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Endocrinology Vol. 142, No. 8 3598-3606
Copyright © 2001 by The Endocrine Society


ARTICLES

Targeted Overexpression of IGF-I in Smooth Muscle Cells of Transgenic Mice Enhances Neointimal Formation through Increased Proliferation and Cell Migration after Intraarterial Injury

Binghua Zhu1, Guisheng Zhao1, David P. Witte, David Y. Hui and James A. Fagin

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (B.Z., D.Y.H.), Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism (G.Z., J.A.F.), University of Cincinnati, and Department of Pathology, Children’s Hospital Medical Center (D.P.W.), Cincinnati, Ohio 45267

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: James A. Fagin, M.D., Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Vontz Center for Molecular Studies, 3125 Eden Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267. E-mail: faginja{at}uc.edu


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
The response of arterial smooth muscle cells to injury is governed by a complex series of events. Significant among them is the paracrine production of peptide growth factors. To determine the impact of local IGF-I gene expression on vascular injury, the left carotid arteries of SMP8-IGF-I mice (in which IGF-I is selectively overexpressed in smooth muscle cells by means of a smooth muscle {alpha}-actin promoter) and wild-type controls were injured mechanically with an epon resin probe. After 7 and 14 d, a progressive increase in medial area was seen in both SMP8-IGF-I and wild-type mice, but they were not significantly different from each other. However, by 14 d there was a more than 4-fold increase in neointimal area in transgenic vs. wild-type. The intima/media ratios were also strikingly increased at 14 d in the IGF-I-overexpressing animals. The mitotic index, determined in animals injected daily with bromodeoxyuridine for 3 d before death, was markedly elevated in both the media and neointima 7 d after injury in SMP8-IGF-I mice, but the effect had subsided by 14 d. Despite a higher rate of cell division, the relative increase in medial area was less in the SMP8-IGF-I mice than in wild-type mice at both 7 and 14 d, consistent with a stimulation of cell migration to the neointima. The experiments reported here provide compelling evidence that paracrine expression of IGF-I is a powerful stimulus for smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration in vivo.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
GROWTH OF VASCULAR smooth muscle cells (SMC) is a key component in the development of atherosclerosis and restenosis after angioplasty. The proliferation of medial SMC, migration to the intima, and proliferation of intimal cells are sequential steps in the formation of a neointima after intraarterial injury. The signals mediating these processes are complex. Significant among them is the paracrine production of growth factors, including basic fibroblast growth factor (1), platelet-derived growth factor (2), and IGF-I (3, 4, 5).

IGF-I, a small polypeptide with structural homology to IGF-II and proinsulin, is produced by many cell types and acts as an autocrine/paracrine growth factor. It has been postulated to play a role in the regulation of growth of SMC of the bladder, uterus, and vasculature. The cooperative effects of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and IGF-I in inducing aortic SMC proliferation have been demonstrated (6). Using embryonic fibroblast cell lines derived from mice with targeted disruption of the type I IGF receptor (IGF-IR), Sell et al. observed that about 60% of the proliferative capacity of serum or PDGF is dependent on autocrine production of IGF-I (7). Furthermore, integrity of the IGF-IR is obligatory for the PDGF-dependent increase in proliferating cell nuclear antigen mRNA levels in replicating cells (8). The critical need for IGF-IR signaling was further demonstrated by the fact that IGF-IR-null fibroblasts could not be transformed by the simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen (9). Until recently, information on the paracrine effects of IGF-I in SMC tissue beds in vivo was conjectural and based primarily on descriptions of the regulation of IGF-I gene expression in association with events that trigger smooth muscle hyperplasia or hypertrophy. For instance, there is a marked induction of IGF-I gene expression in the medial layer of the rat aorta after balloon arterial injury, coincident with the peak time of SMC DNA synthesis (3, 4, 5). Smooth muscle hypertrophy secondary to partial urethral ligation is associated with increased IGF-I biosynthesis in the bladder wall (10). Estrogen and progesterone induce IGF-I and IGF-II mRNA levels in the uterus, consistent with the idea that these growth factors may help mediate sex steroid-dependent endometrial proliferation and perhaps myometrial hypertrophy (11, 12, 13). Direct evidence for a role of paracrine expression of IGF-I in SMC growth was shown in transgenic (TG) mice selectively overexpressing IGF-I in SMC by means of a mouse smooth muscle {alpha}-actin promoter (14). These mice exhibit marked overexpression of IGF-I in all smooth muscle-rich tissues (i.e. bladder, stomach, intestine, uterus, and aorta), where the growth factor promotes a striking degree of hyperplasia without affecting plasma IGF-I levels or total body weight.

