Vascular endothelial growth factor induced by hypoxia may mediate hypoxia-initiated angiogenesis.

Inefficient vascular supply and the resultant reduction in tissue oxygen tension often lead to neovascularization in order to satisfy the needs of the tissue. Examples include the compensatory development of collateral blood vessels in ischaemic tissues that are otherwise quiescent for angiogenesis and angiogenesis associated with the healing of hypoxic wounds. But the presumptive hypoxia-induced angiogenic factors that mediate this feedback response have not been identified. Here we show that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF; also known as vascular permeability factor) probably functions as a hypoxia-inducible angiogenic factor. VEGF messenger RNA levels are dramatically increased within a few hours of exposing different cell cultures to hypoxia and return to background when normal oxygen supply is resumed. In situ analysis of tumour specimens undergoing neovascularization show that the production of VEGF is specifically induced in a subset of glioblastoma cells distinguished by their immediate proximity to necrotic foci (presumably hypoxic regions) and the clustering of capillaries alongside VEGF-producing cells.     

PGC-1 α 与运动能力

长期的耐力训练可诱导成年的骨骼肌发生一系列的生理性适应,其中包括快肌纤维向慢肌纤维转换,线粒体的生物合成等。过氧化物酶体增殖物受体γ共激活因子1α(PGC-1a)可能在运动诱导骨骼肌的适应机制起着重要作用:增强骨骼肌氧化代谢能力,从而增强利用脂肪和碳水化合物的能力。但研究发现PGC-1a基因敲除小鼠进行长期的训练仍能够诱导线粒体蛋白表达增加。长期耐力训练可诱导骨骼肌PGC-1a表达增加和激活确切生理作用仍需要进一步研究。     

Blockade of Dll4 inhibits tumour growth by promoting non-productive angiogenesis

Tumour growth requires accompanying expansion of the host vasculature, with tumour progression often correlated with vascular density. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the best-characterized inducer of tumour angiogenesis. We report that VEGF dynamically regulates tumour endothelial expression of Delta-like ligand 4 (Dll4), which was previously shown to be absolutely required for normal embryonic vascular development. To define Dll4 function in tumour angiogenesis, we manipulated this pathway in murine tumour models using several approaches. Here we show that blockade resulted in markedly increased tumour vascularity, associated with enhanced angiogenic sprouting and branching. Paradoxically, this increased vascularity was non-productive-as shown by poor perfusion and increased hypoxia, and most importantly, by decreased tumour growth-even for tumours resistant to anti-VEGF therapy. Thus, VEGF-induced Dll4 acts as a negative regulator of tumour angiogenesis; its blockade results in a striking uncoupling of tumour growth from vessel density, presenting a novel therapeutic approach even for tumours resistant to anti-VEGF therapies.     

Deficiency in catechol-O-methyltransferase and 2-methoxyoestradiol is associated with pre-eclampsia

Despite intense investigation, mechanisms that facilitate the emergence of the pre-eclampsia phenotype in women are still unknown. Placental hypoxia, hypertension, proteinuria and oedema are the principal clinical features of this disease. It is speculated that hypoxia-driven disruption of the angiogenic balance involving vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/placenta-derived growth factor (PLGF) and soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFLT-1, the soluble form of VEGF receptor 1) might contribute to some of the maternal symptoms of pre-eclampsia. However, pre-eclampsia does not develop in all women with high sFLT-1 or low PLGF levels, and it also occurs in some women with low sFLT-1 and high PLGF levels. Moreover, recent experiments strongly suggest that several soluble factors affecting the vasculature are probably elevated because of placental hypoxia in the pre-eclamptic women, indicating that upstream molecular defect(s) may contribute to pre-eclampsia. Here we show that pregnant mice deficient in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) show a pre-eclampsia-like phenotype resulting from an absence of 2-methoxyoestradiol (2-ME), a natural metabolite of oestradiol that is elevated during the third trimester of normal human pregnancy. 2-ME ameliorates all pre-eclampsia-like features without toxicity in the Comt(-/-) pregnant mice and suppresses placental hypoxia, hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha expression and sFLT-1 elevation. The levels of COMT and 2-ME are significantly lower in women with severe pre-eclampsia. Our studies identify a genetic mouse model for pre-eclampsia and suggest that 2-ME may have utility as a plasma and urine diagnostic marker for this disease, and may also serve as a therapeutic supplement to prevent or treat this disorder.     

