Prenatal hypoxia promotes atherosclerosis via vascular inflammation in the offspring rats

•Early stage of atherosclerosis was found in maternal hypoxia group, not CON group.•Atherosclerosis formation was caused by inflammation in offspring rats.•The activity among four HIF-1α binding sites in NFκBp65 promoter was equivalent.

BackgroundHypoxia is a critical contributor to increased risks of cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, but the detailed mechanism that hypoxia leads to atherosclerosis remains unknown.MethodsPregnant rats were treated with hypoxia (10.5% oxygen) during pregnancy, and HUVEC cells treated with 1% of oxygen. Blood lipids were tested at fetal stage and adult stage of offspring rats; the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines of HUVEC and offspring rats were investigated, and HIF-1α and NFκB mRNA level were also measured by Q-PCR and Elisa.ResultsWe found that TC, LDL-C, ox-LDL-C, and the receptors of ox-LDL-C (lox-1) of the adult offspring were significantly higher than that of the control, while HDL-C was significantly reduced in hypoxia group. The internal elastic lamina was blocked by smooth muscle cells; and the migration of smooth muscle cells into the intima were observed in hypoxia offspring. Luciferase reporter gene experiment showed that HIF-1α activated NFκB transcription at four discrete binding sites of NFκBp65 promoter, although there was no obvious difference among the four discrete binding sites. Using transfection of pCDNA3.1-HIF-1α on HUVEC cells, HIF-1α significantly activated NFκB transcription at hypoxic conditions (1% O2), and concurrent with increased expression of IL-1β and TNF-α.ConclusionHypoxia during pregnancy activated NFκB transcription to induce pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading to the early stage of atherosclerosis.

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