Articles |
From the Wihuri Research Institute (M.K., P.T.K) and the Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Helsinki (A.P.), Helsinki, Finland.
Correspondence to Petri T. Kovanen, MD, Wihuri Research Institute, Kalliolinnantie 4, 00140 Helsinki, Finland.
| Abstract |
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Key Words: atherosclerosis exocytosis mast cells low-density lipoproteins phagocytosis
| Introduction |
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Since uptake of LDL through the classical LDL receptor pathway does not lead to cholesterol accumulation in cells,8 foam cell formation must depend on other mechanisms. Indeed, a specific chemical modification of the apoB-100 component of LDL is followed by massive uptake of LDL by another receptor-mediated mechanism, called the "scavenger receptor" pathway.9 In addition, foam cells may be generated by phagocytic uptake of LDL aggregates or of LDL bound to other macromolecules or to their aggregates.10 It is generally held that modifications of LDL and formation of complexes between LDL and macromolecules or their aggregates occur locally in the arterial intima by the action of the intimal cells.11
In previous studies in vitro with rat serosal mast cells, we found that stimulated mast cells induced uptake of LDL by cocultured mouse peritoneal macrophages.12 In rat serosal mast cells, the model used in our studies, the cytoplasm is filled with secretory granules, which upon stimulation of the mast cells are expelled into the extracellular fluid.13 14 There the soluble components of the granules, ie, histamine and a fraction of their proteoglycans, are released and diffuse away. In contrast, the major granule components, two neutral proteases (a chymotryptic endopeptidase chymase and an exopeptidase carboxypeptidase A), and the major fraction of the heparin proteoglycans remain tightly bound to each other, forming extracellular "granule remnants."12 When rat serosal mast cells were cocultured with mouse peritoneal macrophages and stimulated in the presence of LDL, the apoB-100 component of the LDL particles was bound by the heparin component of the granule remnants, and these LDL-coated granule remnants were phagocytosed by the macrophages, the result being massive uptake of LDL by the macrophages.15
On stimulation of rat serosal mast cells, most of the granules exposed to the extracellular fluid remain in the degranulation channels, and, like the granule remnants expelled into the extracellular space, these remnants too bind LDL.16 Such LDL is rapidly (within minutes) internalized by the mast cells, along with the remnants. The mast cells recover rapidly from stimulation and are soon (within hours) ready for a second stimulation. On restimulation, the alreadyLDL-loaded granule remnants may be expelled and then carry their cholesterol load to macrophages. However, some of these LDL-loaded remnants remain in the channels and bind more LDL. Thus, a mechanism was discovered by which LDL cholesterol can accumulate in mast cells.16
The presence of activated mast cells in the human arterial intima, where high LDL concentrations prevail and where foam cells are formed, prompted us to search for evidence of mast celldependent foam cell formation in this tissue site. The availability of monoclonal antibodies against apoB-100 and against tryptase, a neutral protease specific to human mast cells,17 allowed us to test this possibility with the aid of immunoelectron microscopic studies. The results revealed a novel extracellular carrier system of LDL in vivo, in which exocytosis and phagocytosis of mast cell granules are coupled. This pathway leads to transcellular transfer of mast cell granule remnants, which thus, when carrying LDL, contributes to the initiation of human atherogenesis.
| Methods |
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| Results |
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To search for evidence of the granule carrier mechanism in which
apoB-100containing lipoproteins are bound to exocytosed mast cell
granules, we turned to immunoelectron microscopy. For this purpose,
coronary fatty streaks from five subjects were studied. First,
mast cell granules were identified with anti-tryptase antibody. Fig 2
shows an immunoelectron micrograph of a mast cell
present in a fatty streak lesion of the coronary intima.
Several intracellular tryptase-positive granules and four
tryptase-positive extracellularly located mast cell granule
remnants are visible. Indeed, 138 (71%) of the total of 194 mast cells
that were identified and photographed had extracellular granule
remnants in their vicinity. Therefore, in the atherosclerotic lesion
shown (as in the other lesions studied), mast cells were degranulated,
signifying their stimulation. Most important, the necessary condition
for the granule carrier mechanism to operate, ie, the presence of
granule remnants in the extracellular space, was
fulfilled.
