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Biomedical subjects

K T Weber

Publications and source records attributed to K T Weber.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Angiotensin converting enzyme and kininase-II-like activities in cultured valvular interstitial cells of the rat heart.

OBJECTIVE: The function of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) at cell sites of high collagen turnover, such as heart valves, is uncertain. The aim of this study was to assess ACE and kininase-II-like activities and collagen turnover in cultured valvular interstitial cells of the adult rat heart. METHODS: The valvular interstitial cell phenotype was determined by immunolabelling (rhodamine phalloidin, desmin, and Griffonia simplicifolia lectin), and the presence of ACE mRNA and protein was confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis, ACE monoclonal antibody and in vitro autoradiography, respectively. ACE and kininase-II-like activities in valvular interstitial cells were analysed by high performance liquid chromatography. Angiotensin II (AT1) and bradykinin receptors in valvular interstitial cell membranes were examined by western immunoblotting and binding assay. Type I collagen and collagenase in valvular interstitial cell culture media were determined by ELISA and zymography, respectively. Type I collagen mRNA expression in cultured valvular interstitial cells was determined by northern blot analysis and in situ hybridisation. RESULTS: In intact valvular interstitial cells or their cell membrane we found: (1) actin microfilaments, but not desmin or lectin labelling; (2) ACE mRNA expression and binding activity; (3) conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II, which was completely inhibited by 50 microM lisinopril, while kinase-II-like activity exceeded ACE activity and was not inhibited by lisinopril; (4) AT1 and bradykinin receptors in valvular interstitial cell membrane preparations; (5) type I collagen mRNA expression and collagenase activity; and (6) angiotensin II induced increase in type I collagen synthesis and mRNA expression. CONCLUSIONS: Cultured valvular interstitial cells represent a nonendothelial, non-smooth-muscle cell type that expresses mRNA for ACE and type I collagen. ACE and kininase-II-like activities in valvular interstitial cells may be involved in the regulation of peptides that influence collagen turnover. Angiotensin II stimulates type I collagen synthesis and mRNA expression in these cells.

Angiotensin II↗
PubMed1994

Collagen network of the myocardium: function, structural remodeling and regulatory mechanisms.

A collagen network, composed largely of type I and III fibrillar collagens, is found in the extracellular space of the myocardium. This network has multiple functions which includes a preservation of tissue architecture and chamber geometry. Given its tensile strength, collagen is a major determinant of tissue stiffness. Its disproportionate accumulation, in the form of either a reactive or a reparative fibrosis, further increases stiffness. A degradation of collagen tethers, on the other hand, is an anatomic requisite for a distortion in tissue architecture and a reduction in stiffness that can lead to chamber dilatation, wall thinning, and even rupture of the myocardium. Collagen turnover in the myocardium is dynamic. When synthesis exceeds degradation, an adverse accumulation of collagen appears to distort tissue structure. This is true for either the hypertrophied and/or nonhypertrophied ventricle. Factors that contribute to the appearance of myocardial fibrosis are largely different from those that promote cardiac myocyte growth. Included amongst these fibrogenic factors are effector hormones of the reinin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). Studies conducted both in intact animals (relative to dietary sodium intake) and in cultured adult cardiac fibroblasts have pointed toward the association between collagen accumulation and chronic elevations in circulating angiotensin II and aldosterone. A tissue hormonal system involving angiotensin II, endothelins and bradykinin, may likewise regulate fibrogenesis. In this regard, angiotensin converting enzyme is found in connective tissue of the normal heart, including the matrix of heart valves and the adventitia of the intramural coronary arteries, and fibrous tissue that forms following infarction or with chronic RAAS activation. The importance of ACE in the regulation of local angiotensin II and bradykinin levels and their contribution to collagen turnover is a fruitful area of research with important clinical implications. The myocardium also contains a proteolytic system, including collagenase. The characteristics and regulation of matrix metalloproteinases and their tissue inhibitors in various cardiovascular disease states requires further investigation.

Angiotensin II↗
PubMed1994

Collagen metabolism in cultured adult rat cardiac fibroblasts: response to angiotensin II and aldosterone.

