BMP4-mediated browning of perivascular adipose tissue governs an anti-inflammatory program and prevents atherosclerosis.

Wenjuan Mu, Shuwen Qian, Yanjue Song, Lijie Yang, Saisai Song, Qiqi Yang, Hao Liu, Yang Liu, Dongning Pan, Yan Tang, Qi-Qun Tang

Redox biology 2021 Jul

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Loss of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) impairs endothelial function and enhances atherosclerosis. However, the roles of PVAT thermoregulation in vascular inflammation and the development of atherosclerosis remains unclear. Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) transforms white adipocyte to beige adipocyte, while promotes a brown-to-white shift in inter-scapular brown adipose tissue (BAT). Here, we found that knockdown of BMP4 in PVAT reduced expression of brown adipocyte-characteristic genes and increased endothelial inflammation in vitro co-culture system. Ablating BMP4 expression either in adipose tissues or specifically in BAT in ApoE-/- mice demonstrated a marked exacerbation of atherosclerotic plaque formation in vivo. We further demonstrated that proinflammatory factors (especially IL-1β) increased in the supernatant of BMP4 knockdown adipocytes. Overexpression of BMP4 in adipose tissues promotes browning of PVAT and protects against atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- mice. These findings uncover an organ crosstalk between PVAT and blood endothelial cells that is engaged in atherosclerosis. Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Wenjuan Mu, Shuwen Qian, Yanjue Song, Lijie Yang, Saisai Song, Qiqi Yang, Hao Liu, Yang Liu, Dongning Pan, Yan Tang, Qi-Qun Tang. BMP4-mediated browning of perivascular adipose tissue governs an anti-inflammatory program and prevents atherosclerosis. Redox biology. 2021 Jul;43:101979