A functional role for IGF-I in vascular injury has been proposed based on several lines of evidence. Treatment of rats with the long-acting somatostatin analog octreotide evoked a dose-dependent decrease in neointima/media ratios after balloon injury of femoral arteries (15). Octreotide acts primarily by inhibiting GH secretion and, hence, IGF-I gene expression in liver and peripheral tissues. However, at the doses and schedules used in these experiments, plasma GH and IGF-I (and glucagon) levels were not affected by octreotide. By contrast, femoral artery IGF-I mRNA levels were markedly decreased and failed to increase after arterial injury. The impairment of arterial IGF-I gene expression was selective, as induction of PDGF-A mRNA was unaffected by octreotide treatment (15). Hayry et al. (5) demonstrated that treatment of rats with a stable peptide analog of IGF-I designed to serve as an IGF-IR antagonist decreased [3H]thymidine labeling and intimal thickness after carotid injury. Taken together, these studies indicate that IGF-I may be a significant mediator of SMC proliferation after arterial injury. However, there are alternative explanations for the results described above, which provided the impetus to test the hypothesis that paracrine overexpression of IGF-I in the arterial wall is sufficient to modulate the way in which vascular SMC respond to mechanical injury.


    Materials and Methods
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Animals
The characterization and phenotypic analyses of the SMP8-IGF-I mice has been described (14). Briefly, the transgene consists of a smooth muscle {alpha}-actin promoter (SMP8) cloned upstream of a rat IGF-I cDNA. Expression of the transgene was robust and was found exclusively in smooth muscle-rich tissues postnatally (artery, vein, bladder, uterus, and myocyte layer of the gastrointestinal tract). IGF-I mRNA levels in these tissues (i.e. aorta and bladder) were equivalent or greater than endogenous IGF-I mRNA levels in liver. IGF-I expression in SMP8-IGF-I mice remained entirely paracrine, as there was no increase in plasma IGF-I levels. SMP8-IGF-I mice had arterial SMC hyperplasia, and the medial area was increased by about 20% (14, 16). All animal experimentation protocols were performed under the guidelines of animal welfare by the University of Cincinnati, in accordance with NIH guidelines.

Carotid artery injury
Mechanically induced endothelial denudation was performed as described previously (17). Briefly, an epon resin probe made by forming epon beads slightly larger than the diameter of the carotid artery (0.45 mm) on a 3-0 nylon suture was used for the arterial injury. The animals were anesthetized by ip injection with a solution composed of ketamine (80 mg/kg; Fort Dodge Laboratories, Inc., Fort Dodge, IA) and xylazine (16 mg/kg; The Butler Co., Columbus, OH) diluted in 0.9% NaCl. The mice were immobilized, and the fur covering the neck from sternum to chin was removed with lotion hair remover. Surgery was carried out using a dissection microscope (GZ6, Leica Corp., Buffalo, NY). The entire length of the left carotid artery was exposed. The distal bifurcation of the carotid artery was looped proximally and ligated distally with 7-0 silk suture (Ethicon, Somerville, NJ). A transverse arteriotomy was made between the 7-0 silk sutures, and the resin probe was inserted, advanced toward the aortic arch, and withdrawn five times. The probe was removed, the proximal 7-0 suture was ligated, a 6-0 suture was secured, and the incision was closed with 5-0 sterile surgical gut (Ethicon). All of these procedures were performed within 20 min. Animals were allowed to recover in a 37 C heat box. An identical surgical procedure was applied by the same operator to each animal to assure reproducibility of the results.

