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Bilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy attenuates the progression of β-aminopropionitrile-induced aortic dissection in rats
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Bilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy attenuates the progression of βaminopropionitrile-induced aortic dissection in rats Huan Liu, Xiangxiang Zheng, Linfei Zhang, Xuechao Yang, Yongfeng Shao, Shijiang Zhang⁎ Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Aortic dissection Sympathetic nerve activity Superior cervical ganglionectomy
Aims: Aortic dissection (AD) represents one of the most common aortic emergencies with high incidence of morbidity and mortality. Clinical studies have shown that the increased excitability of the sympathetic nerve may be associated with the formation of AD. In this study, we examined the effects of bilateral superior cervical sympathectomy (SCGx) on the progression of β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN)-induced AD in rats. Main methods: Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups, including BAPN, BAPN + SCGx and control groups. For terminal measurements, the mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were monitored and the basal sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) was assessed through recording the variation in arterial pressure in response to hexamethonium application. Pathological changes in the aortic wall were observed by histological staining. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 concentrations within the aortic wall were analyzed by western blot. Key findings: The results show that BAPN administration could elevate SNA and cause the formation of AD in rats with a high incidence (67.7%), while SCGx treatment inhibited the elevation of SNA and significantly reduced the incidence (20%). SCGx may suppress the formation of BAPN-induced AD via restraining the rise of HR and reducing the MMP-9 concentration in aortic wall. Significance: These results indicate that surgical techniques such as sympathetic nerve block may be a potentially useful therapy for the prevention of AD.
1. Introduction Aortic dissection (AD) is considered one of the most lethal events to affect the aorta with an incidence of 3–5 cases per 100,000 people per year [1]. AD is due to a tear in the intimal layer of the aorta or intramural haematoma, which commonly is preceded by medial wall degeneration or cystic media necrosis [2]. Although the exact mechanism of AD formation is still unclear, the progression of AD could be facilitated by a combination of cardiovascular system disorders, such as increased hemodynamic stress, aortic injury and chronic inflammation [3]. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is known to play an important role in short and long term regulation of different functions of the cardiovascular system. The SNS influences vascular function through multiple mechanisms, including direct vasoconstriction, wall remodeling, blood pressure increase, and metabolic alterations [4]. Clinical studies have shown that the increased excitability of the sympathetic nerve may be associated with the formation of AD [5]. βblockers, a kind of adrenergic antagonists, were intensively used in clinical practice for preventing AD and had satisfactory clinical effect
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[6,7]. Sympathetic ganglion block (SGB) has been reported to attenuate the severity of symptoms and slowed the progression of several cardiovascular diseases including ventricular arrhythmias and pulmonary arterial hypertension [8–10]. SGB is believed to decrease efferent cervical sympathetic outflows and might also inhibit the sympathetic nerve activity (SNA). Considering the effective roles of sympathetic denervation on cardiovascular system disorders, we hypothesized that sympathetic blocks can also attenuate the progression of AD. β-Aminopropionitrile (BAPN)-treated animals have been widely used as a model of aortic dissecting aneurysm, and the variations in the elastic architecture of the aorta induced by BAPN treatment appear to resemble those found in Marfan's syndrome [11]. Several researches had shown that β-blockers could prevent BAPN-induced aortic ruptures and were effective in the treatment of aortic dissection induced by BAPN [12–14]. Whether the blocking of the sympathetic nerve may affect the formation of BAPN-induced AD has rarely been studied. In this study, to investigate our hypothesis, we examined the effects of bilateral superior cervical sympathectomy (SCGx) on the progression of BAPN-induced AD in rats.
Corresponding author at: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing 210029, China. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Zhang).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2017.10.043 Received 21 September 2017; Received in revised form 20 October 2017; Accepted 31 October 2017 0024-3205/ © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article as: Liu, H., Life Sciences (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2017.10.043
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2. Material and methods
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The proteins were then transferred onto polyvinyl-difluoride membranes. Membranes were probed with primary antibody for MMP-2, MMP-9 and GAPDH as a loading control. Enhanced chemiluminescence (Servicebio, Wuhan, Hubei, China) was used to visualize the protein bands. The intensity of these bands was quantitated using AlphaEaseFC 4.0 software from Alpha Innotech Corporation.
2.1. Animals and treatments Experiments were performed on three-week-old male Sprague–Dawley rats weighing 50.1 ± 0.2 g. Forty rats were randomly divided into the following three groups. Group A (n = 15) received BAPN (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) in a dose of 666 mg/kg/day dissolved in saline by subcutaneous injection [15]. The rats in group B (n = 15) received the same injection as group A after the procedure of bilateral SCGx. Group C (n = 10) served as control group. All the rats received three days' rest for acclimatization before the experiment process and postoperative recovery. BAPN was given as one daily injection subcutaneously into the nape of the neck in the morning. The rats were allowed access to standard rat chow and distilled water ad libitum during this experimental period. Body weight was measured once a week. The study lasted four weeks and animals that died during the study were autopsied immediately. Animals that did not die were sacrificed by an overdose of anesthetics at the end of the study. All experimental procedures involving rats were approved by the Experimental Animal Care and Use Committee of Nanjing Medical University and registered under the number IACUC-1705025. All efforts were made to minimize the number of animals used and their suffering.
