Erratum: Rémy et al. Modelling the Impact of Chronic Cigarette Smoke Exposure in Obese Mice: Metabolic, Pulmonary, Intestinal, and Cardiac Issues. Nutrients 2020, 12, 827.

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A New Strategy to Preserve and Assess Oxygen Consumption in Murine Tissues.

Mitochondrial dysfunctions are implicated in several pathologies, such as metabolic, cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological diseases, as well as in cancer and aging. These metabolic alterations are usually assessed in human or murine samples by mitochondrial respiratory chain enzymatic assays, by measuring the oxygen consumption of intact mitochondria isolated from tissues, or from cells obtained after physical or enzymatic disruption of the tissues. However, these methodologies do not maintain tissue multicellular organization and cell-cell interactions, known to influence mitochondrial metabolism. Here, we develop an optimal model to measure mitochondrial oxygen consumption in heart and lung tissue samples using the XF24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer (Seahorse) and discuss the advantages and limitations of this technological approach. Our results demonstrate that tissue organization, as well as mitochondrial ultrastructure and respiratory function, are preserved in heart and lung tissues freshly processed or after overnight conservation at 4 °C. Using this method, we confirmed the repeatedly reported obesity-associated mitochondrial dysfunction in the heart and extended it to the lungs. We set up and validated a new strategy to optimally assess mitochondrial function in murine tissues. As such, this method is of great potential interest for monitoring mitochondrial function in cohort samples.

Modelling the Impact of Chronic Cigarette Smoke Exposure in Obese Mice: Metabolic, Pulmonary, Intestinal, and Cardiac Issues.

Unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as bad eating behaviors and cigarette smoking, have major detrimental impacts on health. However, the inter-relations between obesity and smoking are still not fully understood. We thus developed an experimental model of high-fat diet-fed obese C57BL/6 male mice chronically exposed to cigarette smoke. Our study evaluated for the first time the resulting effects of the combined exposure to unhealthy diet and cigarette smoke on several metabolic, pulmonary, intestinal, and cardiac parameters. We showed that the chronic exposure to cigarette smoke modified the pattern of body fat distribution in favor of the visceral depots in obese mice, impaired the respiratory function, triggered pulmonary inflammation and emphysema, and was associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis, cardiac hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis.

Beta 3 adrenoreceptors protect from hypertrophic remodelling through AMP-activated protein kinase and autophagy.

AIMS: The abundance of beta 3-adrenergic receptors (ß3-ARs) is upregulated in diseased human myocardium. We previously showed that cardiac-specific expression of ß3-AR inhibits the hypertrophic response to neurohormonal stimulation. Here, we further analysed signalling pathways involved in the anti-hypertrophic effect of ß3-AR. METHODS AND RESULTS: In vitro hypertrophic responses to phenylephrine (PE) were analysed in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM) infected with a recombinant adenovirus expressing the human ß3-AR (AdVhß3). We confirmed results in mice with cardiomyocyte-specific moderate expression of human ß3-AR (ß3-TG) and wild-type (WT) littermates submitted to thoracic transverse aortic constriction (TAC) for 9 weeks. We observed a colocalization of ß3-AR with the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) both in neonatal rat and in adult mouse cardiomyocytes. Treatment of NRVM with PE induced hypertrophy and a decrease in phosphorylation of Thr172-AMPK (/2, P = 0.0487) and phosphorylation of Ser79-acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) (/2.6, P = 0.0317), inducing an increase in phosphorylated Ser235/236 S6 protein (×2.5, P = 0.0367) known to be involved in protein synthesis. These effects were reproduced by TAC in WT mice but restored to basal levels in ß3-AR expressing cells/mice. siRNA targeting of AMPK partly abrogated the anti-hypertrophic effect of ß3-AR in response to PE in NRVM. Concomitant with hypertrophy, autophagy was decreased by PE, as measured by microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3)-II/LC3-I ratio (/2.6, P = 0.0010) and p62 abundance (×3, P = 0.0016) in NRVM or by TAC in WT mice (LC3-II/LC3-I ratio: /5.4, P = 0.0159), but preserved in human ß3-AR expressing cells and mice, together with reduced hypertrophy. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac-specific moderate expression of ß3-AR inhibits the hypertrophic response in part through AMPK activation followed by inhibition of protein synthesis and preservation of autophagy. Activation of the cardiac ß3-AR pathway may provide future therapeutic avenues for the modulation of hypertrophic remodelling.

Enhanced expression of ß3-adrenoceptors in cardiac myocytes attenuates neurohormone-induced hypertrophic remodeling through nitric oxide synthase.

BACKGROUND: ß1-2-adrenergic receptors (AR) are key regulators of cardiac contractility and remodeling in response to catecholamines. ß3-AR expression is enhanced in diseased human myocardium, but its impact on remodeling is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Mice with cardiac myocyte-specific expression of human ß3-AR (ß3-TG) and wild-type (WT) littermates were used to compare myocardial remodeling in response to isoproterenol (Iso) or Angiotensin II (Ang II). ß3-TG and WT had similar morphometric and hemodynamic parameters at baseline. ß3-AR colocalized with caveolin-3, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and neuronal NOS in adult transgenic myocytes, which constitutively produced more cyclic GMP, detected with a new transgenic FRET sensor. Iso and Ang II produced hypertrophy and fibrosis in WT mice, but not in ß3-TG mice, which also had less re-expression of fetal genes and transforming growth factor ß1. Protection from Iso-induced hypertrophy was reversed by nonspecific NOS inhibition at low dose Iso, and by preferential neuronal NOS inhibition at high-dose Iso. Adenoviral overexpression of ß3-AR in isolated cardiac myocytes also increased NO production and attenuated hypertrophy to Iso and phenylephrine. Hypertrophy was restored on NOS or protein kinase G inhibition. Mechanistically, ß3-AR overexpression inhibited phenylephrine-induced nuclear factor of activated T-cell activation. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac-specific overexpression of ß3-AR does not affect cardiac morphology at baseline but inhibits the hypertrophic response to neurohormonal stimulation in vivo and in vitro, through a NOS-mediated mechanism. Activation of the cardiac ß3-AR pathway may provide future therapeutic avenues for the modulation of hypertrophic remodeling.