Tissue preparation and histological staining
After the indicated times after arterial injury, animals were anesthetized and perfused with 0.9% NaCl by placement of a 22-gauge butterfly angiocatheter in the left ventricle. The mice were subsequently perfusion fixed in situ by infusion with 10% buffered formalin (pH 7.0) for 20 min at a constant pressure of 100 mm Hg. The entire neck was dissected from each mouse and fixed in 10% buffered formalin for an additional 48 h. The whole neck was decalcified for 48 h before embedding in paraffin. Identical whole-neck cross sections of 5 µm were made from the distal side of the neck beginning at the point of the distal 7-0 ligature. Whole neck sections were used to evaluate both the injured and the uninjured control vessels on the same section. For each mouse, four levels of serial sections were taken at 500-µm intervals (Fig. 1AGo). Parallel sections were subjected to routine hematoxylin and eosin staining as well as to Verhoeff Van-Gieson (VVG) staining of the elastic lamina. Four unstained sections from each level were used for immunohistochemistry.



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Figure 1. A, A schematic graph illustrates the injury process in mouse carotid artery. Injury was performed on the left carotid arteries of SMP8-IGF-I and WT mice under a dissecting microscope using a 3-0 nylon suture with 0.45-mm epon beads slightly larger than the diameter of the carotid artery. Seven or 14 d after injury, mice were killed, and the necks were serially sectioned at predefined anatomical sites. Four levels of serial sections at 500-µm intervals were made for histomorphometric analysis. B, Representative photograph of Evans blue-stained carotid arteries from a WT mouse 1 h after injury. The injured left carotid artery shows complete staining, indicating a complete endothelial denudation after injury. No staining was shown in the right uninjured carotid artery.

 
Morphometry
Morphometric analyses were performed on elastin-stained sections. For each animal, four whole-neck cross-sections with both injured left and uninjured control right carotid arteries were measured. Images were digitized and captured using a Sony video connected to a personal computer. Measurements were performed at a magnification of 200 using a Scion Image analysis computer program (Frederick, MD). For each artery, luminal area, area inside the internal elastic lamina (IELA), and the area encircled by external elastic lamina were measured. The medial area was calculated as the area encircled by external elastic lamina-IELA, and the intimal area (IA) was calculated as the IELA-luminal area. From these measurements, the ratio of IA and medial area (I/M ratio) and the percentage of luminal stenosis (100 x IA/IELA) were calculated. To ensure a reproducible degree of injury, only vessels showing intact internal and external elastic laminae were considered in the histomorphometric analysis, which in all cases was performed on coded samples to prevent bias.

Immunohistochemistry
All sections were deparaffinized with xylene by incubating for 10 min three times and then were dehydrated with a series of graded ethanol baths from 70–100% for 10 min each time. Slides were washed in distilled water for 5 min, and endogenous peroxidase activities were blocked by incubation for 30 min with 0.5% hydrogen peroxide in PBS containing Triton X-100. Slides were washed three times in the same solution without H2O2 for 15 min each. Nonspecific binding sites were blocked by incubation for 30 min with 1.5% serum in PBS containing Triton X-100. For anti-smooth muscle {alpha}-actin staining, sections were then incubated overnight at 4 C with anti-smooth muscle {alpha}-actin (clone 1A4, Sigma, St. Louis, MO) at 1:3000 dilution. The slides were washed three times for 15 min each time with PBS containing Triton X-100 and then were incubated for 1 h at room temperature with 0.5% biotinylated antimouse IgG (Vector Laboratories, Inc., Burlingame, CA) in the same solution containing 1.5% normal serum. Slides were washed as described above, and then incubated with the avidin-peroxidase complex reagent (peroxidase Vectastain Elite ABC Kit, Vector Laboratories, Inc.) for 1 h at room temperature. The sections were visualized with 3,3'-diaminobenzidine. The slides were counterstained with Nuclear Fast Red (Zymed Laboratories, Inc., South San Francisco, CA). Two different monoclonal antibodies, HUC-1 and B4 (provided by Dr. James Lessard, Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, OH), directed against separate epitopes of {alpha}-actin and one monoclonal antibody against smooth muscle myosin heavy chain (courtesy of Dr. Muthu Periasamy) were also used in the staining experiments described above. For mouse monoclonal antibromodeoxyuridine (anti-BrdU) staining (clone BU33, Sigma; diluted 1:300), sections were pretreated by incubation with 4 M HCl for 30 min at 37 C and neutralized in 0.2 M borate buffer, pH 9.0. After a 15-min PBS/Triton X-100 wash, sections were further incubated with 0.1% trypsin for 30 min at 37 C, followed by blocking endogenous peroxidase and nonspecific binding sites as described above. The reaction was visualized using the Vectastain Elite ABC kit as described above.

