title: Diabetes adversely affects macrophages during atherosclerotic plaque regression in mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with diabetes have increased cardiovascular risk. Atherosclerosis in these patients is often associated with increased plaque macrophages and dyslipidemia. We hypothesized that diabetic atherosclerosis involves processes that impair favorable effects of lipid reduction on plaque macrophages.
  
  
  METHODS
  Reversa mice are LDL receptor-deficient mice that develop atherosclerosis. Their elevated plasma LDL levels are lowered after conditional knockout of the gene encoding microsomal triglyceride transfer protein. We examined the morphologic and molecular changes in atherosclerotic plaques in control and streptozotocin-induced diabetic Reversa mice after LDL lowering. Bone marrow-derived macrophages were also used to study changes mediated by hyperglycemia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reversa mice were fed a western diet for 16 weeks to develop plaques (baseline). Four weeks after lipid normalization, control (nondiabetic) mice had reduced plasma cholesterol (-77%), plaque cholesterol (-53%), and plaque cells positive for macrophage marker CD68+ (-73%), but increased plaque collagen (+116%) compared with baseline mice. Diabetic mice had similarly reduced plasma cholesterol, but collagen content increased by only 34% compared with baseline; compared with control mice, there were lower reductions in plaque cholesterol (-30%) and CD68+ cells (-41%). Diabetic (vs. control) plaque CD68+ cells also exhibited more oxidant stress and inflammatory gene expression and less polarization toward the anti-inflammatory M2 macrophage state. Many of the findings in vivo were recapitulated by hyperglycemia in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diabetes hindered plaque regression in atherosclerotic mice (based on CD68+ plaque content) and favorable changes in plaque macrophage characteristics after the reduction of elevated plasma LDL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and the Leon H. Charney Division ofCardiology/Marc and Ruti Bell Program in Vascular Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Saj
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parathath
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grauer
authors.forename: Li-Shin
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sanson
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Distel
authors.forename: Ira J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Edward A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D015214:Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D003094:Collagen / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004036:Diet, Atherogenic; D008264:Macrophages / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011973:Receptors, LDL / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D000097382:CD68 Molecule
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D015214:Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic; D002784:Cholesterol; D003094:Collagen; D011973:Receptors, LDL; C067980:CD68 antigen, human; D000097382:CD68 Molecule