Thyrotropin-releasing hormone in cardiovascular pathophysiology

Cardiovascular and body weight regulation changes in transgenic mice overexpressing thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH)

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) plays several roles as a hormone/neuropeptide. Diencephalic TRH (dTRH) participates in the regulation of blood pressure in diverse animal models, independently of the thyroid status. The present study aimed to evaluate whether chronic overexpression of TRH in mice affects cardiovascular and metabolic variables. We developed a transgenic (TG) mouse model that overexpresses dTrh. Despite having higher food consumption and water intake, TG mice showed significantly lower body weight respect to controls. Also, TG mice presented higher blood pressure, heart rate, and locomotor activity independently of thyroid hormone levels. These results and the higher urine noradrenaline excretion observed in TG mice suggest a higher metabolic rate mediated by sympathetic overflow. Cardiovascular changes were impeded by siRNA inhibition of the diencephalic Trh overexpression. Also, the silencing of dTRH in the TG mice normalized urine noradrenaline excretion, supporting the view that the cardiovascular effects of TRH involve the sympathetic system. Overall, we show that congenital dTrh overexpression leads to an increase in blood pressure accompanied by changes in body weight and food consumption mediated by a higher sympathetic overflow. These results provide new evidence confirming the participation of TRH in cardiovascular and body weight regulation.

Leptin increases sympathetic nerve activity via induction of its own receptor in the paraventricular nucleus

Whether leptin acts in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) to increase sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) is unclear, since PVN leptin receptors (LepR) are sparse. We show in rats that PVN leptin slowly increases SNA to muscle and brown adipose tissue, because it induces the expression of its own receptor and synergizes with local glutamatergic neurons. PVN LepR are not expressed in astroglia and rarely in microglia; instead, glutamatergic neurons express LepR, some of which project to a key presympathetic hub, the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM). In PVN slices from mice expressing GCaMP6, leptin excites glutamatergic neurons. LepR are expressed mainly in thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) neurons, some of which project to the RVLM. Injections of TRH into the RVLM and dorsomedial hypothalamus increase SNA, highlighting these nuclei as likely targets. We suggest that this neuropathway becomes important in obesity, in which elevated leptin maintains the hypothalamic pituitary thyroid axis, despite leptin resistance.

A screen for modulators reveals that orexin-A rapidly stimulates thyrotropin releasing hormone expression and release in hypothalamic cell culture

In the paraventricular nucleus of the mammalian hypothalamus, hypophysiotropic thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) neurons integrate metabolic information and control the activity of the thyroid axis. Additional populations of TRH neurons reside in various hypothalamic areas, with poorly defined connections and functions, albeit there is evidence that some may be related to energy balance. To establish extracellular modulators of TRH hypothalamic neurons activity, we performed a screen of neurotransmitters effects in hypothalamic cultures. Cell culture conditions were chosen to facilitate the full differentiation of the TRH neurons; these conditions had permitted the characterization of the effects of known modulators of hypophysiotropic TRH neurons. The major end-point of the screen was Trh mRNA levels, since they are generally rapidly (0.5-3h) modified by synaptic inputs onto TRH neurons; in some experiments, TRH cell content or release was also analyzed. Various modulators, including histamine, serotonin, β-endorphin, met-enkephalin, and melanin concentrating hormone, had no effect. Glutamate, as well as ionotropic agonists (kainate and N-Methyl-d-aspartic acid), increased Trh mRNA levels. Baclofen, a GABA_B receptor agonist, and dopamine enhanced Trh mRNA levels. An endocannabinoid receptor 1 inverse agonist promoted TRH release. Somatostatin increased Trh mRNA levels and TRH cell content. Orexin-A rapidly increased Trh mRNA levels, TRH cell content and release, while orexin-B decreased Trh mRNA levels. These data reveal unaccounted regulators, which exert potent effects on hypothalamic TRH neurons in vitro.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone overexpression induces structural changes of the left ventricle in the normal rat heart

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) hyperactivity has been observed in the left ventricle of spontaneously hypertensive rats. Its long-term inhibition suppresses the development of hypertrophy, specifically preventing fibrosis. The presence of diverse systemic abnormalities in spontaneously hypertensive rat hearts has raised the question of whether specific TRH overexpression might be capable of inducing structural changes in favor of the hypertrophic phenotype in normal rat hearts. We produced TRH overexpression in normal rats by injecting into their left ventricular wall a plasmid driving expression of the preproTRH gene (PCMV-TRH). TRH content and expression of preproTRH, collagen type III, brain natriuretic peptide, β-myosin heavy chain, Bax-to-Bcl-2 ratio, and caspase-3 were measured. The overexpression maneuver was a success, as we found a significant increase in both tripeptide and preproTRH mRNA levels in the PCMV-TRH group compared with the control group. Immunohistochemical staining against TRH showed markedly positive brown signals only in the PCMV-TRH group. TRH overexpression induced a significant increase in fibrosis, evident in the increase of collagen type III expression accompanied by a significant increase in extracellular matrix expansion. We found a significant increase in brain natriuretic peptide and β-myosin heavy chain expression (recognized markers of hypertrophy). Moreover, TRH overexpression induced a slight but significant increase in myocyte diameter, indicating the onset of cell hypertrophy. We confirmed the data “in vitro” using primary cardiac cell cultures (fibroblasts and myocytes). In conclusion, these results show that a specific TRH increase in the left ventricle induced structural changes in the normal heart, thus making the cardiac TRH system a promising therapeutic target.

