Abstract 19251: Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Regulates Myocardin and Phenotype of Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells in Metabolic Syndrome Swine and Humans

We discovered that activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), the rate-limiting enzyme in the pentose phosphate pathway, is increased and expression of myocardin, the key co-transcription factor that regulates the vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotype and plasticity, is decreased in the arteries of metabolic sydnrome (MetS) pigs and humans. Therefore, in this study, we investigated whether there is any correlation between reprograming of glucose metabolism/increase of G6PD activity and decrease of myocardin expression in arteries of MetS pigs. We measured G6PD activity and expression of myocardin and myocardin-dependent contractile protein genes in coronary and carotid arteries of lean and MetS Ossabaw miniature pigs. We found a negative correlation (R2=0.89; P<0.05; n=6) between G6PD activity and myocardin expression in coronary arteries of lean pigs. Furthermore, we found in MetS vs. Lean pigs that G6PD activity increased by 2-fold (Lean: 1.25±0.47, n=13; MetS: 3.54±0.89, n=8; P<0.05) ...