In situ hybridization
In situ hybridization was performed as previously described (14). Briefly, injured and uninjured carotid arteries dissected from mice 2 or 14 d after injury were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, saturated overnight with 30% sucrose in PBS, and frozen in OCT (Miles, Elkhart, IN). Cryostat sections (7 µm) were mounted on silane-coated slides. The following sense and antisense cRNA probes were used: rat IGF-I, which hybridizes to both endogenous mouse and TG rat IGF-I mRNA; transgene-specific SV40 3'-untranslated region/poly(A) signal sequence, that recognizes only the transgene-derived IGF-I mRNA, and smooth muscle {alpha}-actin. Probes were labeled with [35S] UTP, using a commercially available kit (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA). The strategy for generation of rat IGF-I and SV40 probes was previously described (14). The smooth muscle {alpha}-actin sense and antisense probes were obtained from pSMAA-1 and pSMAA-6 plasmids, respectively, which were provided by Dr. James Lessard (Children’s Hospital of Cincinnati, OH). Both plasmids were linearized with BamHI and transcribed with T7 RNA polymerase to generate the sense and antisense probes. Hybridization was performed with a total of 5 x 105 to 1 x 106 cpm in a final volume of 30 µl/slide. The sections were hybridized overnight at 42 C, treated with 50 µg/ml ribonculease A and 100 U/ml of RNase T1 for 30 min at 37 C, and washed with 0.1 x SSC (standard saline citrate) at 50 C. Slides were dipped in NTB2 emulsion, diluted 1:1 with 0.6 mol/liter ammonium acetate, exposed for 10–14 d, and developed in D19 developer. Sections were counterstained in hematoxylin and eosin and photographed under dark- and brightfield illumination.

Statistical analysis
All values were expressed as the mean ± SEM. When only two groups (injured arteries and contralateral control arteries) were compared, differences were assessed by paired t test. Multiple comparisons were first tested by ANOVA. When the ANOVA demonstrated significant differences, individual mean differences were analyzed by the Student-Newman-Keuls test. The statistical software SigmaStat (version 2.0, Jandel Co., San Rafael, CA) was used. For all statistical analyses, P < 0.05 was considered significant.


    Results
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Effects of IGF-I overexpression on smooth muscle cell proliferation after injury
To determine the effects of smooth muscle-targeted overexpression of IGF-I on the sequential changes occurring after carotid arterial injury, we first evaluated the extent of endothelial damage and the kinetics of reendothelialization in the two groups of mice. The resin probe injury resulted in a consistent and complete denudation of the endothelium in both wild-type (WT) and SMP8-IGF-I mice, as determined by Evans blue staining (Fig. 1BGo). Moreover, the time course of reendothelialization was comparable in both WT and TG mice (91.11 ± 2.41% vs. 94.40 ± 2.16% 10 d after injury, WT vs. TG, n = 6 and 4, respectively). As arterial smooth muscle cells are normally quiescent, their proliferation rate is very low and barely detectable in intact mice. Moreover, even in SMP8-IGF-I mice, the basal mitotic index was no different from that in WT controls (Fig. 2Go). We took advantage of the carotid artery injury model to study the effects of paracrine IGF-I on SMC proliferation in vivo. BrdU was injected into mice daily for 3 d before death in 7-d experiments and for 5 d in animals killed at the 14-d point. Seven or 14 d after injury, mice were killed, and carotid arteries were prepared and sectioned. BrdU staining was then performed (Fig. 2AGo). Total and BrdU-positive cells in the medial and neointimal areas were counted under the microscope by a blinded operator. As shown in Fig. 2Go, the mitotic index was markedly elevated in both the media and neointima 7 d after injury in SMP8-IGF-I TG mice compared with WT controls, but the effects had subsided by 14 d. This supports the notion that locally expressed IGF-I increases the initial proliferative wave secondary to arterial injury.



