Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Vol 50, Issue 4 B187-B192, Copyright © 1995 by The Gerontological Society of America
Aortic crosstransplantation between young and old rats: effect upon the heat shock protein 70 stress response
R Udelsman, DG Li, CA Stagg and NJ Holbrook
Laboratory of Endocrine Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
In previous studies we demonstrated that restraint, or immobilization
stress, resulted in the induction of HSP70 mRNA in the vasculature of rats.
This response was confined to the vascular smooth muscle, was associated
with alpha 1-adrenergic receptor stimulation, and was attenuated with age.
In the present study, we examined the influence of transplanting aged
vessels into young animals and young vessels into aged animals to determine
if this age-related diminution was due to changes intrinsic to the aorta or
the result of alterations in the environment in which the aorta resides. We
demonstrate that restraint- induced HSP70 expression in transplanted
vessels is influenced to a greater degree by the age of the recipient than
by the age of the transplanted vessel. Transplantation of aged vessels into
young animals leads to preservation of the response, whereas
transplantation of young vessels into aged animals leads to attenuation.
These findings indicate that the environment in which the vessel resides is
a major factor in determining this molecular response to stress.
