Volume 53 (5): 603-610, 2005 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. Attenuation of Accumulation of Neointimal Lipid by Pioglitazone in Mice Genetically Deficient in Insulin Receptor Substrate-2 and Apolipoprotein E
Departments of Pathology (MHC,MPW,DJT) and Medicine (DJS,BES,DJT) and Microscopy Imaging Center (MHC,MPW,DJT), College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (MFW) Correspondence to: Dr. Douglas J. Taatjes, Department of Pathology, 89 Beaumont Avenue, College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405. E-mail: douglas.taatjes{at}uvm.edu
Rupture of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques that are characterized by extensive neointimal accumulation of lipid is a cause of acute coronary syndromes. To identify whether insulin resistance alters atherogenesis, we characterized the composition of atherosclerotic lesions in the proximal aortas in mice deficient in apolipoprotein E (ApoE/) and in ApoE/ mice in which insulin resistance was intensified by a concomitant heterozygous deficiency in insulin receptor substrate type 2 (IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice). In addition, we characterized the effect of an insulin sensitizer, pioglitazone, on the atherogenesis in IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice. The extent of the aortic intima occupied by lesion was increased in the IRS2+/ ApoE/ compared with ApoE/ mice (79 ± 3% compared with 68 ± 8%, p<0.05). Treatment with pioglitazone decreased the neointimal content of lipid in 20-week-old mice from 50 ± 6% to 30 ± 7%, p=0.005 and decreased the cellularity reflected by the multisection cross-sectional areas of lesions comprising cells in atheroma from 24 ± 1% to 19 ± 3%, p=0.018. Accordingly, genetically induced intensification of insulin resistance increases atheroma formation. Furthermore, attenuation of insulin resistance by treatment with pioglitazone decreases accumulation of lipid in the neointima. (J Histochem Cytochem 53:603610, 2005)
Key Words: pioglitazone neointima atherosclerosis transgenic mice insulin receptor substrate plaque composition lipid insulin resistance image analysis
A FREQUENT proximate cause of acute coronary syndromes is rupture of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques (Davies and Thomas 1985
Myocardial infarction is two- to fourfold more common in persons with diabetes than in age- and gender-matched persons without diabetes (Haffner et al. 1998
A second objective of the present study was to determine whether an intervention designed to increase insulin sensitivitytreatment with the thiazolidinedione, pioglitazonewould alter the composition of atherosclerotic plaques in hyperlipidemic mice with intensified insulin resistance (IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice). Treatment with pioglitazone decreases the concentration in blood of both insulin and glucose in mice, rats, and human subjects with type 2 diabetes reflected by fasting concentrations of both in blood and a decrease in the concentration in blood of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (Hofmann et al. 1992
Use of Animals Transgenic mice were used in a protocol approved by the University of Vermont Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. ApoE/ mice, congenic with respect to the C57Bl6 background, were purchased from Jackson Laboratories (Bar Harbor, ME). IRS2+/ mice (Withers et al. 1998
We compared the composition of atherosclerotic lesions in the aortas of two groups of mice; (a) in 20-week-old ApoE/ mice compared with IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice, and (b) in 10- and 20-week-old IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice treated daily with 20 mg/kg of pioglitazone compared with IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice given vehicle alone (Hofmann et al. 1992
All mice studied were fed a high-fat diet from weaning (20% fat, 1.5% cholesterol; Teklad, Harlan Laboratories, Madison, WI). The heart and aorta were removed and immersed into 3% formaldehyde (freshly prepared from paraformaldehyde) in PBS (0.01 M phosphate buffer, 0.15 M NaCl, pH 7.3), and processed for sectioning with a cryostat at a thickness of 10 µm in a 300-µm region of the aorta beginning at the aortic valve, as previously described (Taatjes et al. 2000
Histochemical Staining
Imaging
DAPI-stained sections were imaged by epifluorescence microscopy with the use of a 10x objective lens. An exposure was set with the "clip detect" application to avoid pixel saturation (Wadsworth et al. 2002
Images stained with picrosirius red were obtained with polarized light microscopy according to our previously published protocol (Wadsworth et al. 2002
Computer-assisted Image Processing Captured 10x DAPI images were cropped in the same manner, with the additional use of the rectangular marquee tool to ensure minimal overlap when cropping consecutive images of each vessel. Images cropped with the use of the oil red O images as guides showed isolated lesions with black backgrounds.