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Figure 2. Mitotic index determined by BrdU incorporation in the media and neointima of carotid arteries from SMP8-IGF-I and WT mice after injury. A, Representative sections of anti-BrdU staining of injured and uninjured carotid arteries from WT and TG mice. BrdU was injected into mice daily for 3 d before death in 7-d experiments and for 5 d in animals killed at the 14-d point. Paraffin sections were obtained after injury, followed by BrdU staining, as described in Materials and Methods. B, Total and BrdU-positive cells in the media and neointima were counted, respectively, under the microscope by a blinded operator. The mitotic index is expressed as the ratio of BrdU-positive cells to total cells. n = 5 at each time point for each group. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01.

 
IGF-I overexpression in SMC increases neointimal formation after carotid injury
Consistent with our previous findings (14), the medial area of the carotid arteries from SMP8-IGF-I mice was greater that that in WT controls before injury (Fig. 3AGo). After injury, a progressive increase in medial area was observed in both WT and SMP8-IGF-I TG mice, which were not significantly different from each other (Fig. 3AGo). However, the relative increase in medial area in the injured arteries compared with that in uninjured vessels was greater in WT mice, especially 14 d after injury (Fig. 3BGo). Thus, although IGF-I increased smooth muscle cell proliferation in the media, this did not result in a greater expansion of this vascular compartment. This can be explained if IGF-I simultaneously stimulated the migration of smooth muscle cells from the media to the neointima. Indeed, as shown in Fig. 3CGo, the neointimal area was increased by about 4-fold in SMP8-IGF-I TG mice compared with controls 14 d after injury. The intima to media ratio was also markedly increased in IGF-I-overexpressing mice 14 d after injury compared with that in controls, whereas at 7 d there was no significant difference (Fig. 3DGo). In addition to the increase in neointimal formation after arterial injury, luminal stenosis was more severe in the SMP8-IGF-I TG mice 14 d after injury (Fig. 3EGo).



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Figure 3. Morphometric quantitation of uninjured control ({square}) and injured ({blacksquare}) carotid arteries from SMP8-IGF-I and WT mice. The medial area (A) was calculated as the area encircled by the external elastic lamina minus the area encircled by the internal elastic lamina. The fold increase in medial area (B) was calculated as the ratio of the medial area from injured to uninjured vessels. The neointimal area (C) was determined by subtracting the luminal area from the area encircled by the internal elastic lamina. The intima to media ratio (D) was determined based on the data in B and C. Luminal stenosis (E) was calculated as the percentage of the area inside the internal elastic lamina occupied by the intimal area in the injured carotid arteries. n = 5 at the 7-d point for each group; n = 8 at the 14-d point for each group. *, P < 0.05.