2.6. Histologic examinations The dissected aorta taken for histologic examinations to confirm the formation of aorta dissection was immersion-fixed in 10% neutralbuffered formalin. These specimens were cut into 4 μm-thick sections and were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H & E), Elastica van Gieson (EVG). 2.7. Statistical analysis Continuous variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Statistical Product and Service Solutions 19.0 software (SPSS) was used for all analyses. Nonparametric data were analyzed using chisquare tests. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to compare parametric variables among the groups. The level of significance was chosen to be P < 0.05.
2.2. Bilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy (SCGx) SCGx is regarded as a procedure of long-term and repeated SGB. All surgeries were conducted in designated veterinary operating room with sterilized instruments and procedure. For all surgeries, rats were anesthetized with 10% chloral hydrate (0.03 ml/kg, ip) before surgery. A 2-cm incision was performed at the neck region. The common carotid artery was exposed and the superior cervical ganglion was identified behind the carotid bifurcation. Cervical sympathetic nerves running beside the common carotid artery were freed of fat and connective tissues [16]. Both sides of the superior cervical ganglia were cut off and then the incision was closed. Successful sympathetic nerve blockage was confirmed by ptosis of the eyes.
3. Results 3.1. Effects of SCGx on the formation of BAPN-induced AD Among the rats that only received the administration of BAPN, nine rats survived until the end of the study. Six rats dying prematurely owing to dissecting aorta rupture and extensive blood clots were discovered in their thoracic cavities (Fig. 1A). Of the surviving rats in BAPN group, four rats were found the formation of AD, all located from the ascending aorta to the proximal descending aorta (Fig. 1B, C). In BAPN + SCGx group two rats died of aortic rupture during the study and only one of the surviving rats developed AD. The incidence of AD was decreased by SCGx treatment from 66.7% (10/15) to 20% (3/15) (P < 0.05).
2.3. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) measurements Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were monitored with a noninvasive computerized tail-cuff system (NIBP; AD Instruments, Australia) in conscious rats. The rats were trained to adapt to the measuring equipment for at least 1 week before experiments. The MAP and HR were calculated by averaging 20 measurements.
3.2. Effects of BAPN administration with or without SCGx on body weight Mean body weights of BAPN and BAPN + SCGx groups during the course of the experiment were lower than the control group (Fig. 2A). BAPN treatment significantly suppressed the increase in the body weight when compared with control group, whereas SCGx treatment alleviated this effect (92.9 ± 30.1 g; 211.6 ± 8.2 g and 122.1 ± 25.9 g; Fig. 2B).
2.4. Evaluation of sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) Each rat was anesthetized with α-chloralose (40 mg/kg ip) and urethane (900 mg/kg ip). A midline incision in the neck was made and the carotid artery was cannulated for measurement of MAP. The femoral vein was also cannulated for drug infusion. Hexamethonium bromide, a nicotinic cholinergic receptor antagonist, was used to assess basal SNA in rats through the variation in MAP in response to the blockage of cervical sympathetic ganglion. A dosage of 25 mg/kg hexamethonium bromide (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) was injected into the femoral vein to induce a depressor effect. The maximal decrease in MAP was considered as the index of sympathetic nerve activity (SNA).
3.3. Effects of BAPN administration with or without SCGx on MAP, HR and SNA Our results showed that there was no significant difference in MAP between the three groups (91.9 ± 11.2 vs 87.2 ± 6.4 vs 91.7 ± 11.4 mm Hg; Fig. 3A).When compared with BAPN group, rats in BAPN + SCGx group showed a significant decrease in HR (364.5 ± 18.6 vs 275.7 ± 51.6 bpm; Fig. 3B). The representative recording of effects of hexamethonium on MAP is shown in Fig. 4. Hexamethonium significantly lowered the MAP in BAPN treated rats compared with BAPN + SCGx treated rats and control rats (− 43.9 ± 7.3 vs − 24.1 ± 4.5, P < 0.05; − 43.9 ± 7.3 vs − 31.4 ± 6.7 mm Hg, P < 0.05; Fig. 4D), which demonstrates that there is significant elevation of SNA in BAPN treated rats while SCGx treatment significantly inhibited the effect.
