Early life stress-induced aortic endothelial dysfunction is mediated by endothelium-specific HDAC9

Early life stress (ELS) is highly prevalent worldwide and has been associated with an elevated risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood. We previously showed that maternal separation with early weaning (MSEW), an established ELS model of neglect in mice, leads to blunted endothelium-dependent relaxation as well as increased histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity. We hypothesized that specific HDAC isoform(s) mediate the ELS-induced endothelial dysfunction. In a screen of all HDAC isoforms, HDAC1, 6, and 9 gene expression were significantly elevated in aortas from male adult MSEW and normally reared (NR) C57BL6/J mice (N=3/group, p<0.05). Western blot analysis found that only HDAC9 protein abundance was significantly elevated in aortas from male MSEW as compared to NR mice (N=6/group, p=0.01). Detection of HDAC9 via immunohistochemistry was greater in the aortic endothelium of MSEW mice compared to NR (N=5/group). Subsequently, vascular reactivity was measured with wire myography on tamoxifen inducible endothelium-specific HDAC9KO (Cdh5CreERT2-HDAC9) MSEW and NR adult mice to determine the role of HDAC9 in MSEW-induced endothelial dysfunction. Male mice exposed to MSEW displayed blunted aortic endothelial-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine compared to NR, whereas endothelial-specific knockout of HDAC9 (HDAC9KO) restored endothelial-dependent relaxation (NR: E max =89.27%±4.15, N=5; MSEW: E max =48.12%±22.12, N=2; NR HDAC9 KO: E max =68.98%±4.73, N=5, MSEW HDAC9KO: E max =70.50%±1.85, N=3). Females demonstrated no difference between MSEW and NR endothelial dependent relaxation, however, HDAC9KO MSEW displayed blunted relaxation compared to all other groups (NR: E max = 77.14%±4.86, N=5; MSEW: E max =84.30%±8.71, N=2; NR HDAC9 KO: E max =70.80%±5.87, N=5, MSEW HDAC9KO: E max =69.76%±9.10, N=4). Endothelial-independent relaxation to sodium nitroprusside (SNP) was similar in all groups in both sexes (Male: NR: E max =96.92%±1.26, N=5; MSEW: E max =100%±0, N=2; NR HDAC9 KO: E max =96.52%±3.484, N=5; MSEW HDAC9KO: E max =100%±0, N=3; Female: NR: E max =98.58%±0.42, N=5; MSEW: E max =100%±0, N=2; NR HDAC9 KO: E max =98.48%±1.08, N=5; MSEW HDAC9KO: E max =99.15%±0.85, N=4). These findings suggest that HDAC9 mediates ELS-induced endothelial dysfunction in males, however, HDAC9 may play a protective role in females. Future studies aim to further investigate sex-dependent differences in the specific role of HDAC9 in ELS related CVD. NIH P01 HL158500, F31HL165863-01, T32GM135028. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.