Impaired function of aorta and perivascular adipose tissue in IL-18-deficient mice.

Impaired function of aorta and perivascular adipose tissue in IL-18-deficient mice. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2019 Sep 13;: Authors: Li W, Jin D, Takai S, Hayakawa T, Ogata J, Yamanishi K, Yamanishi H, Okamura H Abstract Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is ubiquitously produced by both hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic cells, but the central biological role of IL-18 in non-hematopoietic cells has not been sufficiently elucidated. In the present study, we examined the thoracic aorta, including perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) of the IL-18 knockout (KO) mice in terms of functional and histological aspects.　IL-18KO mice exhibited significantly higher blood pressure compared with wild-type (WT) mice. Echocardiographic examination showed a thickened vascular wall and narrowed vascular diameter of the abdominal aorta. Examination by the Magnus test demonstrated dysfunction of endothelial cells (EC) in the IL-18KO thoracic aorta and impairment of the anti-contractile function of IL-18KO PVAT. Histological examination showed no inflammatory lesions in the aorta, but indicated progressive fibrosis in the vessel, conversion of PVAT from brown adipose tissue-like features to white adipose tissue-like features, and heterogeneous localizations of claudin 5 in the PVAT of IL-18KO mice. Electron microscopic observation revealed several deformed mitochondria in the EC and PVAT, and many vacuoles in the EC of the IL-18KO aorta. ATP productivity an...
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol Source Type: research