title: First insight into the proteome landscape of the porcine short posterior ciliary arteries: Key signalling pathways maintaining physiologic functions.
abstract: Short posterior ciliary arteries (sPCA) provide the major blood supply to the optic nerve head. Emerging evidence has linked structural and functional anomalies of sPCA to the pathogenesis of several ocular disorders that cause varying degrees of visual loss, particularly anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy and glaucoma. Although the functional relevance of this vascular bed is well-recognized, the proteome of sPCA remains uncharacterized. Since the porcine ocular system closely resembles that of the human's and is increasingly employed in translational ophthalmic research, this study characterized the proteome of porcine sPCA employing the mass spectrometry-based proteomics strategy. A total of 1742 proteins and 10527 peptides were identified in the porcine sPCA. The major biological processes involved in the maintenance of physiological functions of the sPCA included redox and metabolic processes, and cytoskeleton organization. These proteins were further clustered into diverse signalling pathways that regulate vasoactivity of sPCA, namely the tight junction, α- and β-adrenoceptor, 14-3-3, nitric oxide synthase and endothelin-1 -mediated signalling pathways. This study provides the first insight into the complex mechanisms dictating the vast protein repertoire in normal vascular physiology of the porcine sPCA. It is envisioned that our findings will serve as important benchmarks for future studies of sPCA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Manicam
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Natarajan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Perumal
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Franz H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Grus
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gericke
mesh_terms: D048948:14-3-3 Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D019842:Ciliary Arteries / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D063990:Gene Ontology; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006801:Humans; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000098:blood supply; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping; D020543:Proteome / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013552:Swine; D019108:Tight Junctions / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D048948:14-3-3 Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D019332:Endothelin-1; D020543:Proteome; D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase