1. Academic Validation
  2. Repeated Social Defeat Enhances CaCl2-Induced Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Expansion by Inhibiting the Early Fibrotic Response via the MAPK-MKP-1 Pathway

Repeated Social Defeat Enhances CaCl2-Induced Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Expansion by Inhibiting the Early Fibrotic Response via the MAPK-MKP-1 Pathway

  • Cells. 2022 Feb 19;11(4):732. doi: 10.3390/cells11040732.
Hiroshi Kubota 1 Hiroyuki Yamada 1 Takeshi Sugimoto 1 Naotoshi Wada 1 Shinichiro Motoyama 1 Makoto Saburi 1 Daisuke Miyawaki 1 Noriyuki Wakana 1 Daisuke Kami 2 Takehiro Ogata 3 Masakazu Ibi 4 Satoaki Matoba 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan.
  • 2 Department of Regenerative Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan.
  • 3 Department of Pathology and Cell Regulation, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan.
  • 4 Department of Pharmacy, Kinjo Gakuin University, Nagoya 463-8521, Japan.
Abstract

Depression is an independent risk factor for Cardiovascular Disease and is significantly associated with the prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). We investigated the effect of repeated social defeat (RSD) on AAA development. Eight-week-old male wild-type mice were exposed to RSD by being housed with larger CD-1 mice in a shared cage. They were subjected to vigorous physical contact. After the confirmation of depressive-like behavior, calcium chloride was applied to the infrarenal aorta of the mice. At one week, AAA development was comparable between the defeated and control mice, without any differences being observed in the accumulated macrophages or in the matrix metalloproteinase activity. At two weeks, the maximum diameter and circumference of the aneurysm were significantly increased in the defeated mice, and a significant decrease in periaortic fibrosis was also observed. Consistently, the phosphorylation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase and the incorporation of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine in the primarily cultured aortic vascular smooth muscle cells were significantly reduced in the defeated mice, which was accompanied by a substantial increase in mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1). The MKP-1 mRNA and protein expression levels during AAA were much higher in the defeated mice than they were in the control mice. Our findings demonstrate that RSD enhances AAA development by suppressing periaortic fibrosis after an acute inflammatory response and imply novel mechanisms that are associated with depression-related AAA development.

Keywords

MAP; MKP-1; abdominal aortic aneurysm; cardiovascular disease; perivascular fibrosis; psychosocial depression; vascular smooth muscle cells; wound healing.

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