Background -Nutrients are transported through endothelial cells before being metabolized in muscle cells. However, little is known about the regulation of endothelial transport processes. Notch signaling is a critical regulator of metabolism and angiogenesis during development. Here, we studied how genetic and pharmacological manipulation of endothelial Notch signaling in adult mice affects endothelial fatty acid transport, cardiac angiogenesis, and heart function. Methods -Endothelial-specific Notch inhibition was achieved by conditional genetic inactivation of Rbp-jκ in adult mice to analyze fatty acid metabolism and heart function. Wild-type mice were treated with neutralizing antibodies against the Notch ligand Dll4. Fatty acid transport was studied in cultured endothelial cells and transgenic mice. Results -Treatment of wild-type mice with Dll4 neutralizing antibodies for eight weeks impaired fractional shortening and ejection fraction in the majority of mice. Inhibition of Notch signaling specifically in the endothelium of adult mice by genetic ablation of Rbp-jκ caused heart hypertrophy and failure. Impaired heart function was preceded by alterations in fatty acid metabolism and an increase in cardiac blood vessel density. Endothelial Notch signaling controlled the expression of endothelial lipase, Angptl4, CD36 and Fabp4, which are all needed for fatty acid transport across the vessel wall. In endothelial-specific Rbp-jκ-mutant mice lipase activity and transendothelial transport of long-chain fatty acids to muscle cells was impaired. In turn, there was accumulation of lipids in plasma and liver. The attenuated supply of cardiomyocytes with long-chain fatty acids was accompanied by higher glucose uptake, increased concentration of glycolysis intermediates and mTOR-S6K signaling. Treatment with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin or displacing glucose as cardiac substrate by feeding a ketogenic diet prolonged survival of endothelial-specific Rbp-jκ-deficient mice. Conclusions -This study identifies Notch signaling as a novel regulator of fatty acid transport across the endothelium and as an essential repressor of angiogenesis in the adult heart. The data imply that the endothelium controls cardiomyocyte metabolism and function.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 73. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 February 2020.
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#699,129
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#1,885
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Outputs of similar age from Circulation
#40
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Altmetric has tracked 31,782,237 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 27,219 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 31.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 192 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 79% of its contemporaries.
