title: Physiological cerebrovascular remodeling in response to chronic mild hypoxia: A role for activated protein C.
abstract: Activated protein C (APC) is a serine protease that promotes favorable changes in vascular barrier integrity and post-ischemic angiogenic remodeling in animal models of ischemic stroke, and its efficacy is currently being investigated in clinical ischemic stroke trials. Interestingly, application of sub-clinical chronic mild hypoxia (CMH) (8% O2) also promotes angiogenic remodeling and increased tight junction protein expression, suggestive of enhanced blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity, though the role of APC in mediating the influence of CMH has not been investigated. To examine this potential link, we studied CMH-induced cerebrovascular remodeling after treating mice with two different reagents: (i) a function-blocking antibody that neutralizes APC activity, and (ii) exogenous recombinant murine APC. While CMH promoted endothelial proliferation, increased vascular density, and upregulated the angiogenic endothelial integrins α5β1 and αvβ3, these events were almost completely abolished by functional blockade of APC. Consistent with these findings, addition of exogenous recombinant APC enhanced CMH-induced endothelial proliferation, expansion of total vascular area and further enhanced the CMH-induced right-shift in vessel size distribution. Taken together, our findings support a key role for APC in mediating physiological remodeling of cerebral blood vessels in response to CMH.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, United States.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Burnier
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, United States.
authors.forename: Amin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boroujerdi
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, United States.
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, United States.
authors.forename: Jennifer V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Welser-Alves
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, United States.
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, United States. Electronic address: rmilner@scripps.edu.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Milner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000494:pharmacology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D039482:Integrin alpha5 / Q000378:metabolism; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D011486:Protein C / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D039482:Integrin alpha5; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; D011486:Protein C
keywords: Activated protein C (APC); Angiogenesis; Chronic mild hypoxia (CMH); Endothelium; Fibronectin; Integrin; Vascular biology