2.5. Western blot analysis Specimens for Western blot were dissected fresh. Western blot analyses for matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), MMP-9 and GAPDH concentrations were performed in a standard fashion. Briefly, aortic tissues were homogenized and cells were harvested with trypsin, and the protein extract were loaded on to a 10% sodium dodecyl sulfate2
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Fig. 1. A. Aorta rupture and blood clot were discovered in thoracic cavity in autopsy. B. Normal aorta in control group. C. Aortic dissection formation in β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) treated group (arrow).
men, whereas women tend to have higher degrees of parasympathetic activation [20]. The clinical results indicate that there is a probable connection between SNA and the formation of AD. SGB is a reversible procedure that partially blocks the cervical sympathetic nervous by means of local anesthetic injection. Since the cardiac sympathetic nerves pass through the ganglions, SGB may also affect cardiac sympathetic function [21]. Continuous palpebral ptosis can be noticed by SCGx in rats, which resembles human blepharoptosis found after SGB treatment [22]. Therefore, long-term and repeated SGB to humans may have the same effect as SCGx in rats. In some studies, sympathetic ganglion block was achieved by injecting local anesthetic into the superior cervical ganglion or stellate ganglion [7,23] However, the result of sympathetic nerve blockage could be interfered by the infiltration of a local anesthetic to nearby nerves [24]. In our study, to avoid the occurrence of this possible situation, we used a surgical approach to achieve accurate sympathetic nerve blockade. Ganglionic blockade has been extensively used as an index of total SNA [25–27]. By the analyzation of the magnitude of the fall in MAP produced by ganglionic blockade, SNA could be assessed indirectly. In the present study, BAPN treated rats showed a significantly greater reduction in MAP in response to hexamethonium when compared with other groups of rats. This finding suggested that SNA in BAPN treated rats was higher than SCGx treated and control rats. The reduced incidence of BAPN-induced AD may be associated with the decreased SNA caused by SCGx. Both acquired and genetic conditions share a common pathway causing the damage in the integrity of the arterial intima. The two main
3.4. Effects of BAPN administration with or without SCGx on aortic wall structure Histologic findings of H & E staining demonstrated that administration of BAPN resulted in thickening of the aortic wall compared with the control rats. Treatment of SCGx attenuated this phenomenon. EVG staining showed that BAPN treatment led to degeneration and destruction of elastic layers and adventitial thickening of the aortic wall. SCGx prevented degenerative lesions within the elastic layer, resulting in the aortic wall similarly to normal tissue (Fig. 5). 3.5. Effects of BAPN administration with or without SCGx on MMP-2 and MMP-9 concentrations in aortic wall The concentrations of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in aortic wall tissue were increased by the administration of BAPN when compared with control rats. SCGx treatment attenuated this finding and was showed to be of statistical significance for MMP-9. While the BAPN and BAPN + SCGx groups showed similar concentrations of MMP-2 (Fig. 6). 4. Discussion Several studies revealed that increased age and male sex were related to increased risk of incident AD [17]. It was also reported that muscle SNA was significantly lower in women compared with men of the same age and was elevated with age [18,19]. Interestingly, there appears to be a preponderance of sympathetic mediated responses in
Fig. 2. A. Changes of body weight during the 4-week study. B. The total changes of the body weight among the three groups (n = 9, n = 13, n = 10) at the end of the study. The data are shown as means ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. Abbreviations: BAPN, β-aminopropionitrile; SCGx, superior cervical ganglionectomy.
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Fig. 3. Comparison of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) among the three groups (n = 9, n = 13, n = 10). The data are shown as means ± SD. *P < 0.05. Abbreviations: BAPN, β-aminopropionitrile; SCGx, superior cervical ganglionectomy.
However, when compared with BAPN + SCGx group, we noticed a dramatic decline of MMP-9, indicating that SCGx decreased expression of MMP-9 in the aortic wall, which may be partially responsible for the lower incidence of AD. Hypertension is the most common risk condition for AD. Chronic exposure to high blood pressure may result in aortic intimal fragility and alteration [33]. Excessive ECM degradation could be induced by hypertension which may promote the production of MMPs and proinflammatory cytokines [34]. Patients with AD had a high incidence of hypertension that leads to the extensive application of beta-blocker therapy for AD. However, several studies showed that BAPN may have no or only a minor reducing effect on blood pressure in normotensive rats [35,36]. The results are in coincidence with our research. It is possible that the reduction of heart rate caused by SCGx was an important factor in the protection of BAPN-induced AD in rats [37,38].
mechanisms that conduce to the degeneration of the aortic wall are extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and inflammation [28]. ECM is a kind of non-cellular three-dimensional macromolecular network, which is composed primarily of elastin and collagen [29]. Collagen and elastin are mainly responsible for the characteristic mechanical resistance, tensile strength and elasticity of the aortic wall [30]. MMP family members are among the most prominent proteases which have been involved in aortic diseases and might account for the ECM destruction and expansion of areas with medial degeneration [31]. Among the researches of aortic disease, MMP-2 and MMP-9 are the most intensively studied. One research showed that increased norepinephrine release from sympathetic nervous endings may cause the MMP-2 overexpression, which could promote the formation of AD [32]. Our results also showed that both MMP-2 and MMP-9 increased significantly in BAPN group when compared with the control group.