Myocardial fibrosis is associated with an activated renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). In renovascular hypertension, this presents as a reactive perivascular and interstitial fibrosis in not only the pressure overloaded, hypertrophied left ventricle but also the normotensive, nonhypertrophied right ventricle. It therefore would appear that circulating hormonal and not hemodynamic factors are responsible for this adverse fibrous tissue response. To ascertain whether the RAAS effector hormones angiotensin II (AII) or aldosterone (ALDO) directly stimulate collagen synthesis or inhibit collagenase production we used cell culture. Adult rat cardiac fibroblasts (Fb) were cultured since these cells express mRNA for types I and III collagens, the major fibrillar collagens in the heart, and collagenase or matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP 1), the key enzyme for interstitial collagen degradation. Collagen synthesis, determined by 3H-proline incorporation, and collagenase activity were measured in confluent, quiescent Fb after 24 h incubation with various concentrations of AII or ALDO (10(-11)-10(-6)M) in the presence or absence of either 10(-5)M type 1 (DuP 753) and type 2 (PD 123177) AII or 10(-9)-3 x 10(-6)M ALDO (spironolactone) receptor antagonists, respectively. Collagen synthesis, normalized per total protein synthesis, increased significantly (P < 0.005) after incubation with either 10(-9)M ALDO (5.9 +/- 1.0%) or 10(-7)M AII (5.3 +/- 1.2%) compared with untreated control cells (2.9 +/- 0.5%) of the same passage (p6-p10). This increase in collagen synthesis could be completely abolished by either types 1 or 2 AII receptor antagonists in AII stimulated Fb or the competitive ALDO receptor antagonist, spironolactone, at equimolar concentration in ALDO stimulated Fb. AII significantly decreased collagenase activity which could be completely abolished by PD 123177, but not DuP 753, while ALDO had no effect on collagenase activity. The mineralocorticoid, ALDO, stimulates collagen synthesis in cultured adult rat cardiac Fb in concentrations similar to those found in plasma in renovascular hypertension and this response appears to occur via type I corticoid receptors. AII appears to stimulate collagen synthesis by both type 1 and 2 AII receptors, but only in high concentrations that could be generated locally within the myocardium. In addition, AII unlike ALDO inhibits collagenase activity that could be attenuated only by type 2 receptor blockade. These findings suggest a direct interaction between ALDO, AII and cardiac Fb in mediating myocardial fibrosis in hypertensive heart disease.

Aldosterone↗
PubMed1994

Fibrosis and myocardial ACE: possible substrate and independence from circulating angiotensin II.

In order to determine the relation between myocardial fibrosis and (1) angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) binding density, (2) receptor binding of ACE-related peptides, angiotensin II (AngII) and bradykinin (BK), and (3) the regulation of myocardial ACE by circulating Ang II, we used in vitro quantitative autoradiography to localize and assess ACE ([125I]351A), AngII receptor (125I[Sar1, IIe8]AngII), and BK receptor ([125I]Tyr8) binding densities in the rat myocardium. The experimental groups were (1) AngII (9 micrograms/h subcutaneously) or aldosterone (0.75 microgram/h subcutaneously in uninephrectomized rats on a high-sodium diet) administered by implanted minipump to chronically increase or decrease circulating AngII, respectively, (2) unoperated, untreated age- and sex-matched control rats, and (3) age- and sex-matched uninephrectomized control rats on a high-sodium diet. In the same heart studied at 2, 4, and 6 weeks of hormone treatment, serial sections were assessed for myocardial (hematoxylin and eosin) and fibrillar collagen (picrosirius red) morphology. The authors found that (1) marked ACE binding was coincident with sites of fibrous tissue that appeared in both ventricles as either a perivascular fibrosis of intramyocardial coronary arterioles or microscopic scarring in response to AngII or aldosterone infusion, (2) ACE binding was independent of circulating AngII, (3) BK, not AngII, receptor binding density was markedly increased at fibrous tissue sites, and (4) high-density ACE and BK receptor binding were anatomically coincident. Thus, in these experimental models, ACE is related to fibrous tissue formation where it may use BK, not angiotensin I, as a substrate, and its binding density is independent of circulating AngII.