 
Effects of IGF-I overexpression on smooth muscle {alpha}-actin expression after injury
Representative histological data comparing 14-d-injured and uninjured carotid arteries from a WT control and an SMP8-IGF-I TG mice at low and high magnifications are illustrated in Fig. 4Go. A greater accumulation of cells in the neointima 14 d after injury was seen in SMP8-IGF-I compartments with WT vessels (Fig. 4Go, top two panels). VVG staining of the elastin layer helps to demarcate the vascular components and confirms the profound increase in neointimal formation in the IGF-I-overexpressing animal (Fig. 4Go, bottom two panels). Immunohistochemical analysis with smooth muscle-specific {alpha}-actin antibodies and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain antibodies confirms that the cells accumulating in the neointima in both WT and TG mice after injury are smooth muscle cells (Fig. 5Go; data not shown). However, the medial layer of the carotid artery from the TG mice showed almost complete absence of {alpha}-actin staining compared with WT controls after injury (Fig. 5Go). A decrease in smooth muscle {alpha}-actin expression has been previously observed after injury (18, 19, 20). To determine whether smooth muscle {alpha}-actin gene expression is also decreased in injured TG vessels, in situ hybridization was performed on injured and uninjured carotid arteries at 2 and 14 d using a smooth muscle {alpha}-actin cRNA probe. Smooth muscle {alpha}-actin mRNA was dramatically reduced in the medial layer of the vessels 14 d after injury compared with vessels 2 d after injury in TG mice (Fig. 6Go, G and H). By contrast, cells in the neointima showed abundant smooth muscle {alpha} actin mRNA at 14 d (Fig. 6HGo). Our immunohistochemical data support the idea that IGF-I results in a more profound loss of differentiated gene expression in these injured vessels. Indeed, staining with monoclonal antibodies directed against separate epitopes of {alpha}-actin and with an antibody against smooth muscle myosin heavy chain supported these data (not shown).



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Figure 4. Representative sections of uninjured (two left panels) and injured carotid arteries (two right panels) from a WT and an SMP8-IGF-I mouse, respectively, at low and high magnifications. The top two panels are hematoxylin- and eosin-stained photomicrographs showing a significant accumulation of cells in the neointima 14 d after injury in the IGF-I-overexpressing mouse compared with the WT control. The bottom two panels are VVG stains of the elastin layer, which confirm the profound increase in neointimal formation in the TG mouse. The arrows indicate the neointima, and the arrowheads indicate the medial layer.

 


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Figure 5. Immunohistochemical staining of smooth muscle {alpha}-actin in uninjured (two left panels) and injured (two right panels) carotid arteries from a representative WT and an SMP8-IGF-I mouse, respectively, at low (top panels) and high (bottom panels) magnifications 14 d after injury. Note that the medial layer of the injured carotid artery from the IGF-I-overexpressing mouse showed almost complete absence of smooth muscle {alpha}-actin staining compared with the WT control. The arrows indicate the neointimal area, and the arrowheads indicate the medial layer.

 


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Figure 6. IGF-I expression pattern in the carotid arteries after injury. A, A cross-section of a carotid artery from a WT mouse 2 d after injury. The section was hybridized with an antisense IGF-I probe. A positive signal is indicated by the bright white grains in this darkfield illuminated photomicrograph. There are focal areas of expression in the adventitial tissue and, to a lesser extent, in the tunica media. B, A section through the carotid artery of a WT mouse 14 d after injury and hybridized with the IGF-I antisense probe. The expression pattern is similar to the specimen illustrated in A, with signal limited to the adventitial tissue, but not the medial layer. C, A section of an injured carotid artery from a SMP8-IGF-I mouse 2 d after injury and hybridized with the antisense IGF-I probe. There is a uniform increase in expression in the tunica media (arrows) compared with the WT specimens. D, A section from the carotid artery of a TG mouse 14 d after injury, which was hybridized with an antisense IGF-I probe. There is strong expression of the IGF-I transcript in the thickened neointimal layer (*) and very little expression in the tunica media (arrow). E, A section through the carotid artery of a TG mouse 14 d after injury. This section was hybridized with the sense probe for SV40 as a control. No signal is evident in the tissue. F, The carotid artery from a TG mouse 14 d after injury that was hybridized with the antisense probe for SV40. There is strong signal in the neointimal layer identical to the pattern shown in D with the IGF-I probe. This identical pattern with the SV40 marker indicates that the pattern shown for IGF-I expression is consistent with transgene expression and not endogenous IGF expression. (No SV40 was detected in the WT animals.) G, A section through a carotid from a TG mouse 2 d after injury and hybridized with a probe that recognizes smooth muscle {alpha}-actin expression. There is strong expression in the tunica media. H, A TG mouse carotid artery 14 d after injury and hybridized with the probe for smooth muscle {alpha}-actin. The neointimal layer is strongly positive, whereas there is decreased signal in the media. All photomicrographs are darkfield illuminated. Magnification, x200 (A–H).