Fig. 4. Representative recording of mean arterial pressure (MAP) change by the administration of hexamethonium. Original recording of MAP is shown in β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) treated rats (A, n = 9), BAPN administration combined superior cervical ganglionectomy (BAPN + SCGx) treated rats (B, n = 13), and control rats (C, n = 10). Arrow indicates hexamethonium injection was started. D. Effects of hexamethonium on MAP changes are shown. The data are shown as means ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01.
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Fig. 5. Representative micrographs showing aortic features of the rats. LPF: low power images of hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining (bar shows length in 500 μm). HPF: high-power field images of H & E staining (bar shows 200 μm of length). EVG: high-power field images of Elastica van Gieson staining (bar shows 200 μm of length). Abbreviations: BAPN, βaminopropionitrile; SCGx, superior cervical ganglionectomy.
growth in rats to some extent. Similarly, another study also revealed that SCGx does not result in an increase in body weight, but may attenuate stress induced inhibition of natural growth in rats [43]. Whether SCGx may prevent the formation of AD by attenuating the effect of BAPN on the growth of rats is still uncertain. A limitation of our study is that SCGx is conducted with a high level sympathetic block. Because the BAPN-induced AD model requires rats with relatively small body weights, large traumatic interception operation, such as thoracic sympathetic block, may be associated with a low survival rate. Localized and accurate sympathetic block and its efficacy remain to be observed. Another limitation is that we conducted the evaluation of SNA indirectly under anesthetized condition. The anesthesia and surgical stress might affect the hemodynamics. It may be possible that different results could be obtained in conscious rats. BAPN-induced AD model does not completely mimic the process of human AD formation. Toxic effect of BAPN may also interfere with the results. Future studies will require much larger sample sizes to verify our assumptions.
Some researchers believed that the formation of AD could be promoted by the effect of blood pressure variability (BPV) which produces discontinuous stress on the aortic wall. BPV could also be augmented by increased sympathetic reflexes in normotensive rats [39]. We believe that SCGx may also reduce the incidence of AD by stabilizing BPV. However, this assumption still needs more experimental research to verify since we did not observe BPV of the rats in the present study. Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is a kind of copper-dependent amine oxidase that catalyzes the covalent crosslink of elastin fibers and collagen [40]. β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) is a lathyrogen which could irreversibly inhibit the LOX; thereby preventing the formation of crosslinks in elastin fibers and collagen, and the effect is especially remarkable in young growing animals [41]. BAPN-induced AD is characterized by vascular medial degeneration and fragmentation of elastic fibers, which resemble the aortic changes in AD patients [42]. In this study, we found that BAPN administration increased the excitability of the sympathetic nerve in rats. The result was in consistent with the clinical manifestations of patients with aortic dissection, showing that this rat model may be suitable for the study of mechanisms related to the sympathetic nervous system. The mechanism that the incidence of BAPN-induced dissection could be decreased by sympathetic blockade is not very clear. We speculate that the effect may be due to the decrease in SNA, which in turn reduced HR and MMP-9 expression. During the experiment, the body weights of the rats were significantly reduced in the BAPN group and SCGx + BAPN group compared with the control group. We presume that the toxicity of BAPN may hinder the growth of rats. We speculate that the growth rate of rats may affect the incidence of BAPN-induced AD. However, because of the limited number of experimental animals we did not get statistical evidence. SCGx treatment may affect to protect the inhibition of natural
5. Conclusion The relationship between SNA and AD shows considerable complexity. In the present study, we demonstrated that SCGx treatment inhibited the elevation of SNA and reduced the incidence of BAPN-induced AD in rats. SCGx may suppress the formation of BAPN-induced AD via restraining the rise of HR and reducing the MMP-9 concentration in aortic wall. The result implicates that the surgical techniques such as localized sympathetic nerve blockage could be a useful alternative treatment method for the prevention of AD. However, the clinical efficacy of SCGx as well as the underlying mechanisms of its effects 5
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Fig. 6. Representative western blot tests of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in aorta wall of β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) treated rats, BAPN administration combined superior cervical ganglionectomy (BAPN + SCGx) treated rats, and control rats. *P < 0.05.
warrants further evaluation. [9]
Conflict of interest No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the authors.
[10]
Acknowledgments
[11]
This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81270312). We thank Dr. Peng Li (Department of cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University) for technical assistance in this study.
