Physiological cerebrovascular remodeling in response to chronic mild hypoxia: A role for activated protein C.

Physiological cerebrovascular remodeling in response to chronic mild hypoxia: A role for activated protein C. Exp Neurol. 2016 Jul 10; Authors: Burnier L, Boroujerdi A, Fernández JA, Welser-Alves JV, Griffin JH, Milner R 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...
Source: Experimental Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Exp Neurol Source Type: research