 
Expression of endogenous and TG IGF-I mRNA after injury
As IGF-I transgene expression is driven by the smooth muscle {alpha}-actin promoter, we examined whether the decrease in smooth muscle {alpha}-actin gene expression in the medial layer would also result in lower transgene expression. Using both a probe for total IGF-I mRNA as well as a transgene-specific probe complementary to the SV40 poly(A) signal sequence, we found that IGF-I mRNA was dramatically reduced in the medial layer of the carotid arteries from TG mice 14 d after injury (Fig. 6Go, D and F) compared with vessels from TG mice 2 d after injury (Fig. 6CGo). Thus, expression of the IGF-I transgene was absent in the media, but was highly abundant in the neointima after 14 d, coincident with the changes in expression of smooth muscle {alpha}-actin and presumably with the activity of the smooth muscle {alpha}-actin promoter.


    Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
IGF-I is believed to serve as a mediator of arteriosclerosis and restenosis after angioplasty by stimulating SMC proliferation and migration. IGF-I gene expression is induced in every model of arterial injury or medial hyperplasia that has been examined, including balloon injury of the rat aortic, femoral, and carotid arteries; aortic banding; and hypertension (3, 4, 5, 15, 21). In addition, human atherosclerotic lesions contain abundant IGF-I (22). However, the hypothesis that paracrine IGF-I serves as a local stimulus for SMC proliferation and migration has not been tested directly. Until recently, attempts to manipulate IGF-I action within the vessel wall have relied on either surgical hypophysectomy (23) or systemic administration of hormones or peptides that potentially could act at multiple sites (5). This is of particular concern with IGFs, as they are present in high concentration in plasma, making it difficult to dissect the relative contributions of endocrine and paracrine sources to biological effects in a particular tissue. The SMP8-IGF-I TG mouse, in which IGF-I is overexpressed specifically in SMC, provide a suitable system in which to study the role of this growth factor in the events occurring after carotid injury.

In this study we used an epon resin probe on a 3-0 nylon suture to induce arterial injury in mice. By Evans blue staining, we demonstrated that the resin probe introduced a consistent denudation of endothelium without damage to the elastic lamina. Thus, this procedure is appropriate to evaluate neointimal hyperplasia as a consequence of endothelial denudation with minimal trauma to underlying medial SMC. Furthermore, the increase in the proliferation of SMC in both media and neointima 7 or 14 d after resin probe injury is consistent with that reported in other murine vascular injury models (5, 18).

The present study demonstrated that overexpression of IGF-I in SMC evoked greater neointimal formation after carotid artery injury. The mitotic rate of both medial and neointimal SMC was markedly increased in SMP8-IGF-I mice 7 d after injury, consistent with enhancement of SMC proliferation by IGF-I in vivo. Notably, the effect of IGF-I on SMC proliferation subsided by 14 d. We excluded the possibility that an accelerated rate of reendothelialization may have taken place in the TG mice, which could have potentially explained the decline in the SMC mitotic index at 2 wk (24). It is possible that augmentation of the initial wave of replication in SMP8-IGF-I mice is due to the release of high levels of IGF-I stored in the vessel wall at the time of injury. We reported that the tissue IGF-I concentration in the aorta of SMP8-IGF-I TG mice is about 4-fold greater than that in WT controls (14). Most arterial IGF-I is probably bound to one of the IGF-binding proteins, in rodents mainly IGF-binding protein-4, and is liberated at the time of injury through activation of a specific IGFBP protease (Smith, E. P., submitted). An alternative interpretation is that the down-regulation of SM {alpha}-actin expression after injury through decreased activity of the exogenous {alpha}-actin promoter within the media (25) resulted in lower IGF-I transgene expression at later time points after intervention in this vascular compartment, resulting in a lower mitotic rate.

