Abstract 74: The Nox4 Inhibitor GKT137831, Prevents Aldosterone Production by Adipocytes and Protects Against Adipose Tissue Inflammation and Fibrosis in Obese Mice
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Aldosterone (aldo) plays an important role in obesity-associated cardiovascular risk. We demonstrated that aldo is produced by adipocytes, an effect associated with increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These processes are exaggerated in obesity. The relationship between adipocyte aldosterone and ROS is unclear. We postulated that Nox4-derived ROS is important for aldo production in adipocytes and leads to a pro-inflammatory phenotype in obesity. Studies were performed in db/m (lean) and db/db (obese) mice, treated with low (20mg/kg/day) or high dose (60mg/kg/day) GKT137831 (GKT, Nox4 inhibitor, 16 weeks). Epididymal (EVAT) and perivascular (PVAT) fat were collected. Plasma and adipocyte aldo were measured by ELISA. Adipose tissue fibrosis was evaluated by picro Sirius red staining and inflammatory mediators by immunostudies. Body weight was increased in db/db mice (61.8g vs control 33.5g), with no effect of GKT. Epididymal adiposity was increased in db/db mice (0.098g vs. 0.067g, p<0.05). Plasma aldo levels in db/db (pg/mL: 518 vs. 272g) and aldo levels in culture media from db/db adipocytes were increased (pg/mL/μg RNA: 1964 vs. 388), p<0.05. All effects decreased by high dose GKT. In PVAT, CYP11B2 gene expression was increased in db/db (2.6±0.8 vs control 1.1±0.1, p<0.05), an effect blocked by Nox4 inhibition. Gene expression of adipocyte differentiation marker, AP2, was increased (3.5±1.1 vs control 1.4±0.4) while anti-inflammatory marker adiponectin was decreased (0.7±0.1 vs control 1.3±0.2, p<0.05)) in obese mice. GKT decreased AP2 levels. Adipocyte-derived TNFα was increased in db/db (4.9±1.8 vs control 1.6±0.6, p<0.05), an effect blocked by GKT. Pro-collagen I, marker of fibrosis, was increased in db/db mice (132±11 vs control 87±4, p<0.05). Sirius red staining was exaggerated in EVAT from db/db mice, and decreased by Nox4 inhibition. In conclusion, Nox4 plays a role in regulating adipocyte-derived aldosterone and promotes a pro-inflammatory and profibrotic adipose phenotype in obese db/db mice. These findings suggest that adipocyte Nox4 links hyperaldosteronism and inflammation/fibrosis in adiposity and as such may be a putative therapeutic target for obesity-associated cardiovascular damage.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.005 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".