Impaired revascularization in a mouse model of diabetes associated with dysregulation of angiogenic-regulatory network.

Diabetes is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases that are associated with impaired angiogenesis or increased endothelial cell apoptosis. Here is it shown that angiogenic repair of ischemic hind limbs was impaired in Lepr db/db mice, a leptin receptor deficient model of diabetes, compared to wild-type C57BL/6 (WT) mice as evaluated by laser Doppler flow and capillary density analyses. To identify molecular targets associated with this disease process, hind limb cDNA expression profiles were created from adductor muscle of Lepr db/db and WT mice before and after hind limb ischemia using Affymetrix GeneChip Mouse Expression Set microarrays. The expression patterns of numerous angiogenesis related proteins were altered in Lepr db/db versus WT mice following ischemic injury. These transcripts included neuropilin-1, VEGF-A, placental growth factor, elastin and matrix metalloproteinases that are implicated in blood vessel growth and maintenance of vessel wall integrity. These data illustrate that impaired ischemia-induced neovascularization in type 2 diabetes is associated with the dysregulation of a complex angiogenesis-regulatory network.

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Schiekofer S, Galasso G, Sato K, Kraus BJ, Walsh K