Pathophysiological consequences of VEGF-induced vascular permeability

Although vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induces angiogenesis, it also disrupts vascular barrier function in diseased tissues. Accordingly, VEGF expression in cancer and ischaemic disease has unexpected pathophysiological consequences. By uncoupling endothelial cell-cell junctions VEGF causes vascular permeability and oedema, resulting in extensive injury to ischaemic tissues after stroke or myocardial infarction. In cancer, VEGF-mediated disruption of the vascular barrier may potentiate tumour cell extravasation, leading to widespread metastatic disease. Therefore, by blocking the vascular permeability promoting effects of VEGF it may be feasible to reduce tissue injury after ischaemic disease and minimize the invasive properties of circulating tumour cells.     

Identification of an angiogenic mitogen selective for endocrine gland endothelium

The known endothelial mitogens stimulate growth of vascular endothelial cells without regard to their tissue of origin. Here we report a growth factor that is expressed largely in one type of tissue and acts selectively on one type of endothelium. This molecule, called endocrine-gland-derived vascular endothelial growth factor (EG-VEGF), induced proliferation, migration and fenestration (the formation of membrane discontinuities) in capillary endothelial cells derived from endocrine glands. However, EG-VEGF had little or no effect on a variety of other endothelial and non-endothelial cell types tested. Similar to VEGF, EG-VEGF possesses a HIF-1 binding site, and its expression is induced by hypoxia. Both EG-VEGF and VEGF resulted in extensive angiogenesis and cyst formation when delivered in the ovary. However, unlike VEGF, EG-VEGF failed to promote angiogenesis in the cornea or skeletal muscle. Expression of human EG-VEGF messenger RNA is restricted to the steroidogenic glands, ovary, testis, adrenal and placenta and is often complementary to the expression of VEGF, suggesting that these molecules function in a coordinated manner. EG-VEGF is an example of a class of highly specific mitogens that act to regulate proliferation and differentiation of the vascular endothelium in a tissue-specific manner.     

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor stimulates AMP-activated protein kinase in the ischaemic heart

Understanding cellular response to environmental stress has broad implications for human disease. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) orchestrates the regulation of energy-generating and -consuming pathways, and protects the heart against ischaemic injury and apoptosis. A role for circulating hormones such as adiponectin and leptin in the activation of AMPK has received recent attention. Whether local autocrine and paracrine factors within target organs such as the heart modulate AMPK is unknown. Here we show that macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), an upstream regulator of inflammation, is released in the ischaemic heart, where it stimulates AMPK activation through CD74, promotes glucose uptake and protects the heart during ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Germline deletion of the Mif gene impairs ischaemic AMPK signalling in the mouse heart. Human fibroblasts with a low-activity MIF promoter polymorphism have diminished MIF release and AMPK activation during hypoxia. Thus, MIF modulates the activation of the cardioprotective AMPK pathway during ischaemia, functionally linking inflammation and metabolism in the heart. We anticipate that genetic variation in MIF expression may impact on the response of the human heart to ischaemia by the AMPK pathway, and that diagnostic MIF genotyping might predict risk in patients with coronary artery disease.     

Normalization of current kinetics by interaction between the alpha 1 and beta subunits of the skeletal muscle dihydropyridine-sensitive Ca2+ channel.