[12]
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Bilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy attenuates the progression of βaminopropionitrile-induced aortic dissection in rats Huan Liu, Xiangxiang Zheng, Linfei Zhang, Xuechao Yang, Yongfeng Shao, Shijiang Zhang⁎ Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Aortic dissection Sympathetic nerve activity Superior cervical ganglionectomy
Aims: Aortic dissection (AD) represents one of the most common aortic emergencies with high incidence of morbidity and mortality. Clinical studies have shown that the increased excitability of the sympathetic nerve may be associated with the formation of AD. In this study, we examined the effects of bilateral superior cervical sympathectomy (SCGx) on the progression of β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN)-induced AD in rats. Main methods: Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups, including BAPN, BAPN + SCGx and control groups. For terminal measurements, the mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were monitored and the basal sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) was assessed through recording the variation in arterial pressure in response to hexamethonium application. Pathological changes in the aortic wall were observed by histological staining. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 concentrations within the aortic wall were analyzed by western blot. Key findings: The results show that BAPN administration could elevate SNA and cause the formation of AD in rats with a high incidence (67.7%), while SCGx treatment inhibited the elevation of SNA and significantly reduced the incidence (20%). SCGx may suppress the formation of BAPN-induced AD via restraining the rise of HR and reducing the MMP-9 concentration in aortic wall. Significance: These results indicate that surgical techniques such as sympathetic nerve block may be a potentially useful therapy for the prevention of AD.
1. Introduction Aortic dissection (AD) is considered one of the most lethal events to affect the aorta with an incidence of 3–5 cases per 100,000 people per year [1]. AD is due to a tear in the intimal layer of the aorta or intramural haematoma, which commonly is preceded by medial wall degeneration or cystic media necrosis [2]. Although the exact mechanism of AD formation is still unclear, the progression of AD could be facilitated by a combination of cardiovascular system disorders, such as increased hemodynamic stress, aortic injury and chronic inflammation [3]. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is known to play an important role in short and long term regulation of different functions of the cardiovascular system. The SNS influences vascular function through multiple mechanisms, including direct vasoconstriction, wall remodeling, blood pressure increase, and metabolic alterations [4]. Clinical studies have shown that the increased excitability of the sympathetic nerve may be associated with the formation of AD [5]. βblockers, a kind of adrenergic antagonists, were intensively used in clinical practice for preventing AD and had satisfactory clinical effect
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[6,7]. Sympathetic ganglion block (SGB) has been reported to attenuate the severity of symptoms and slowed the progression of several cardiovascular diseases including ventricular arrhythmias and pulmonary arterial hypertension [8–10]. SGB is believed to decrease efferent cervical sympathetic outflows and might also inhibit the sympathetic nerve activity (SNA). Considering the effective roles of sympathetic denervation on cardiovascular system disorders, we hypothesized that sympathetic blocks can also attenuate the progression of AD. β-Aminopropionitrile (BAPN)-treated animals have been widely used as a model of aortic dissecting aneurysm, and the variations in the elastic architecture of the aorta induced by BAPN treatment appear to resemble those found in Marfan's syndrome [11]. Several researches had shown that β-blockers could prevent BAPN-induced aortic ruptures and were effective in the treatment of aortic dissection induced by BAPN [12–14]. Whether the blocking of the sympathetic nerve may affect the formation of BAPN-induced AD has rarely been studied. In this study, to investigate our hypothesis, we examined the effects of bilateral superior cervical sympathectomy (SCGx) on the progression of BAPN-induced AD in rats.
Corresponding author at: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing 210029, China. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Zhang).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2017.10.043 Received 21 September 2017; Received in revised form 20 October 2017; Accepted 31 October 2017 0024-3205/ © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article as: Liu, H., Life Sciences (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2017.10.043
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2. Material and methods
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The proteins were then transferred onto polyvinyl-difluoride membranes. Membranes were probed with primary antibody for MMP-2, MMP-9 and GAPDH as a loading control. Enhanced chemiluminescence (Servicebio, Wuhan, Hubei, China) was used to visualize the protein bands. The intensity of these bands was quantitated using AlphaEaseFC 4.0 software from Alpha Innotech Corporation.
2.1. Animals and treatments Experiments were performed on three-week-old male Sprague–Dawley rats weighing 50.1 ± 0.2 g. Forty rats were randomly divided into the following three groups. Group A (n = 15) received BAPN (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) in a dose of 666 mg/kg/day dissolved in saline by subcutaneous injection [15]. The rats in group B (n = 15) received the same injection as group A after the procedure of bilateral SCGx. Group C (n = 10) served as control group. All the rats received three days' rest for acclimatization before the experiment process and postoperative recovery. BAPN was given as one daily injection subcutaneously into the nape of the neck in the morning. The rats were allowed access to standard rat chow and distilled water ad libitum during this experimental period. Body weight was measured once a week. The study lasted four weeks and animals that died during the study were autopsied immediately. Animals that did not die were sacrificed by an overdose of anesthetics at the end of the study. All experimental procedures involving rats were approved by the Experimental Animal Care and Use Committee of Nanjing Medical University and registered under the number IACUC-1705025. All efforts were made to minimize the number of animals used and their suffering.
