Diabetes Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Diabetes, including details on insulin, type i, type ii, diet, treatment, prevention.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha induces endothelial dysfunction in the prediabetic metabolic syndrome.

Picchi A, Gao X, Belmadani S, Potter BJ, Focardi M, Chilian WM, Zhang C

Departmentof Anesthesiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, USA.

Inflammation is a condition that underscores many cardiovascular pathologies including endothelial dysfunction, but no link is yet established between the vascular pathology of the metabolic syndrome with a particular inflammatory cytokine. We hypothesized that impairments in coronary endothelial function in the obese condition the prediabetic metabolic syndrome is caused by TNF-alpha overexpression. To test this, we measured endothelium-dependent (acetylcholine) and -independent vasodilation (sodium nitroprusside) of isolated, pressurized coronary small arteries from lean control and Zucker obese fatty (ZOF, a model of prediabetic metabolic syndrome) rats. In ZOF rats, dilation to ACh was blunted compared with lean rats, but sodium nitroprusside-induced dilation was comparable. Superoxide (O2*-) generation was elevated in vessels from ZOF rats compared with lean rats, and administration of the O2*- scavenger TEMPOL, NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitor (apocynin), or anti-TNF-alpha restored endothelium-dependent dilation in the ZOF rats. Real-time PCR and Western blotting revealed that mRNA and protein of TNF-alpha were higher in ZOF rats than that in lean rats, whereas eNOS protein levels were reduced in the ZOF versus lean rats. Immunostaining showed that TNF-alpha in ZOF rat heart is localized in endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells. Expression of NAD(P)H subunits p22 and p40-phox were elevated in ZOF compared with lean animals. Administration of TNF-alpha more than 3 days also induced expression of these NAD(P)H subunits and abrogated endothelium-dependent dilation. In conclusion, the results demonstrate the endothelial dysfunction occurring in the metabolic syndrome is the result of effects of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha and subsequent production of O2*-.

Published 7 July 2006 in Circ Res, 99(1): 69-77.
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