Background: Women have a higher risk of developing osteoarthritis (OA) than men, including with obesity. To better understand this disparity, we investigated sex differences in metabolic and inflammatory factors associated with OA using a diet-induced mouse model of obesity. We hypothesized that 20 weeks of high-fat diet (HFD) would induce sexually dimorphic changes in both systemic and local risk factors of knee OA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Metabolic processes are intricately linked to the resolution of innate inflammation and tissue repair, two critical steps for treating post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Based on lipolytic and immunoregulatory actions of norepinephrine, we hypothesized that intra-articular β-adrenergic receptor (βAR) stimulation would suppress PTOA-associated inflammation in the infrapatellar fat pad (IFP) and synovium.
Design: We used the βAR agonist isoproterenol to perturb intra-articular metabolism 3.
Monocytes are associated with human cardiovascular disease progression. Monocytes are segregated into three major subsets: classical (cMo), intermediate (iMo), and nonclassical (nMo). Recent studies have identified heterogeneity within each of these main monocyte classes, yet the extent to which these subsets contribute to heart disease progression is not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTuberculosis has been associated with increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. To examine whether mycobacterial infection exacerbates atherosclerosis development in experimental conditions, we infected low-density lipoprotein receptor knockout () mice with Bacille-Calmette-Guérin (BCG), an attenuated strain of the complex. Twelve-week old male mice were infected with BCG (0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Genome-wide studies showed that mutation in apoER2 (apolipoprotein E receptor-2) is additive with ε4 polymorphism in the gene on cardiovascular disease risk in humans. ApoE or apoER2 deficiency also accelerates atherosclerosis lesion necrosis in hypercholesterolemic mice and promotes neointima formation after vascular injury. This study tests the hypothesis that apoE and apoER2 modulate vascular occlusive diseases through distinct mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: The MEK5/Erk5 pathway mediates beneficial effects of laminar flow, a major physiological factor preventing vascular dysfunction. Forced Erk5 activation induces a protective phenotype in endothelial cell (EC) that is associated with a dramatically decreased migration capacity of those cells. Transcriptional profiling identified the Krüppel-like transcription factors KLF2 and KLF4 as central mediators of Erk5-dependent gene expression.
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