Aldosterone↗
PubMed1994

Angiotensin II receptor binding following myocardial infarction in the rat.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to determine angiotensin II receptor binding and its relationship to angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) binding and fibrous tissue formation in the rat heart. METHODS: A model of tissue repair (pericardiotomy and myocardial infarction with left coronary artery ligation) was used together with the following: quantitative in vitro autoradiography to determine angiotensin II receptor (125I[Sar1, Ile8]AngII) and ACE (125I-351A) binding densities. Angiotensin II receptor subtype was determined using an AT1 receptor antagonist (DuP753, losartan) and an AT2 receptor antagonist (PD123177). Five groups were studied: age and sex matched controls receiving this operative procedure without subsequent myocardial infarction (sham operated); rats with coronary artery ligation and myocardial infarction; rats with coronary artery ligation and lisinopril (20 mg.kg-1.d-1 in drinking water); sham operated rats receiving lisinopril; and unoperated rats which served as controls to pericardiotomy. Hearts were collected from each group on postoperative day 3 and weeks 1, 2, 4, and 8. RESULTS: There was (1) low angiotensin receptor binding in normal myocardium; (2) markedly increased angiotensin II receptor binding at the site of left ventricular myocardial infarction and endocardial fibrosis of the interventricular septum at day 3 and weeks 1, 2, 4, and 8; (3) high angiotensin II receptor binding in the pericardial fibrosis that followed pericardiotomy, and in the fibrosis that appeared in response to suture insertion around the left coronary artery, in both infarcted and sham operated rats; (4) total displacement of normal and connective tissue angiotensin II receptor binding by DuP753, but not by PD123177; (5) ACE inhibition by lisinopril, but no change in angiotensin II receptor binding, at all sites of fibrosis; and (6) significant attenuation by lisinopril of collagen formation in the visceral pericardium of sham operated controls. CONCLUSIONS: In this model of tissue repair, increased AT1 receptor binding density is associated with ACE binding and fibrillar collagen formation that appears within sites of fibrous tissue formation, including myocardial infarction, endocardial fibrosis, foreign body (silk suture), and pericardiotomy. AT1 receptors may play a role in mediating the fibrogenic response to tissue injury in the rat heart.

Angiotensin II↗
PubMed1994

Angiotensin II associated cardiac myocyte necrosis: role of adrenal catecholamines.

OBJECTIVE: Cardiac myocyte necrosis is associated with an endogenous increase in angiotensin II or a subpressor dose of angiotensin II. In each case, raised plasma angiotensin II, together with aldosterone, results in cardiac myocyte necrosis followed by scarring. Arterial hypertension is non-contributory. The aim of this study was to determine whether myocyte necrosis is induced directly by angiotensin II, or indirectly by catecholamines or aldosterone released from adrenal glands in response to angiotensin II. METHODS: Right and left ventricular myocardium was examined over a two week period in rats receiving a subpressor yet cardiotoxic dose of angiotensin II (150 ng.min-1.kg-1 subcutaneously) alone or together with total adrenalectomy, bilateral medullectomy, or the aldosterone receptor antagonist spironolactone (150-200 mg.d-1.kg-1). Findings were compared to unoperated age/sex matched controls. Coronal sections obtained from the base, equator and apex of the heart were stained with antifibronectin antibody to detect myocyte injury, picrosirius red for fibrillar collagen, or haematoxylin and eosin. RESULTS: In both right and left ventricles (a) fibronectin labelling was distributed within injured cardiac myocytes and adjacent interstitium of both ventricles in rats receiving angiotensin II or angiotensin II plus spironolactone; (b) fibronectin labelling of myocytes was markedly diminished or absent in the ventricles of rats with total adrenalectomy or bilateral medullectomy; and (c) there was microscopic scarring of both ventricles after two weeks of either angiotensin II or angiotensin II plus spironolactone, but not in medullectomised or adrenalectomised animals. CONCLUSIONS: In the presence of increased circulating levels of angiotensin II, bilateral medullectomy and total adrenalectomy (in contrast to spironolactone) reduced myocyte injury and scarring of the right and left ventricular myocardium, suggesting that the cytotoxic effect of angiotensin II is largely indirect and related to circulating catecholamines released by the adrenal medulla.