Purification of skeletal muscle dihydropyridine binding sites has enabled protein complexes to be isolated from which Ca2+ currents have been reconstituted. Complementary DNAs encoding the five subunits of the dihydropyridine receptor, alpha 1, beta, gamma, alpha 2 and delta, have been cloned and it is now recognized that alpha 2 and delta are derived from a common precursor. The alpha 1 subunit can itself produce Ca2+ currents, as was demonstrated using mouse L cells lacking alpha 2 delta, beta and gamma (our unpublished results). In L cells, stable expression of skeletal muscle alpha 1 alone was sufficient to generate voltage-sensitive, high-threshold L-type Ca2+ channel currents which were dihydropyridine-sensitive and blocked by Cd2+, but the activation kinetics were about 100 times slower than expected for skeletal muscle Ca2+ channel currents. This could have been due to the cell type in which alpha 1 was being expressed or to the lack of a regulatory component particularly one of the subunits that copurifies with alpha 1. We show here that coexpression of skeletal muscle beta with skeletal muscle alpha 1 generates cell lines expressing Ca2+ channel currents with normal activation kinetics as evidence for the participation of the dihydropyridine-receptor beta subunits in the generation of skeletal muscle Ca2+ channel currents.     

低氧训练对大鼠骨骼肌HIF 1α基因表达的影响

探讨不同低氧训练模式对机体骨骼肌HIF 1α mRNA水平和蛋白水平表达的影响。6周龄SD雄性大鼠120只,经3周适应性训练和力竭实验筛选出90只,随机分成9组：常氧安静对照组、持续低氧安静组、间歇低氧安静组、低住低练耐力组、高住高练耐力组、高住低练耐力组、低住高练耐力组、高住高练后复氧训练组和高住低练后复氧训练组。采用常压低氧仓在13.6%的氧体积分数下（相当于海拔3?500?m的氧体积分数）进行低氧训练,根据血乳酸-速度曲线确定大鼠常氧训练的强度为35?m/min,低氧训练的强度为30?m/min。低氧训练持续时间为6周,每周训练5?d。其中,在第4周末进行运动能力测试,第5周末进行力竭测试,在第6周末的最后一次运动后休息48?h后处死,取材。采用实时荧光定量PCR、免疫组化、Western blot等技术测试大鼠骨骼肌HIF 1α mRNA水平和蛋白水平表达水平的变化,以进一步探讨低氧训练对骨骼肌HIF 1α表达的适应机制。结果显示,与低住低练组相比,高住高练组和高住低练骨骼肌HIF 1αmRNA表达有显著性升高(P＜0.05);和常氧安静对照组相比,高住高练骨骼肌HIF 1αmRNA表达升高105%,有非常显著性差异(P＜0.01);高住高练后复氧训练1周,大鼠骨骼肌HIF 1αmRNA表达有非常显著性降低(P＜0.01),回到常氧安静对照组水平; 高住低练后复氧训练1周,大鼠骨骼肌HIF 1αmRNA表达有显著性降低(P＜0.05),回到常氧安静对照组水平。可得结论：高住高练、高住低练和持续低氧安静组骨骼肌HIF 1α表达都明显增强,而低住低练和低住高练变化不大,复氧训练后回到常氧安静水平。HIF 1α表达与低氧的程度和时间有明显的依存关系。     

缺氧预适应小鼠海马脑区VEGF蛋白表达增加

目的 观察重复低氧对小鼠海马组织内血管内皮生长因子(vascular endothelial growth factor,VEGF) 蛋白质表达的影响.方法 小鼠随机分为3组,分别暴露低氧0次(H0),1次(H1),4 次(H4)后取海马组织,应用 Western Blot 技术,检测小鼠海马组织内VEGF的蛋白表达变化.结果 实验发现,H0,H1和H4组海马组织内VEGF均表达,H1组与H0组之间没有差异,H4组显著升高（P<0.05,vs. H0 and H1）.结论 VEGF在急性低氧预适应小鼠海马组织表达增加可能参与预适应的形成及脑保护.