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(Circulation. 2008;117:216-223.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Stroke

Adiponectin Prevents Cerebral Ischemic Injury Through Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase–Dependent Mechanisms

Masaki Nishimura, MD, PhD; Yasuhiro Izumiya, MD, PhD; Akiko Higuchi, MD; Rei Shibata, MD, PhD; Jianhua Qiu, MD, PhD; Chiho Kudo, DDS, PhD; Hwa Kyoung Shin, PhD; Michael A. Moskowitz, MD; Noriyuki Ouchi, MD, PhD

From the Stroke and Neurovascular Regulation Laboratory (M.N., J.Q., C.K., H.K.S., M.A.M.), Department of Neurology and Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Mass, and Molecular Cardiology/Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute (Y.I., A.H., R.S., N.O.), Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass.

Correspondence to Noriyuki Ouchi, MD, PhD, Molecular Cardiology/Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, 715 Albany St, W611, Boston, MA 02118. E-mail nouchi{at}bu.edu

Received July 6, 2007; accepted November 8, 2007.

Background— Adiponectin is a fat-derived plasma protein that has beneficial actions on cardiovascular disorders. A low level of plasma adiponectin is associated with increased mortality after ischemic stroke; however, the causal role of adiponectin in ischemic stroke is unknown.

Methods and Results— To explore the role of adiponectin in the development of acute cerebral injury, we subjected adiponectin-deficient (APN-KO) and wild-type (WT) mice to 1 hour of middle cerebral artery occlusion followed by 23 hours of reperfusion. APN-KO mice exhibited enlarged brain infarction and increased neurological deficits after ischemia-reperfusion compared with WT mice. Conversely, adenovirus-mediated supplementation of adiponectin significantly reduced cerebral infarct size in WT and APN-KO mice. APN-KO mice showed decreased cerebral blood flow during ischemia by laser speckle flowmetry methods. Adiponectin colocalized within the cerebral vascular endothelium under transient ischemic conditions by immunohistochemical analysis. Phosphorylation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase in ischemic brain tissues and the production of nitric oxide metabolites in plasma were attenuated in APN-KO mice compared with WT mice. Adenovirus-mediated administration of adiponectin stimulated endothelial nitric oxide synthase phosphorylation and nitric oxide metabolites during cerebral ischemia in both WT and APN-KO mice. Neuronal nitric oxide synthase expression during ischemia did not differ between WT and APN-KO mice. Adenovirus-mediated delivery of adiponectin did not affect brain infarction in mice deficient in endothelial nitric oxide synthase.

Conclusions— These data provide causal evidence that adiponectin exerts a cerebroprotective action through an endothelial nitric oxide synthase–dependent mechanism. Adiponectin could represent a molecular target for the prevention of ischemic stroke.

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CLINICAL PERSPECTIVE

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Clinical Summaries
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