Regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α by cyclical mechanical stretch in rat vascular smooth muscle cells

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are exposed to hormonal and mechanical stress in vivo. Hormonal factors have been shown to affect hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). How mechanical stress affects the regulation of HIF-1α in VSMCs has not been reported previously, and therefore we sought to investigate the regulation of HIF-1α by cyclical mechanical stretch in cultured rat VSMCs. Rat VSMCs grown on a flexible membrane base were stretched by vacuum to 20% of the maximum elongation at 60 cycles/min. The levels of HIF-1α protein began to increase as early as 2 h after stretch was applied and reached a maximum of 2.8-fold over the control by 4 h. Real-time PCR showed that the levels of HIF-1α mRNA increased 2.1-fold after cyclical stretch for 4 h. Cyclical mechanical stretch also increased the immunohistochemical labelling of HIF-1α in VSMCs after cyclical stretch for 4 h. The phosphorylation of p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase) increased after stretch and this was inhibited by the MAP kinase kinase inhibitors PD98059 and U0126. PD98059 and U0126 also blocked HIF-1α gene expression induced by cyclical stretch. In conclusion, cyclical mechanical stretch activates the gene expression of HIF-1α in cultured VSMCs and this mechanical effect is possibly mediated by the p42/p44 MAP kinase kinase pathway.