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We next searched for evidence of apoB-100 binding to mast cell granule
remnants and stained the sections with monoclonal antibody MB 47
against the apoB-100 component of lipoproteins. Fig 3
shows an immunoelectron micrograph of a stimulated mast cell with one
exocytosed granule. This extracellularly located granule remnant
stained for MB 47, an observation made in three of the five samples
studied. In sharp contrast, the extracellular matrix seen in this
specimen is totally devoid of apoB-100, as evidenced by failure to
stain for MB 47. In the other samples studied, occasional gold
particles could be observed in the extracellular matrix; in each case,
however, the density of the gold particles was smaller in the matrix
than in the extracellular mast cell granules.
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As described above, the granule remnants remaining in the degranulation
channels of rat serosal mast cells bind LDL particles and internalize
them. Similarly, in the mast cells of the coronary lesions we
regularly found apoB-100positive granule remnants (ie, the granules
had bound LDL or other apoB-100containing lipoproteins), whereas the
cytoplasm of such cells was practically devoid of apoB-100. Fig 4
shows an immunoelectron micrograph of a mast cell with
several intracellular granules that stain positively for MB 47.
Notably, the MB 47positive granules are electron transparent and the
MB 47negative granules are electron dense. Electron transparency of a
granule reveals that the particular granule has been in contact with
the extracellular fluid and has lost some of its
contents.16 18 The above finding was made in four of
the five samples studied and corroborates the idea that any apoB-100
bound to intracellular granule remnants has an extracellular
origin.
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Fig 5A
shows an electron micrograph of
a mast cell and a smooth muscle cell in an aortic fatty streak. In
addition to the electron-dense cytoplasmic granules,
electron-transparent granules and also empty membrane-bound
vacuoles can be seen inside the mast cell, revealing that this
particular cell has previously been stimulated to degranulate. At
higher magnification (Fig 5B
), one exocytosed mast cell
granule (arrow) can be detected. At this magnification, the
heterogeneous morphology of the mast cell granules can be
discerned: Several intracellular granules contain the
scrolls18 typical of human mast cells (seen in both cross
and longitudinal sections). The single extracellularly located granule
also displayed the typical structural pattern of mast cell granules,
ie, several sets of parallel stripes (scrolls in longitudinal view) and
one set of concentric circles (scroll in cross section; arrow). This
panel also shows a large cytoplasmic cell projection (pseudopod)
extending from the smooth muscle cell at the site where the granule
remnant is located. Fig 5C
shows the next section cut
from this area, in which the remnant is surrounded by two smaller
pseudopods, one on each side. Thus, the smooth muscle cell appears to
be in the process of engulfing the granule remnant. This set of
micrographs displayed all the necessary components to perform the steps
of the granule-mediated carrier pathway (ie, the parent mast cell,
the exocytosed granule remnant, and the phagocytosing cell with
pseudopods directed toward the granule remnant) visualized together.
This finding was observed in 2 of 18 aortic samples.
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Fig 6
shows an immunoelectron micrograph of an
aortic fatty streak in which mast cell granules were identified with
the anti-tryptase antibody. Adjacent to a mast cell, a small
section of a typical foam cell with large empty vacuoles is seen. The
foam cell contains one tryptase-positive particle that is thus
identified as a granule remnant. In three of eight aortic samples
studied, a granule remnantcontaining foam cell could be
observed.
