proliferation of medial SMCs and adventitial fibroblasts, suggesting
that it can also act as a hyperplastic stimulus in the intact PA. The
effect of stretch on replication was more marked in fibroblasts than in
SMCs, which is reminiscent of in vivo models of PA hypertension (see
below). (3) Stretch can increase the rate of matrix protein synthesis
and accumulation in the in vitro PA. We took advantage of the
availability of procollagen type I antibodies in an effort to discover
which type(s) of cells upregulates collagen synthesis with stretch, but
uniformly positive immunostaining of fibroblasts made
it impossible to determine if stretch affected procollagen synthesis in
these cells. These experiments do, however, suggest that stretch
upregulates procollagen synthesis in SMCs (at least) in the intact PA,
which has not been previously established.10 11 In
addition, they provide the novel observation that collagen synthesis
may be upregulated at least in part via an increase in the number of
cells synthesizing detectable amounts of procollagen rather than solely
through an increase in collagen produced by each cell. Because the
procollagen immunostaining provided only an index of
the number of SMCs synthesizing collagen, the relative rate of total
collagen synthesis in the PAs was also quantified biochemically. The
rate of collagen synthesis was also positively related to the magnitude
of stretch, which is consistent with the
immunostaining data, although it should be noted that
the entire PA segment was analyzed (including adventitia) and
that these data may thus reflect collagen synthesis by fibroblasts as
well as SMCs. The relative rate of elastin synthesis (measured
biochemically) and the total amount of elastin in the PA segment after
4 days of culture were also increased by stretch. These data further
suggest that stretch may be an important regulator of matrix protein
synthesis (and accumulation) in the PA. (4) The magnitude of
hydrostatic pressure had little effect on total protein or collagen
synthesis and was only weakly related to cell proliferation in the
adventitia, suggesting that this force may be less important in PA
remodeling than stress/strain. However, if the
endothelium releases a growth-inhibiting factor(s)
with pressure (see below), it is possible that any direct effect of
pressure on SMCs may be negated by such an inhibitory
substance. The experiments reported here therefore do not eliminate the
possibility of a direct effect of hydrostatic pressure on either SMCs
or endothelial cells but suggest that it has little net
effect on the intact vessel.
|
Role of Endothelium in Modulating Stretch-Induced
Growth and Matrix Protein Synthesis
Two previous reports showed an
endothelium-dependent stretch-induced increase
in matrix protein synthesis in PA segments,10 11 but we
found that endothelium was not necessary for the
stretch-induced increase in growth or matrix protein synthesis.
Although it is conceivable that the strips were not completely
deendothelialized in our experiments, this is
unlikely for two reasons: (1) Absence of the
endothelium was confirmed in every experiment using en
face silver staining. (2) As discussed below, the
deendothelialized strips showed an augmented
rate of SMC replication and number of procollagen-positive cells,
suggesting that they behaved in a way biologically distinct from the
endothelialized strips.
The augmented effect of stretch on SMC replication in the deendothelialized strips suggests that mechanical stimulation may cause PA endothelial cells to elaborate a substance that inhibits cell replication, which is consistent with data showing stretch/pressure to cause cultured PA endothelial cells to elaborate a growth inhibitor.6 Deendothelialized strips also had an increased percentage of procollagen-positive cells relative to endothelialized strips, suggesting also that the endothelium may help regulate collagen synthesis in this system, but it is also possible that this could be due to mechanical injury of SMCs resulting from the process of deendothelialization.
Why the results of the present study differ from previous reports regarding the endothelium dependence of stretch-induced matrix protein synthesis is unclear, but the model used here differs in multiple ways from those previously reported.10 11 The species of animal used, the solution in which the PA segments were incubated, the time between PA removal and study, and the duration of stretch (4 hours versus 4 days) were all significantly different, and one or more of these factors may have played a role.
Comparison of These In Vitro Data With Those Derived From In
Vivo Systems
The system described in the present study differs considerably
from in vivo models of PA hypertension: the latter are associated with
a variety of physiological alterations that may
affect PA growth (such as hypoxia, activation of the
sympathetic nervous system, etc), whereas only the magnitude of the
mechanical stimulus is altered in the in vitro system. Nevertheless, to
put these findings in perspective, it is perhaps useful to compare them
with in vivo models.
Our finding of a stretch-mediated increase in total protein and matrix protein synthesis is generally consistent with in vivo experiments. Increased elastin and collagen synthesis occurred in large PAs after as little as 4 days of hypoxia in the calf30 and within 1 day in the hypoxic rat.31 Total protein synthesis in large PAs in the hyperoxic rat is decreased after 3 days of hyperoxia but markedly increased after 7 days,32 findings not inconsistent with the data reported here, given that a 4-day period of stretch was studied. On the other hand, McKenzie et al13 showed increased protein synthesis in both the media and adventitia after 3 days of hypoxia in rats, which is at variance with our findings, perhaps for the reason noted above.
Our data regarding cell replication, which showed a greater stretch-induced increase in the replication of fibroblasts than of SMCs, are also largely congruent with those obtained from in vivo models of PA hypertension. Hilar PAs of hypoxic rats show a marked increase in fibroblast replication after 3 to 5 days of hypoxia but a more modest increase in SMC replication.12 13 Hilar PAs in the hyperoxic rat (day 4) also had increased fibroblast replication but little change in SMC replication until day 7.33
Implications for Further Studies of the Biological Effects of
Mechanical Forces on PAs
Although, as noted above, the findings reported in the present
study are in many ways consistent with those observed with
experimental models of PA hypertension, extrapolation to in vivo
biology must be done with caution. The near impossibility of
selectively altering the mechanical forces acting on PAs in vivo
dictates the use of in vitro systems for studying these phenomena, yet
at least two factors potentially confound the present studies: (1)
The process of removing the PAs and the fact of culture itself
doubtlessly alter the biology of the PA strips in many and incompletely
understood ways. (2) When vascular tissue is stretched, both stress and
strain are increased; whether the biological effects of these two
stimuli are the same is unknown. Increased PA pressure in both
experimental and clinical settings probably does not cause significant
PA dilation (and hence increased strain) but appears to be associated
with decreased PA diameter.34 35 Models such as the one
described in the present study may therefore imperfectly mimic the
physical forces that impact PA endothelial cells, SMCs,
and fibroblasts in vivo. Nevertheless, these experiments provide
substantial support for the hypothesis that mechanical forces mediate
growth and matrix protein synthesis in the pulmonary
circulation and increase our knowledge of which cells are affected by
these forces. In addition, they suggest that stretch, at least under
some circumstances, can act directly on SMCs and fibroblasts to alter
their growth and synthetic characteristics.
|
Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms |
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Acknowledgments |
|---|
This study was funded by National Institutes of Health grant HL-42908 and a grant from the Michigan Affiliate of the American Heart Association. The authors thank Brett Phinney for technical assistance and Jun-ichi Sadoshima for discussion and assistance.
Received December 29, 1994; accepted June 9, 1995.
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References |
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