Dietary salt initiates redox signaling between endothelium and vascular smooth muscle through NADPH oxidase 4
Kai er Ying,
Wenguang Feng,
Wei-Zhong Ying,
Xingsheng Li,
Dongqi Xing,
Yong Sun,
Yabing Chen,
Paul W. Sanders
Affiliations
Kai er Ying
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA
Wenguang Feng
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA
Wei-Zhong Ying
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA
Xingsheng Li
Department of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA
Dongqi Xing
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA
Yong Sun
Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA
Yabing Chen
Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA; Birmingham Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Birmingham, AL, 35233, USA
Paul W. Sanders
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA; Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA; Birmingham Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Birmingham, AL, 35233, USA; Corresponding author. Division of Nephrology, MCLM 452, 1720 Second Avenue South, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0007, USA.
Prevention of phenotype switching of vascular smooth muscle cells is an important determinant of normal vascular physiology. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) promotes osteogenic differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells through expression of Runt related transcription factor 2 (Runx2). In this study, an increase in dietary NaCl increased endothelial H2O2 generation through NOX4, a NAD(P)H oxidase. The production of H2O2 was sufficient to increase Runx2, osteopontin and osteocalcin in adjacent vascular smooth muscle cells from control littermate mice but was inhibited in mice lacking endothelial Nox4. A vascular smooth muscle cell culture model confirmed the direct involvement of the activation of protein kinase B (Akt) with inactivation of FoxO1 and FoxO3a observed in the control mice on the high NaCl diet. The present study also showed a reduction of catalase activity in aortas during high NaCl intake. The findings demonstrated an interesting cell-cell communication in the vascular wall that was initiated with H2O2 production by endothelium and was regulated by dietary NaCl intake. A better understanding of how dietary salt intake alters vascular biology may improve treatment of vascular disease that involves activation of Runx2.
