Resistin-Like Molecule α Dysregulates Cardiac Bioenergetics in Neonatal Rat Cardiomyocytes

Bingdong Tao; Santosh Kumar; Jose Gomez-Arroyo; Chunling Fan; Ailan Zhang; John Skinner; Elizabeth Hunter; Kazuyo Yamaji-Kegan; Idris Samad; Alexander T Hillel; Qing Lin; Wenqian Zhai; Wei Dong Gao; Roger A Johns

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2021.574708

Resistin-Like Molecule α Dysregulates Cardiac Bioenergetics in Neonatal Rat Cardiomyocytes

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2021 Apr 26:8:574708. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.574708. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Bingdong Tao^{1

2}, Santosh Kumar¹, Jose Gomez-Arroyo¹, Chunling Fan¹, Ailan Zhang¹, John Skinner¹, Elizabeth Hunter¹, Kazuyo Yamaji-Kegan^{1

3}, Idris Samad⁴, Alexander T Hillel⁴, Qing Lin¹, Wenqian Zhai^{1

5}, Wei Dong Gao¹, Roger A Johns¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
² Department of Anesthesiology, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, Maryland University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
⁴ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
⁵ Department of Anesthesiology, Tianjin Chest Hospital, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Heart (right) failure is the most frequent cause of death in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Although historically, increased right ventricular afterload has been considered the main contributor to right heart failure in such patients, recent evidence has suggested a potential role of load-independent factors. Here, we tested the hypothesis that resistin-like molecule α (RELMα), which has been implicated in the pathogenesis of vascular remodeling in pulmonary artery hypertension, also contributes to cardiac metabolic remodeling, leading to heart failure. Recombinant RELMα (rRELMα) was generated via a Tet-On expression system in the T-REx 293 cell line. Cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were treated with purified rRELMα for 24 h at a dose of 50 nM. Treated cardiomyocytes exhibited decreased mRNA and protein expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) and transcription factors PPARα and ERRα, which regulate mitochondrial fatty acid metabolism, whereas genes that encode for glycolysis-related proteins were significantly upregulated. Cardiomyocytes treated with rRELMα also exhibited a decreased basal respiration, maximal respiration, spare respiratory capacity, ATP-linked OCR, and increased glycolysis, as assessed with a microplate-based cellular respirometry apparatus. Transmission electron microscopy revealed abnormal mitochondrial ultrastructure in cardiomyocytes treated with rRELMα. Our data indicate that RELMα affects cardiac energy metabolism and mitochondrial structure, biogenesis, and function by downregulating the expression of the PGC-1α/PPARα/ERRα axis.

Keywords: RELMα; fatty acid oxidation; heart failiure; mitochondria; oxygen consumption rate.

Abstract

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