Fetal metabolic programming and epigenetic modifications: a systems biology approach

A growing body of evidence supports the notion that epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation and histone modifications, both involving chromatin remodeling, contribute to fetal metabolic programming. We use a combination of gene-protein enrichment analysis resources along with functional annotations and protein interaction networks for an integrative approach to understanding the mechanisms underlying fetal metabolic programming. Systems biology approaches suggested that fetal adaptation to an impaired nutritional environment presumes profound changes in gene expression that involve regulation of tissue-specific patterns of methylated cytosine residues, modulation of the histone acetylation-deacetylation switch, cell differentiation, and stem cell pluripotency. The hypothalamus and the liver seem to be differently involved. In addition, new putative explanations have emerged about the question of whether in utero overnutrition modulates fetal metabolic programming in the same fashion as that of a maternal environment of undernutrition, suggesting that the mechanisms behind these two fetal nutritional imbalances are different. In conclusion, intrauterine growth restriction is most likely to be associated with the induction of persistent changes in tissue structure and functionality. Conversely, a maternal obesogenic environment is most probably associated with metabolic reprogramming of glucose and lipid metabolism, as well as future risk of metabolic syndrome (MS), fatty liver, and insulin (INS) resistance.

Mapping genetic variants associated with beta-adrenergic responses in inbred mice

β-blockers and β-agonists are primarily used to treat cardiovascular diseases. Inter-individual variability in response to both drug classes is well recognized, yet the identity and relative contribution of the genetic players involved are poorly understood. This work is the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) addressing the values and susceptibility of cardiovascular-related traits to a selective β₁-blocker, Atenolol (ate), and a β-agonist, Isoproterenol (iso). The phenotypic dataset consisted of 27 highly heritable traits, each measured across 22 inbred mouse strains and four pharmacological conditions. The genotypic panel comprised 79922 informative SNPs of the mouse HapMap resource. Associations were mapped by Efficient Mixed Model Association (EMMA), a method that corrects for the population structure and genetic relatedness of the various strains. A total of 205 separate genome-wide scans were analyzed. The most significant hits include three candidate loci related to cardiac and body weight, three loci for electrocardiographic (ECG) values, two loci for the susceptibility of atrial weight index to iso, four loci for the susceptibility of systolic blood pressure (SBP) to perturbations of the β-adrenergic system, and one locus for the responsiveness of QTc (p<10⁻⁸). An additional 60 loci were suggestive for one or the other of the 27 traits, while 46 others were suggestive for one or the other drug effects (p<10⁻⁶). Most hits tagged unexpected regions, yet at least two loci for the susceptibility of SBP to β-adrenergic drugs pointed at members of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis. Loci for cardiac-related traits were preferentially enriched in genes expressed in the heart, while 23% of the testable loci were replicated with datasets of the Mouse Phenome Database (MPD). Altogether these data and validation tests indicate that the mapped loci are relevant to the traits and responses studied.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone selectively stimulates human hair follicle pigmentation

In amphibians, thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulates skin melanophores by inducing secretion of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone in the pituitary gland. However, it is unknown whether this tripeptide neurohormone exerts any direct effects on pigment cells, namely, on human melanocytes, under physiological conditions. Therefore, we have investigated whether TRH stimulates pigment production in organ-cultured human hair follicles (HFs), the epithelium of which expresses both TRH and its receptor, and/or in full-thickness human skin in situ. TRH stimulated melanin synthesis, tyrosinase transcription and activity, melanosome formation, melanocyte dendricity, gp100 immunoreactivity, and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor expression in human HFs in a pituitary gland-independent manner. TRH also stimulated proliferation, gp100 expression, tyrosinase activity, and dendricity of isolated human HF melanocytes. However, intraepidermal melanogenesis was unaffected. As TRH upregulated the intrafollicular production of "pituitary" neurohormones (proopiomelanocortin transcription and ACTH immunoreactivity) and as agouti-signaling protein counteracted TRH-induced HF pigmentation, these pigmentary TRH effects may be mediated in part by locally generated melanocortins and/or by MC-1 signaling. Our study introduces TRH as a novel, potent, selective, and evolutionarily highly conserved neuroendocrine factor controlling human pigmentation in situ. This physiologically relevant and melanocyte sub-population-specific neuroendocrine control of human pigmentation deserves clinical exploration, e.g., for preventing or reversing hair graying.