2.6. Histologic examinations The dissected aorta taken for histologic examinations to confirm the formation of aorta dissection was immersion-fixed in 10% neutralbuffered formalin. These specimens were cut into 4 μm-thick sections and were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H & E), Elastica van Gieson (EVG). 2.7. Statistical analysis Continuous variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Statistical Product and Service Solutions 19.0 software (SPSS) was used for all analyses. Nonparametric data were analyzed using chisquare tests. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to compare parametric variables among the groups. The level of significance was chosen to be P < 0.05.
2.2. Bilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy (SCGx) SCGx is regarded as a procedure of long-term and repeated SGB. All surgeries were conducted in designated veterinary operating room with sterilized instruments and procedure. For all surgeries, rats were anesthetized with 10% chloral hydrate (0.03 ml/kg, ip) before surgery. A 2-cm incision was performed at the neck region. The common carotid artery was exposed and the superior cervical ganglion was identified behind the carotid bifurcation. Cervical sympathetic nerves running beside the common carotid artery were freed of fat and connective tissues [16]. Both sides of the superior cervical ganglia were cut off and then the incision was closed. Successful sympathetic nerve blockage was confirmed by ptosis of the eyes.
3. Results 3.1. Effects of SCGx on the formation of BAPN-induced AD Among the rats that only received the administration of BAPN, nine rats survived until the end of the study. Six rats dying prematurely owing to dissecting aorta rupture and extensive blood clots were discovered in their thoracic cavities (Fig. 1A). Of the surviving rats in BAPN group, four rats were found the formation of AD, all located from the ascending aorta to the proximal descending aorta (Fig. 1B, C). In BAPN + SCGx group two rats died of aortic rupture during the study and only one of the surviving rats developed AD. The incidence of AD was decreased by SCGx treatment from 66.7% (10/15) to 20% (3/15) (P < 0.05).
2.3. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) measurements Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were monitored with a noninvasive computerized tail-cuff system (NIBP; AD Instruments, Australia) in conscious rats. The rats were trained to adapt to the measuring equipment for at least 1 week before experiments. The MAP and HR were calculated by averaging 20 measurements.
3.2. Effects of BAPN administration with or without SCGx on body weight Mean body weights of BAPN and BAPN + SCGx groups during the course of the experiment were lower than the control group (Fig. 2A). BAPN treatment significantly suppressed the increase in the body weight when compared with control group, whereas SCGx treatment alleviated this effect (92.9 ± 30.1 g; 211.6 ± 8.2 g and 122.1 ± 25.9 g; Fig. 2B).
2.4. Evaluation of sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) Each rat was anesthetized with α-chloralose (40 mg/kg ip) and urethane (900 mg/kg ip). A midline incision in the neck was made and the carotid artery was cannulated for measurement of MAP. The femoral vein was also cannulated for drug infusion. Hexamethonium bromide, a nicotinic cholinergic receptor antagonist, was used to assess basal SNA in rats through the variation in MAP in response to the blockage of cervical sympathetic ganglion. A dosage of 25 mg/kg hexamethonium bromide (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) was injected into the femoral vein to induce a depressor effect. The maximal decrease in MAP was considered as the index of sympathetic nerve activity (SNA).
3.3. Effects of BAPN administration with or without SCGx on MAP, HR and SNA Our results showed that there was no significant difference in MAP between the three groups (91.9 ± 11.2 vs 87.2 ± 6.4 vs 91.7 ± 11.4 mm Hg; Fig. 3A).When compared with BAPN group, rats in BAPN + SCGx group showed a significant decrease in HR (364.5 ± 18.6 vs 275.7 ± 51.6 bpm; Fig. 3B). The representative recording of effects of hexamethonium on MAP is shown in Fig. 4. Hexamethonium significantly lowered the MAP in BAPN treated rats compared with BAPN + SCGx treated rats and control rats (− 43.9 ± 7.3 vs − 24.1 ± 4.5, P < 0.05; − 43.9 ± 7.3 vs − 31.4 ± 6.7 mm Hg, P < 0.05; Fig. 4D), which demonstrates that there is significant elevation of SNA in BAPN treated rats while SCGx treatment significantly inhibited the effect.
