Endothelial Akt1 mediates angiogenesis by phosphorylating multiple angiogenic substrates.

The PI3K/Akt pathway is necessary for several key endothelial cell (EC) functions, including cell growth, migration, survival, and vascular tone. However, existing literature supports the idea that Akt can be either pro- or antiangiogenic, possibly due to compensation by multiple isoforms in the EC when a single isoform is deleted. Thus, biochemical, genetic, and proteomic studies were conducted to examine isoform-substrate specificity for Akt1 vs. Akt2. In vitro, Akt1 preferentially phosphorylates endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and promotes NO release, whereas nonphysiological overexpression of Akt2 can bypass the loss of Akt1. Conditional deletion of Akt1 in the EC, in the absence or presence of Akt2, retards retinal angiogenesis, implying that Akt1 exerts a nonredundant function during physiological angiogenesis. Finally, proteomic analysis of Akt substrates isolated from Akt1- or Akt2-deficient ECs documents that phosphorylation of multiple Akt substrates regulating angiogenic signaling is reduced in Akt1-deficient, but not Akt2-deficient, ECs, including eNOS and Forkhead box proteins. Therefore, Akt1 promotes angiogenesis largely due to phosphorylation and regulation of important downstream effectors that promote aspects of angiogenic signaling.

Loss of Akt1 leads to severe atherosclerosis and occlusive coronary artery disease.

The Akt signaling pathway controls several cellular functions in the cardiovascular system; however, its role in atherogenesis is unknown. Here, we show that the genetic ablation of Akt1 on an apolipoprotein E knockout background (ApoE(-/-)Akt1(-/-)) increases aortic lesion expansion and promotes coronary atherosclerosis. Mechanistically, lesion formation is due to the enhanced expression of proinflammatory genes and endothelial cell and macrophage apoptosis. Bone marrow transfer experiments showing that macrophages from ApoE(-/-)Akt1(-/-) donors were not sufficient to worsen atherogenesis when transferred to ApoE(-/-) recipients suggest that lesion expansion in the ApoE(-/-)Akt1(-/-) strain might be of vascular origin. In the vessel wall, the loss of Akt1 increases inflammatory mediators and reduces eNOS phosphorylation, suggesting that Akt1 exerts vascular protection against atherogenesis. The presence of coronary lesions in ApoE(-/-)Akt1(-/-) mice provides a new model for studying the mechanisms of acute coronary syndrome in humans.

Akt1/protein kinase Balpha is critical for ischemic and VEGF-mediated angiogenesis.

Akt, or protein kinase B, is a multifunctional serine-threonine protein kinase implicated in a diverse range of cellular functions including cell metabolism, survival, migration, and gene expression. However, the in vivo roles and effectors of individual Akt isoforms in signaling are not explicitly clear. Here we show that the genetic loss of Akt1, but not Akt2, in mice results in defective ischemia and VEGF-induced angiogenesis as well as severe peripheral vascular disease. Akt1 knockout (Akt1-/-) mice also have reduced endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) mobilization in response to ischemia, and reintroduction of WT EPCs, but not EPCs isolated from Akt1-/- mice, into WT mice improves limb blood flow after ischemia. Mechanistically, the loss of Akt1 reduces the basal phosphorylation of several Akt substrates, the migration of fibroblasts and ECs, and NO release. Reconstitution of Akt1-/- ECs with Akt1 rescues the defects in substrate phosphorylation, cell migration, and NO release. Thus, the Akt1 isoform exerts an essential role in blood flow control, cellular migration, and NO synthesis during postnatal angiogenesis.

Quantification of myocardial blood flow with (82)Rb: Validation with (15)O-water using time-of-flight and point-spread-function modeling.

BACKGROUND: We quantified myocardial blood flow with (82)Rb PET using parameters of the generalized Renkin-Crone model estimated from (82)Rb and (15)O-water images reconstructed with time-of-flight and point spread function modeling. Previous estimates of rubidium extraction have used older-generation scanners without time-of-flight or point spread function modeling. We validated image-derived input functions with continuously collected arterial samples. METHODS: Nine healthy subjects were scanned at rest and under pharmacological stress on the Siemens Biograph mCT with (82)Rb and (15)O-water PET, undergoing arterial blood sampling with each scan. Image-derived input functions were estimated from the left ventricle cavity and corrected with tracer-specific population-based scale factors determined from arterial data. Kinetic parametric images were generated from the dynamic PET images by fitting the one-tissue compartment model to each voxel's time activity curve. Mean myocardial blood flow was determined from each subject's (15)O-water k 2 images. The parameters of the generalized Renkin-Crone model were estimated from these water-based flows and mean myocardial (82)Rb K 1 estimates. RESULTS: Image-derived input functions showed improved agreement with arterial measurements after a scale correction. The Renkin-Crone model fit (a = 0.77, b = 0.39) was similar to those previously published, though b was lower. CONCLUSIONS: We have presented parameter estimates for the generalized Renkin-Crone model of extraction for (82)Rb PET using human (82)Rb and (15)O-water PET from high-resolution images using a state-of-the-art time-of-flight-capable scanner. These results provide a state-of-the-art methodology for myocardial blood flow measurement with (82)Rb PET.

Chronic treatment with nitric oxide-releasing aspirin reduces plasma low-density lipoprotein oxidation and oxidative stress, arterial oxidation-specific epitopes, and atherogenesis in hypercholesterolemic mice.

The effects of chronic treatment with nitric oxide-containing aspirin (NO-aspirin, NCX-4016) in comparison with regular aspirin or placebo on the development of a chronic disease such as atherosclerosis were investigated in hypercholesterolemic low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-receptor-deficient mice. Male mice were assigned randomly to receive in a volume of 10 ml/kg either placebo (n = 10), 30 mg/kg/day NO-aspirin (n = 10), or 18 mg/kg/day of regular aspirin (n = 10). After 12 weeks of treatment, the computer-assisted imaging analysis revealed that NO-aspirin reduced the aortic cumulative lesion area by 39.8 +/- 12.3% compared with that of the placebo (P < 0.001). Regular aspirin did not reduce significantly aortic lesions (-5.1 +/- 2.3%) compared with the placebo [P = 0.867, not significant (NS)]. Furthermore, NO-aspirin reduced significantly plasma LDL oxidation compared with aspirin and placebo, as shown by the significant reduction of malondialdehyde content (P < 0.001) as well as by the prolongation of lag-time (P < 0.01). Similarly, systemic oxidative stress, measured by plasma isoprostanes, was significantly reduced by treatment with NCX-4016 (P < 0.05). More importantly, mice treated with NO-aspirin revealed by immunohistochemical analysis of aortic serial sections a significant decrease in the intimal presence of oxidation-specific epitopes of oxLDL (E06 monoclonal antibody, P < 0.01), and macrophages-derived foam cells (F4/80 monoclonal antibody, P < 0.05), compared with placebo or aspirin. These data indicate that enhanced NO release by chronic treatment with the NO-containing aspirin has antiatherosclerotic and antioxidant effects in the arterial wall of hypercholesterolemic mice.