Smooth muscle myosin heavy chain immunostaining was also markedly decreased in the media, which may indicate a general effect on the differentiated state of these cells. Indeed, down-regulation of endogenous {alpha}-actin abundance appears to be more pronounced in arteries from SMP8-IGF-I mice. Thus, although paracrine overexpression of IGF-I in the artery does not by itself diminish the expression of {alpha}-actin (16), in the setting of injury, it appears to accentuate the effects of other dedifferentiating stimuli. Notably, cells in the neointima regained the expression of both smooth muscle {alpha}-actin (as demonstrated by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical staining) and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain. These cells are therefore phenotypically smooth muscle-like. Whether they migrated from the media or regained differentiated function after migration cannot be addressed by this study.

Despite a higher mitotic rate in the media of SMP8-IGF-I arteries, the relative increase in medial area after injury was not significantly greater in the TG animals compared with the WT controls. A likely explanation is that IGF-I, besides stimulating a wave of cell proliferation, also induced cells to migrate to the neointima. IGF-I has been reported to increase vascular SMC migration in vitro through mechanisms that require ligand occupancy of the {alpha}Vß3 integrin receptor. This phenomenon may be operating in vivo, as {alpha}Vß3 inhibitors reduce the size of atherosclerotic lesions in pigs through a mechanism that may include inhibition of IGF-I-induced migration of SMC (26, 27).

The observation that the stimulation of DNA synthesis by paracrine IGF-I expression is not associated with a disproportionate increase in the medial compartment after injury could also be accounted for, at least in theory, through concomitant activation of cell death. Apoptotic cell death of SMC appears to play a significant role in vascular remodeling during atherogenesis and arterial injury (28, 29, 30, 31). However, IGF-I functions as a survival factor for many cell types in vitro, including neurons (32), skeletal myoblasts (33), fibroblasts (34), and arterial SMC (35). IGF-I and PDGF inhibit cell death induced by c-myc in serum-deprived fibroblasts (28) and by serum deprivation in human arterial SMC (36). The contribution of individual growth factors to the modulation of apoptosis in SMC in vivo has not been tested. Moreover, terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated deoxy-UTP nick end labeling assays of sections of injured arteries from SMP8-IGF-I and WT mice 14 d after injury failed to show any significant differences between the groups (data not shown) (29). Finally, we cannot exclude that physical differences in the baseline characteristics of the respective vessels (elasticity and changes in luminal area) resulted in altered responses to injury.

In conclusion, targeted overexpression of IGF-I in arterial SMCs of TG mice is associated with increased neointimal formation after carotid injury. This results from an IGF-I-induced increase in SMC proliferation and, in all likelihood, in cell migration. These effects take place despite the fact that IGF-I in plasma is equally abundant in WT and SMP8-IGF-I animals. Although the endothelial layer is disrupted by the intervention, presumably allowing circulating IGF-I to access the arterial media, local overproduction of IGF-I within the vessel wall is sufficient to markedly modify the response to injury, supporting a direct role of paracrine IGF-I in this process.


    Acknowledgments
 
The authors are grateful to Pam Groen, Kathy Saalfeld, and Lisa Artmayer for technical assistance, and to Alicia Emley for photography assistance.


    Footnotes
 
This work was supported in part by NIH Grants R01-DK-54216 (to J.A.F.) and HL-61332 (to D.Y.H.).

1 These two investigators contributed equally to this study and should be considered as joint first authors. Back

Abbreviations: BrdU, Bromodeoxyuridine; IA, intimal area; IELA, area inside the internal elastic lamina; IGF-IR, type I IGF receptor; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor; SMC, smooth muscle cells; SV40, simian virus; VVG, Verhoeff Van-Gieson; WT, wild-type.

Received December 29, 2000.

Accepted for publication April 16, 2001.


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 

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