Heterogeneity of common carotid artery and abdominal aorta: an angle of sphingolipid metabolism in vascular smooth muscle cells

作者：Bowen Li, Kaixiang Zhou, Kun Chen, Shuai Jiang, Xichen Wang, Zhenghui Gu, Chunhu Gu, Yuehu Han, Yonghong Liu, Yao‐Ming Chang, Junxiang Bao · 发表于：BioMedical Engineering OnLine · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s12938-025-01473-7 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Sphingolipid Metabolism and Signaling、Caveolin-1 and cellular processes、Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Studies

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis and aortic aneurysms are prevalent aortic disorders. Significantly, atherosclerosis frequently impacts the common carotid artery (CA), whereas aortic aneurysms typically involve the abdominal aorta (AA), indicating possible heterogeneity between CA and AA with an ambiguous underlying mechanism. Sphingolipids, a crucial branch of lipid metabolism, has increasingly garnered attention in vascular diseases by influencing the phenotypic regulation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Nevertheless, whether sphingolipids play a role in the heterogeneity between CA and AA and in disease susceptibility remains uncertain. METHODS AND RESULTS: Public transcriptomics were employed to clarify the distinctions in contractility and calcification of VSMCs in relation to the vulnerability of human AA and CA to aortic aneurysms and atherosclerosis, respectively. Bulk RNA-seq revealed transcriptomic variances in the biology of VSMCs between AA and CA from rats. Primary VSMCs from AA (AASMC) and CA (CASMC) were isolated for further validation. The specific variations in sphingolipid metabolism (comprising 8 classes of sphingolipids with 169 species) between AA and CA from rats were further characterized using UPLC-QTOF-MS-based lipidomics. Most sphingolipids, except sphingomyelin, were significantly elevated in CA compared to AA. Ceramides were the major contributor to these differences, which was further confirmed by in situ immunofluorescence of AA and CA from r...