The 4x picrosirius red polarized light microscopy images were cropped as previously described (Wadsworth et al. 2002
Qualitative Analysis
Quantitative Analysis
Statistical Analysis
Atherosclerotic Lesions in ApoE/ Mice Compared with IRS2+/ ApoE/ Mice The percentage of the aortic intima that comprised atheroma (Figure 1) was characterized in IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice and compared with that in ApoE/ mice. The results were based on analysis of all of the serial sections in the 300-µm regions of the proximal aortas as previously described (Taatjes et al. 2000
Effects of Pioglitazone on Atherosclerotic Lesions in IRS2+/ ApoE/ Mice The percentage of the aortic intima in the 300-µm region studied that was occupied by atheroma was similar in IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice treated with pioglitazone and in IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice treated with peanut butter alone (control). In 20-week-old mice, the extent of atheroma averaged 74 ± 5% (n=5) and was not significantly different from the percentage in control animals given vehicle alone (70 ± 7%, n=5). Qualitative analysis of the atheroma from 10-week-old mice demonstrated similar composition both with respect to cellularity (pioglitazone = 2.7 ± 0.4; control = 3.1 ± 0.3) and lipid (pioglitazone = 3.7 ± 0.3; control = 3.4 ± 0.4). By contrast, qualitative analysis of atheroma from 20-week-old mice demonstrated less neointimal lipid (pioglitazone = 2.3 ± 0.4; control = 3.8 ± 0.3, p<0.001) and a trend toward decreased cellularity (pioglitazone = 3.0 ± 0.5; control = 3.5 ± 0.5, p=ns). Because of the observed qualitative differences, quantitative analysis was performed on atheroma from 20-week-old mice (Figure 3). The mice treated with pioglitazone exhibited significantly less neointimal lipid in the atheroma than control mice (pioglitazone = 30 ± 7%; control = 50 ± 6%, n=5 in each group, p=0.005) (Figure 4). Furthermore, the IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice treated with pioglitazone exhibited decreased neointimal cellularity (19 ± 3%) compared with the IRS2+/ ApoE/ peanut butter control group (24 ± 1%, p=0.018) (Figure 5). Neointimal collagen content was similar in the two groups.
Our results demonstrate that genetically induced intensification of insulin resistance conferred by heterozygous deficiency of IRS2 increases the extent of atherosclerosis in ApoE/ mice. We have shown previously that ApoE/ mice exhibit insulin resistance of modest extent (Cefalu et al. 2004
To determine whether attenuation of insulin resistance affected the nature of atheroma, we studied IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice in which the intensity of insulin resistance is greater than in ApoE/ mice without heterozygous deficiency of IRS2. Atheroma in mice treated with pioglitazone daily for 6 and 16 weeks were compared with those from mice given vehicle alone. Pioglitazone did not change the characteristics of lesions in 10-week-old mice fed drug for 6 weeks. Although the extent of vascular disease was not altered in 20-week-old mice, the amount of lipid in the neointima was decreased. These changes are consistent with a potential decrease in the vulnerability of atherosclerotic plaques to rupture (Davies and Thomas 1985
The decreased neointimal cellularity and lipid content that we observed is consistent with results of others who treated ApoE/ mice with thiazolidinediones. Phillips and coworkers (2003)
Thiazolidinediones activate peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPAR
Treatment with pioglitazone decreased not only the lipid content but also neointimal cellularity in the IRS2+/ ApoE/ mice. These results are consistent with the direct effect of glitazones on PPAR
Consistent with coronary angiographic and ultrasonic observations made in patients with type 2 diabetes, genetically induced intensification of insulin resistance in genetically dyslipidemic, atherogenic, transgenic mice increases the extent of vascular disease. Furthermore, attenuation of insulin resistance by treatment with pioglitazone decreases the lipid and cellular content of atheroma and therefore may be capable of decreasing the risk of rupture of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques in patients with insulin resistance.
This research was conducted with support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc. This work was supported in part by a Clinical Research Award from the American Diabetes Association (to BES). We would like to thank Heidi Taatjes for excellent technical assistance.
Received for publication November 29, 2004; accepted December 9, 2004
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