A novel mechanism of diabetic vascular endothelial dysfunction: Hypoadiponectinemia-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation

It has been well documented that hypoadiponectinemia is associated with impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation. However, the exact molecular mechanism which mediates this process has not been fully described. The current study aimed to investigate the role of hypoadiponectinemia-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation in diabetic vascular endothelial dysfunction and its molecular mechanism. Male adult Adiponectin knockout mice and wild type mice were fed with a high fat diet to establish a type 2 diabetic mellitus model. In addition, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured and subjected to high glucose/high fat (HG/HF). The NLRP3 inflammasome activation was increased in type 2 diabetic mice and treatment of diabetic aortic segments with MCC950, a potent selective inhibitor of NLRP3 inflammasome ex vivo improved endothelial-dependent vasorelaxation. NLRP3 inflammasome activation and vascular endothelial injury were significantly increased in APN-KO mice compared with WT mice in diabetes and MCC950 decreased diabetic vascular endothelial dysfunction to comparable levels in APN-KO mice and WT mice. Adiponectin could decrease NLRP3 inflammasome activation and attenuate endothelial cell injury, which was abolished by NLRP3 inflammasome overexpression. Inhibition of peroxynitrite formation preferentially attenuated NLRP3 inflammasome activation in APN-KO diabetic mice. The current study demonstrated for the first time that hypoadiponectinemia-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation was a novel mechanism of diabetic vascular endothelial dysfunction.