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Interleukin‐6 and Formation of the Coronary Vasculature
Author(s) -
Bowers Stephanie Kidder,
Banerjee Indroneal,
Fuseler John,
Souders Colby A,
Baudino Troy A
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.lb84
Subject(s) - vasculogenesis , cytokine , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , inflammation , interleukin 6 , immunology , medicine , stem cell , progenitor cell
Defects in the vasculature of the heart accounts for a large portion of cardiac‐related illness. Alterations in cell signaling factors, which can occur via changes in cytokine expression or biomechanical load, can affect vessel patterning in the heart and, therefore, the pressure‐flow network and availability of oxygen and critical growth factors to cardiac cells. Interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in the regulation of several key biological processes, including wound repair, inflammation and vasculogenesis; circulating levels of IL‐6 can serve as clinical indicators for several cardiac pathologies. We observe an increase in IL‐6 secretion in fibroblast‐myocyte co‐cultures in vitro, as well as altered ratios of cardiac cell populations in IL‐6 knockout hearts. Using immunolohistological and cardioangiographic analyses of hearts from wild type (WT) and IL‐6 −/− mice, we have found that IL‐6 deficiency alters vessel density and vascular distribution. Using non‐Euclidean geometrical fractal analyses, we observe a marked increase in the fractal dimension of IL‐6 −/− mice, indicating that IL‐6 loss is closely associated with vascular patterning. Characterization of pathways involved in IL‐6‐dependent vasculogenesis and vascular remodeling may lend insight into factors critical to cardiac function.