2.5. Western blot analysis Specimens for Western blot were dissected fresh. Western blot analyses for matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), MMP-9 and GAPDH concentrations were performed in a standard fashion. Briefly, aortic tissues were homogenized and cells were harvested with trypsin, and the protein extract were loaded on to a 10% sodium dodecyl sulfate2
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Fig. 1. A. Aorta rupture and blood clot were discovered in thoracic cavity in autopsy. B. Normal aorta in control group. C. Aortic dissection formation in β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) treated group (arrow).
men, whereas women tend to have higher degrees of parasympathetic activation [20]. The clinical results indicate that there is a probable connection between SNA and the formation of AD. SGB is a reversible procedure that partially blocks the cervical sympathetic nervous by means of local anesthetic injection. Since the cardiac sympathetic nerves pass through the ganglions, SGB may also affect cardiac sympathetic function [21]. Continuous palpebral ptosis can be noticed by SCGx in rats, which resembles human blepharoptosis found after SGB treatment [22]. Therefore, long-term and repeated SGB to humans may have the same effect as SCGx in rats. In some studies, sympathetic ganglion block was achieved by injecting local anesthetic into the superior cervical ganglion or stellate ganglion [7,23] However, the result of sympathetic nerve blockage could be interfered by the infiltration of a local anesthetic to nearby nerves [24]. In our study, to avoid the occurrence of this possible situation, we used a surgical approach to achieve accurate sympathetic nerve blockade. Ganglionic blockade has been extensively used as an index of total SNA [25–27]. By the analyzation of the magnitude of the fall in MAP produced by ganglionic blockade, SNA could be assessed indirectly. In the present study, BAPN treated rats showed a significantly greater reduction in MAP in response to hexamethonium when compared with other groups of rats. This finding suggested that SNA in BAPN treated rats was higher than SCGx treated and control rats. The reduced incidence of BAPN-induced AD may be associated with the decreased SNA caused by SCGx. Both acquired and genetic conditions share a common pathway causing the damage in the integrity of the arterial intima. The two main
3.4. Effects of BAPN administration with or without SCGx on aortic wall structure Histologic findings of H & E staining demonstrated that administration of BAPN resulted in thickening of the aortic wall compared with the control rats. Treatment of SCGx attenuated this phenomenon. EVG staining showed that BAPN treatment led to degeneration and destruction of elastic layers and adventitial thickening of the aortic wall. SCGx prevented degenerative lesions within the elastic layer, resulting in the aortic wall similarly to normal tissue (Fig. 5). 3.5. Effects of BAPN administration with or without SCGx on MMP-2 and MMP-9 concentrations in aortic wall The concentrations of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in aortic wall tissue were increased by the administration of BAPN when compared with control rats. SCGx treatment attenuated this finding and was showed to be of statistical significance for MMP-9. While the BAPN and BAPN + SCGx groups showed similar concentrations of MMP-2 (Fig. 6). 4. Discussion Several studies revealed that increased age and male sex were related to increased risk of incident AD [17]. It was also reported that muscle SNA was significantly lower in women compared with men of the same age and was elevated with age [18,19]. Interestingly, there appears to be a preponderance of sympathetic mediated responses in
Fig. 2. A. Changes of body weight during the 4-week study. B. The total changes of the body weight among the three groups (n = 9, n = 13, n = 10) at the end of the study. The data are shown as means ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. Abbreviations: BAPN, β-aminopropionitrile; SCGx, superior cervical ganglionectomy.
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Fig. 3. Comparison of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) among the three groups (n = 9, n = 13, n = 10). The data are shown as means ± SD. *P < 0.05. Abbreviations: BAPN, β-aminopropionitrile; SCGx, superior cervical ganglionectomy.
However, when compared with BAPN + SCGx group, we noticed a dramatic decline of MMP-9, indicating that SCGx decreased expression of MMP-9 in the aortic wall, which may be partially responsible for the lower incidence of AD. Hypertension is the most common risk condition for AD. Chronic exposure to high blood pressure may result in aortic intimal fragility and alteration [33]. Excessive ECM degradation could be induced by hypertension which may promote the production of MMPs and proinflammatory cytokines [34]. Patients with AD had a high incidence of hypertension that leads to the extensive application of beta-blocker therapy for AD. However, several studies showed that BAPN may have no or only a minor reducing effect on blood pressure in normotensive rats [35,36]. The results are in coincidence with our research. It is possible that the reduction of heart rate caused by SCGx was an important factor in the protection of BAPN-induced AD in rats [37,38].
mechanisms that conduce to the degeneration of the aortic wall are extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and inflammation [28]. ECM is a kind of non-cellular three-dimensional macromolecular network, which is composed primarily of elastin and collagen [29]. Collagen and elastin are mainly responsible for the characteristic mechanical resistance, tensile strength and elasticity of the aortic wall [30]. MMP family members are among the most prominent proteases which have been involved in aortic diseases and might account for the ECM destruction and expansion of areas with medial degeneration [31]. Among the researches of aortic disease, MMP-2 and MMP-9 are the most intensively studied. One research showed that increased norepinephrine release from sympathetic nervous endings may cause the MMP-2 overexpression, which could promote the formation of AD [32]. Our results also showed that both MMP-2 and MMP-9 increased significantly in BAPN group when compared with the control group.