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| Discussion |
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The present study also describes a mechanism by which exocytosed mast cell granules carry apoB-100containing lipoproteins into intimal cells. The electron microscopic studies do not allow us to conclude which of the apoB-100containing lipoproteins present in the intimal fluid [VLDL remnantlike particles, LDL, or LP(a)]26 27 28 had actually bound to the granules. Since, of the total immunoreactive apoB-100 in lipoproteins isolated from atherosclerotic intima, most (>95%) is present in LDL-like particles, it is likely that the majority of granule-associated apoB-100 also represents binding of LDL.26 29
The efficiency of the granule-remnant carrier system in the intima must depend on the number of carriers available and their binding capacity. In atherosclerotic lesions the number of degranulated mast cells is increased,6 indicating that during atherogenesis more granules are available for lipoprotein binding. The binding capacity of exocytosed rat mast cell granules has been studied in detail.30 Thus, each exocytosed granule has the capacity, depending on its size, to bind maximally 5000 to 10 000 LDL particles. We have also observed that the proteolytic activity of a granule remnant increases its maximal capacity to bind LDL.31 Degradation of the apoB-100 moiety of the granule-remnantbound LDL by the also granule-remnantbound chymase is followed by fusion of LDL particles, whereupon the capacity of the remnants to carry LDL increases fivefold. Accordingly, the human granule remnants containing chymase in addition to tryptase have the potential to bind extra LDL and thus become even more efficient carriers. Since the concentration of LDL usually found in the intimal fluid27 (1500 µg/mL of apoB-100) is far higher than that required to saturate granule-remnant binding sites (25 µg/mL), the exocytosed granules in the intimal fluid are likely to be maximally loaded with LDL. However, the current morphological studies do not allow any conclusions about the quantitative significance of the granule carrier mechanism in foam cell formation in human arterial intima. Neither have other mechanisms of foam cell formation been quantified in human atherogenesis. Thus, it remains to be shown how important the newly described mechanism is in comparison with all of the other mechanisms of intimal foam cell formation.
The natural fate of an exocytosed mast cell granule is to be phagocytosed by the cells present in the vicinity of the degranulated mast cell.32 33 Hence, the factors responsible for granule-remnant traffic in the intimal space are the rates of granule exocytosis and granule phagocytosis. The mast cells in the atherosclerotic areas reside in an inflamed area where many potential mast cell activators are present. Among these are activated T lymphocytes, activated macrophages, and activated complement.34 Indeed, in human coronary fatty streaks the degree of mast cell degranulation was recently found to be markedly increased (from 18% in normal intima to 52% in fatty streaks).6 Similarly, in the present study 71% of the mast cells in the arterial (coronary or aortic) intima showed signs of degranulation. Thus, we can infer that the majority of the mast cells actively participated in the granule-remnant carrier system. In contrast to degranulation (ie, granule exocytosis), no quantitative data are available on granule phagocytosis in the various intimal lesions. However, it appears that, in the intima, mast cells reside in a tissue composed of many cells capable of phagocytosis. Thus, as the smooth muscle cells leave the medial layer and enter the intima, their phenotype is switched from contractile to synthetic, and this change in phenotype is accompanied by an apparent increase in phagocytotic capacity.35 Indeed, we recently found that smooth muscle cells of synthetic phenotype actively phagocytose exocytosed mast cell granules, and that, in vitro, the granule remnants can carry LDL into the cells and induce their conversion into foam cells.36 Similarly, as the blood monocytes enter the atherosclerotic intima, they differentiate into tissue macrophages and become activated, and their phagocytic capacity increases.37 Accordingly, the necessary conditions for the two events in the granule carrier pathway, granule exocytosis and phagocytosis, prevail in the atherosclerosis-prone areas of human arterial intima.
A carrier mechanism for cellular uptake of LDL was originally described in a cell culture system in which formation of LDLdextran sulfate complexes in the incubation medium was associated with uptake of cholesteryl esters by mouse macrophages ("piggyback system").38 Later, uptake of complexes between LDL and proteoglycans obtained from the arterial wall was also described.39 40 41 However, phagosomal uptake of such complexes in human atherosclerotic lesions has eluded direct observation so far. The current observations provide the first visual evidence that an exocytosis-phagocytosiscoupled carrier mechanism leads to uptake of apoB-100containing lipoproteins by phagocytes in the human arterial intima. Unraveling the factors that regulate this novel pathway in the arterial intima is a challenge for the future.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received March 2, 1995; accepted August 14, 1995.
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