Stabilization of Perivascular Mast Cells by Endothelial CNP (C-Type Natriuretic Peptide)

• DOI: 10.1161/atvbaha.119.313702
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02T10:00:20Z
• Authors: Wen Chen; Franziska Werner; Anja Illerhaus; Tanja Knopp; Katharina Völker; Tamara Potapenko; Ulrich Hofmann; Stefan Frantz; Hideo A. Baba; Melanie Rösch; Alma Zernecke; Susanne Karbach; Philip Wenzel; Michaela Kuhn
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Mice, 129 Strain; Medizin; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury; Cell Degranulation; Cell Line; Capillary Permeability; 03 medical and health sciences; Adenosine Triphosphate; Paracrine Communication; Animals; Mast Cells; Phosphorylation; Cyclic GMP; Mice, Knockout; Microfilament Proteins; Endothelial Cells; Natriuretic Peptide, C-Type; ddc:no; Phosphoproteins; 3. Good health; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Disease Models, Animal; Neutrophil Infiltration; Cell Adhesion Molecules

Objective: Activated perivascular mast cells (MCs) participate in different cardiovascular diseases. Many factors provoking MC degranulation have been described, while physiological counterregulators are barely known. Endothelial CNP (C-type natriuretic peptide) participates in the maintenance of vascular barrier integrity, but the target cells and mechanisms are unclear. Here, we studied whether MCs are regulated by CNP.

Approach and Results:

In cultured human and murine MCs, CNP activated its specific GC (guanylyl cyclase)-B receptor and cyclic GMP signaling. This enhanced cyclic GMP–dependent phosphorylation of the cytoskeleton-associated VASP (vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein) and inhibited ATP-evoked degranulation. To elucidate the relevance in vivo, mice with a floxed GC-B ( Npr2 ) gene were interbred with a Mcpt5-Cre

TG

line to generate mice lacking GC-B in connective tissue MCs (MC GC-B knockout). In anesthetized mice, acute ischemia-reperfusion of the cremaster muscle microcirculation provoked extensive MC degranulation and macromolecule extravasation. Superfusion of CNP markedly prevented MC activation and endothelial barrier disruption in control but not in MC GC-B knockout mice. Notably, already under resting conditions, such knockout mice had increased numbers of degranulated MCs in different tissues, together with elevated plasma chymase levels. After transient coronary occlusion, their myocardial areas at risk and with infarction were enlarged. Moreover, MC GC-B knockout mice showed augmented perivascular neutrophil infiltration and deep vein thrombosis in a model of inferior vena cava ligation.

Conclusions: CNP, via GC-B/cyclic GMP signaling, stabilizes resident perivascular MCs at baseline and prevents their excessive activation under pathological conditions. Thereby CNP contributes to the maintenance of vascular integrity in physiology and disease.