Abstract 215: Angiotensin-II-induced Cardiac Remodeling is Reduced in TNFR1-deficient Mice Despite Increased Blood Pressure

Abstract

Background: Infusion of angiotensin-II (Ang-II) to wild-type (WT) mice results in hypertension, development of interstitial cardiac fibrosis and hypertrophy, and deterioration of myocardial function. We previously showed that after 1 week of Ang-II infusion, these effects were absent in mice deficient in tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1). We now investigated long-term effects of Ang-II infusion. Methods: WT and TNFR1-KO mice were infused with Ang-II for 6 weeks. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was measured by tail-cuff plethysmography; cardiac function by 2D-echocardiography and Doppler ultrasound. Hearts were analyzed for collagen deposition (histology) and expression of fibrosis- and hypertrophy- related genes (quantitative PCR). Results: In WT mice, SBP increased within 7 days and remained elevated at 6 weeks (152±4 mmHg); cardiac fibrosis developed after 1 week and persisted at 6 weeks (6.2±1.1% collagen area). By contrast, in TNFR1-KO mice, SBP at 7 days was low, but increased by 6 weeks (144±4 mmHg), whereas cardiac fibrosis was absent at 1 week and did not significantly increase by 6 weeks (2.5±0.5%). In support of these data, collagen I and collagen III mRNA expression at 6 weeks were upregulated in WT (2.9±0.6 and 4.1±0.8 -fold over sham), but not in TNFR1-KO hearts (1.3±0.1 and 1.8±0.2). In both mouse groups, cardiac hypertrophy and cardiac dysfunction developed over time, however, these changes were less prominent in TNFR1-KO mice: at 6 weeks, the heart-weight to body-weight ratio in WT was 6.7±0.4, in TNFR1-KO mice 5.5±0.2; the changes in anterior and posterior wall thicknesses in WT were 44±12% and 32±15%, in TNFR1-KO mice 19±8% and 17±10%; the change in ejection fraction in WT was -67±12%, in TNFR1-KO mice -39±5%; and the change in Tei-index (myocardial performance) in WT was 18±9%, in TNFR1-KO -1±7%. Also, hypertrophy-related atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and beta-myosin heavy chain (b-MHC) mRNA were upregulated in WT (4.3±0.9 and 4.3±0.6 -fold over sham), but less in TNFR1-KO hearts (2.6±0.5 and 2.4±0.5). Conclusion: Despite a significant increase in blood pressure over 6 weeks of Ang-II infusion, TNFR1-KO mice developed less cardiac fibrosis and hypertrophy and had better cardiac function compared to WT mice.