Adrenal Medulla↗
PubMed1994

Cardiac angiotensin converting enzyme and myocardial fibrosis in the rat.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to test the hypothesis that cardiac angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) is related to the accumulation of fibrous tissue in the heart. METHODS: A model of tissue repair (pericardiotomy with left coronary artery ligation) was used, together with the following: quantitative in vitro autoradiography (125I-351A) to determine ACE binding density; immunohistochemistry (monoclonal ACE antibody, 9B9) to identify cells expressing ACE; and in situ hybridisation to localise cells expressing type I collagen mRNA. Age and sex matched rats receiving this operative procedure without subsequent infarction (sham operated) served as controls to those with left ventricular myocardial infarction. Serial heart sections obtained from each group at 3 days and at 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks following operation were examined for morphological evidence of injury and inflammatory cells (haematoxylin/eosin) and fibrillar collagen (picrosirius red). RESULTS: Following myocardial infarction: (a) on day 3, neutrophils and macrophages were present at the site of infarction, while fibrillar collagen and ACE binding were not increased compared with control; (b) at week 1, fibrillar collagen and ACE binding were present at the site of infarction and became progressively more advanced at 2, 4, and 8 weeks; (c) at week 2, there was increased ACE binding in the right ventricle and interventricular septum, when perivascular fibrosis of intramural coronary arteries and microscopic scars appeared, together with endomyocardial fibrosis of the septum; (d) there was marked ACE binding in the fibrosed visceral pericardium two weeks after operation in both myocardial infarction and sham operated groups; (e) there was type I collagen mRNA expression on postoperative week 1, localised within fibroblasts or fibroblast-like cells found at infarct and fibrous tissue sites in the right ventricle, septum, and pericardium; and (f) ACE-labelled cells included fibroblast-like cells, as well as macrophages and endothelial cells. CONCLUSIONS: Thus in this model of tissue repair, marked ACE binding density is associated with fibrillar collagen formation that appears within and remote to the site of myocardial infarction, including the pericardium. Cardiac ACE, originating from type I collagen producing cells, therefore represents an integral component of fibrous tissue formation in this rat model of tissue injury.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Structural remodeling in hypertensive heart disease and the role of hormones.

In hypertension, the risk of adverse cardiovascular events, including heart failure, is increased in the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy. Morphological studies suggest that it is not the quantity but rather the quality, or structure, of myocardium that confers such risk. Iterations in tissue structure that appear in hypertensive heart disease include a remodeling of intramyocardial coronary arterioles, similar to that found in systemic organs, and a disproportionate accumulation of fibrillar collagen within their adventitia and neighboring interstitial space. Microscopic scars replacing necrotic cardiac myocytes are also evident. These expressions of fibrosis appear in the normotensive, nonhypertrophied right and hypertensive, hypertrophied left ventricles and are linked to the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Cardiac myocyte growth, the major determinant of myocardial mass, is related to ventricular loading. Mechanisms responsible for the reactive and reparative fibrosis with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system activation are under investigation. In vitro quantitative autoradiography has identified angiotensin II, aldosterone, endothelin, and bradykinin receptors in the myocardium. A nonendothelial tissue angiotensin-converting enzyme, whose binding density is marked in the matrix of heart valves, adventitia, and sites of fibrosis, irrespective of its pathogenic basis, has also been found. This angiotensin-converting enzyme may be responsible for regulating local concentrations of angiotensin II and bradykinin that govern fibroblast collagen turnover. Based on a paradigm of discordant reciprocal regulation, in which a relative abundance of stimulators (eg, angiotensin II, aldosterone, and endothelins) of collagen synthesis exceeds inhibitors (eg, bradykinin, prostaglandins, and glucocorticoids), fibrous tissue appears.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Species diversity of 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in the cardiovascular system.

Mineralocorticoid (MC) receptors are found in classic (e.g., kidney) and nonclassic (e.g., heart and aorta) tissues. MC receptor specificity at either site is conferred by the enzyme 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11 beta-HSD), which metabolizes glucocorticoids to inactive 11-ketosteroids. Because the heart and vasculature may be target tissues for aldosterone, this study was undertaken. Its objectives were to measure 11 beta-HSD at these sites and to compare levels of activity in the atria and ventricles of different species. Toward this end we first determined levels of plasma corticosterone (B) and cortisol (F) (by using radioimmunoassay), in a variety of species, for subsequent correlation with cardiac 11 beta-HSD activity. 11 beta-Dehydrogenation of glucocorticoids was then assayed in ventricles and atria as well as aorta. Tissue homogenates containing 1 to 5 mg protein were incubated for 1 hour in the presence of 1 muCi 5 x 10(-9) mol/L tritiated B or tritiated F and 5 x 10(-4) mol/L oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate. Steroid separation and quantitation were achieved by using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to an online radioisotope detector. For species in which B circulates at relatively high concentrations (rat, rabbit, pig), high levels of dehydrogenation of B to 11-dehydrocorticosterone (A) were observed in both atria and ventricles. Overall, cardiac B to A conversion levels corresponded to between 0.3 and 0.4 pmol A formed/mg protein/hr. 11 beta-HSD activity was also detected in the aorta.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

11-beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases↗
PubMed1994

The what, why and how of hypertensive heart disease.

