Deoxycorticosterone (DOC)/salt treatment induced cardiac tissue fibrosis in wild-type mice but not in myeloid MR-null mice, demonstrating that macrophage MR signaling promotes cardiac injury.
Macrophage mineralocorticoid receptor signaling promotes cardiac tissue injury and remodeling via the JNK pathway, suggesting a potential therapeutic target for heart failure.
Macrophage mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) signaling is an important mediator of cardiac tissue inflammation and fibrosis. The goal of the present study was to determine the cellular mechanisms of MR signaling in macrophages that promote cardiac tissue injury and remodeling. We sought to identify specific markers of MR signaling in isolated tissue macrophages (cardiac, aortic) vs splenic mononuclear cells from wild-type and myeloid MR-null mice given vehicle/salt or deoxycorticosterone (DOC)/salt for 8 weeks. Cardiac tissue fibrosis in response to 8 weeks of DOC/salt treatment was found in the hearts from wild-type but not myeloid MR-null mice. This was associated with an increased expression of the profibrotic markers TGF-β1 and matrix metalloproteinase-12 and type 1 inflammatory markers TNFα and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand-9 in cardiac macrophages. Differential expression of immunomodulatory M2-like markers (eg, arginase-1, macrophage scavenger receptor 1) was dependent on the tissue location of wild-type and MR-null macrophages. Finally, intact MR signaling is required for the phosphorylation of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase in response to a proinflammatory stimulus in bone marrow monocytes/macrophages in culture. These data suggest that the activation of the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase pathway in macrophages after a tissue injury and inflammatory stimuli in the DOC/salt model is MR dependent and regulates the transcription of downstream profibrotic factors, which may represent potential therapeutic targets in heart failure patients.
Shen et al. (Wed,) conducted a other in Cardiac tissue injury and remodeling. Deoxycorticosterone (DOC)/salt vs. vehicle/salt was evaluated on Cardiac tissue fibrosis and marker expression. Deoxycorticosterone (DOC)/salt treatment induced cardiac tissue fibrosis in wild-type mice but not in myeloid MR-null mice, demonstrating that macrophage MR signaling promotes cardiac injury.