Genes influencing circadian differences in blood pressure in hypertensive mice

Essential hypertension is a common multifactorial heritable condition in which increased sympathetic outflow from the central nervous system is involved in the elevation in blood pressure (BP), as well as the exaggerated morning surge in BP that is a risk factor for myocardial infarction and stroke in hypertensive patients. The Schlager BPH/2J mouse is a genetic model of hypertension in which increased sympathetic outflow from the hypothalamus has an important etiological role in the elevation of BP. Schlager hypertensive mice exhibit a large variation in BP between the active and inactive periods of the day, and also show a morning surge in BP. To investigate the genes responsible for the circadian variation in BP in hypertension, hypothalamic tissue was collected from BPH/2J and normotensive BPN/3J mice at the ‘peak’ (n = 12) and ‘trough’ (n = 6) of diurnal BP. Using Affymetrix GeneChip® Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Arrays, validation by quantitative real-time PCR and a statistical method that adjusted for clock genes, we identified 212 hypothalamic genes whose expression differed between ‘peak’ and ‘trough’ BP in the hypertensive strain. These included genes with known roles in BP regulation, such as vasopressin, oxytocin and thyrotropin releasing hormone, as well as genes not recognized previously as regulators of BP, including chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 19, hypocretin and zinc finger and BTB domain containing 16. Gene ontology analysis showed an enrichment of terms for inflammatory response, mitochondrial proton-transporting ATP synthase complex, structural constituent of ribosome, amongst others. In conclusion, we have identified genes whose expression differs between the peak and trough of 24-hour circadian BP in BPH/2J mice, pointing to mechanisms responsible for diurnal variation in BP. The findings may assist in the elucidation of the mechanism for the morning surge in BP in essential hypertension.

Thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH): a new player in human hair-growth control

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) is the most proximal component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis that regulates thyroid hormone synthesis. Since transcripts for members of this axis were detected in cultured normal human skin cells and since human hair follicles (HFs) respond to stimulation with thyrotropin, we now have studied whether human HF functions are also modulated by TRH. Here we report that the epithelium of normal human scalp HFs expresses not only TRH receptors (TRH-R) but also TRH itself at the gene and protein level. Stimulation of microdissected, organ-cultured HFs with TRH promotes hair-shaft elongation, prolongs the hair cycle growth phase (anagen), and antagonizes its termination by TGF-beta2. It also increases proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of hair matrix keratinocytes. These TRH effects may be mediated in part by reducing the ATM/Atr-dependent phosphorylation of p53. By microarray analysis, several differentially up- or down-regulated TRH-target genes were detected (e.g., selected keratins). Thus, human scalp HFs are both a source and a target of TRH, which operates as a potent hair-growth stimulator. Human HFs provide an excellent discovery tool for identifying and dissecting nonclassical functions of TRH and TRH-mediated signaling in situ, which emerge as novel players in human epithelial biology.

Association between diencephalic thyroliberin and arterial blood pressure in agouti-yellow and ob/ob mice may be mediated by leptin

Leptin, a hormone secreted by the adipose tissue, stimulates anorexigenic peptides and also inhibits orexigenic peptides in hypothalamic arcuate nuclei-located neurons. It also counteracts the starvation-induced suppression of thyroid hormones by up-regulating the expression of preproTRH gene. On the other hand, in addition to its role as a modulator of the thyroid-hypothalamic-hypophysial axis, thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) acts as a modulator of the cardiovascular system. In fact, we reported that overexpression of diencephalic TRH (dTRH) induces hypertension. We have recently shown that, in rats with obesity-induced hypertension, hyperleptinemia may produce an increase of dTRH together with an elevation of arterial blood pressure (ABP) through an increase of sympathetic activity and that these alterations were reversed by antisense oligonucleotide and small interfering RNA against preproTRH treatments. Here we explore the possible role of dTRH as a mediator involved in leptin-induced hypertension in 2 obesity mouse models: agouti-yellow mice, which are hyperleptinemic and hypertensive, and ob/ob mice, which lack functional circulating leptin. These 2 models share some characteristics, but ob/ob mice show lower ABP and plasma catecholamines levels. Then, for the first time, we report that there is a clear association between ABP and dTRH levels in both mouse models, as we have found that dTRH content was elevated in agouti-yellow mice and diminished in ob/ob mice compared with their controls. We also show that, after 3 days of subcutaneous leptin injections (10 microg/12 hours), ABP and dTRH increased significantly in ob/ob mice with no alterations of thyroid hormone levels. These results add evidence to the putative molecular mechanisms for the strong association between obesity and hypertension.