Left ventricular hypertrophy is now recognised to be an important risk factor associated with such adverse cardiovascular events as myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke and sudden cardiac death. This is true for the general population and those with uncomplicated hypertension. Herein the what, why and how of hypertensive heart disease (HHD) is reviewed: what is it, why does a structural remodelling of the myocardium occur and how can it be prevented on the one hand or regressed on the other. Clinical and experimental studies are presented to address each of these issues.

Fibrosis↗
PubMed1994

Angiotensin II and structural remodeling of coronary vessels in rats.

A perivascular fibrosis of intramyocardial coronary arterioles, composed of type I fibrillar collagen, is associated with chronic elevations in circulating angiotensin II (AngII). The hypothesis tested herein is that coronary vascular remodelling involving cardiac interstitial fibroblasts is responsible for this fibrous tissue response. This morphologic study therefore had several objectives: (1) to determine whether a continuous infusion of AngII (150 ng/min/kg) would alter plasma fibronectin (pFN) labeling of coronary vessels, and to identify the level of the coronary vasculature involved in this response; (2) to determine whether the chronic administration of AngII would ultimately lead to enhanced type I collagen synthesis and a perivascular fibrosis of arterioles, and to identify the cellular response associated with this fibrogenesis. Accordingly, the hearts of rats receiving AngII over the course of 2 weeks were examined at 1, 2, 4, 7, 10, and 14 days. From the same heart, serial sections were obtained for pFN immunofluorescent microscopy, PCNA immunolabeling, in situ hybridization with a type I collagen probe, and light microscopy to address cellular response (hematoxylin and eosin) and formation of fibrillar collagen (picrosirius red). We found (1) increased coronary arteriolar staining with pFN antibody on day 2, with an increasing number of vessels involved over 14 days; (2) pFN appearing first in the media and adventitia and subsequently the interstitial space; (3) fibroblast proliferation on days 2 and 4, and enhanced expression of type I collagen mRNA in these adventitial and interstitial cells on days 4 and 7; (4) accumulation of macrophages in the adventitia of involved vessels during the period of observation; and (5) a perivascular fibrosis of involved vessels on day 14.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Angiotensin II↗
PubMed1994

[Heart function in chronic pressure overload caused by aortic stenosis: the role of collagen tissue].

The purpose of this study was to evaluate left ventricular (LV) structure-function interplay in aortic stenosis. LV structure was assessed from endomyocardial biopsies obtained in 27 patients with aortic stenosis. Total collagen volume fraction, orthogonal collagen fiber meshwork (cross-hatching) and endocardial fibrosis were determined by morphologic-morphometric evaluation. Control biopsy data were obtained from 6 pre-transplantation donor hearts whereas other 11 patients with normal cardiac function served as hemodynamic controls. LV biplane cineangiography and high-fidelity LV pressure measurement were carried out in all patients. Systolic function was assessed by LV biplane ejection fraction, diastolic function by time constant of relaxation, peak filling rates and passive elastic properties. Total collagen volume fraction (7.3 versus 1.6%, p < 0.01) as well as the degree of cross-hatching (1.7 versus 0.8 grade, p < 0.01) were significantly increased in patients with aortic stenosis with respect to controls. Endocardial fibrosis was present in 11/27 patients with aortic stenosis and in no patients of control group. In aortic stenosis in presence of increased total collagen volume fraction there were no changes in systolic and diastolic function, whereas in presence of changes in collagen architecture ejection fraction was depressed and passive elastic properties increased. In conclusion, in aortic stenosis, changes in collagen architecture are associated with altered systolic function and passive diastolic properties. The sole increase in total collagen volume fraction without a change in architecture leaves systolic and passive diastolic function unaltered. A prolongation of relaxation was present in aortic stenosis and appears to be mediated by muscle hypertrophy per se.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Evolving role of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in cardiovascular disease.

CPX testing allows for the objective assessment of aerobic capacity, anaerobic threshold, and the ventilatory response to exercise in patients with cardiovascular disease. These results can be used to assess severity of disease, its progression over time, prognosis, candidacy for transplantation, and response to therapy. CPX testing can also serve to distinguish cardiac from ventilatory causes of exertional dyspnea.

Anaerobic Threshold↗