Fig. 4. Representative recording of mean arterial pressure (MAP) change by the administration of hexamethonium. Original recording of MAP is shown in β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) treated rats (A, n = 9), BAPN administration combined superior cervical ganglionectomy (BAPN + SCGx) treated rats (B, n = 13), and control rats (C, n = 10). Arrow indicates hexamethonium injection was started. D. Effects of hexamethonium on MAP changes are shown. The data are shown as means ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01.
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Fig. 5. Representative micrographs showing aortic features of the rats. LPF: low power images of hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining (bar shows length in 500 μm). HPF: high-power field images of H & E staining (bar shows 200 μm of length). EVG: high-power field images of Elastica van Gieson staining (bar shows 200 μm of length). Abbreviations: BAPN, βaminopropionitrile; SCGx, superior cervical ganglionectomy.
growth in rats to some extent. Similarly, another study also revealed that SCGx does not result in an increase in body weight, but may attenuate stress induced inhibition of natural growth in rats [43]. Whether SCGx may prevent the formation of AD by attenuating the effect of BAPN on the growth of rats is still uncertain. A limitation of our study is that SCGx is conducted with a high level sympathetic block. Because the BAPN-induced AD model requires rats with relatively small body weights, large traumatic interception operation, such as thoracic sympathetic block, may be associated with a low survival rate. Localized and accurate sympathetic block and its efficacy remain to be observed. Another limitation is that we conducted the evaluation of SNA indirectly under anesthetized condition. The anesthesia and surgical stress might affect the hemodynamics. It may be possible that different results could be obtained in conscious rats. BAPN-induced AD model does not completely mimic the process of human AD formation. Toxic effect of BAPN may also interfere with the results. Future studies will require much larger sample sizes to verify our assumptions.
Some researchers believed that the formation of AD could be promoted by the effect of blood pressure variability (BPV) which produces discontinuous stress on the aortic wall. BPV could also be augmented by increased sympathetic reflexes in normotensive rats [39]. We believe that SCGx may also reduce the incidence of AD by stabilizing BPV. However, this assumption still needs more experimental research to verify since we did not observe BPV of the rats in the present study. Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is a kind of copper-dependent amine oxidase that catalyzes the covalent crosslink of elastin fibers and collagen [40]. β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) is a lathyrogen which could irreversibly inhibit the LOX; thereby preventing the formation of crosslinks in elastin fibers and collagen, and the effect is especially remarkable in young growing animals [41]. BAPN-induced AD is characterized by vascular medial degeneration and fragmentation of elastic fibers, which resemble the aortic changes in AD patients [42]. In this study, we found that BAPN administration increased the excitability of the sympathetic nerve in rats. The result was in consistent with the clinical manifestations of patients with aortic dissection, showing that this rat model may be suitable for the study of mechanisms related to the sympathetic nervous system. The mechanism that the incidence of BAPN-induced dissection could be decreased by sympathetic blockade is not very clear. We speculate that the effect may be due to the decrease in SNA, which in turn reduced HR and MMP-9 expression. During the experiment, the body weights of the rats were significantly reduced in the BAPN group and SCGx + BAPN group compared with the control group. We presume that the toxicity of BAPN may hinder the growth of rats. We speculate that the growth rate of rats may affect the incidence of BAPN-induced AD. However, because of the limited number of experimental animals we did not get statistical evidence. SCGx treatment may affect to protect the inhibition of natural
5. Conclusion The relationship between SNA and AD shows considerable complexity. In the present study, we demonstrated that SCGx treatment inhibited the elevation of SNA and reduced the incidence of BAPN-induced AD in rats. SCGx may suppress the formation of BAPN-induced AD via restraining the rise of HR and reducing the MMP-9 concentration in aortic wall. The result implicates that the surgical techniques such as localized sympathetic nerve blockage could be a useful alternative treatment method for the prevention of AD. However, the clinical efficacy of SCGx as well as the underlying mechanisms of its effects 5
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Fig. 6. Representative western blot tests of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in aorta wall of β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) treated rats, BAPN administration combined superior cervical ganglionectomy (BAPN + SCGx) treated rats, and control rats. *P < 0.05.
warrants further evaluation. [9]
Conflict of interest No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the authors.
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Acknowledgments
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This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81270312). We thank Dr. Peng Li (Department of cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University) for technical assistance in this study.
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