Abstract
The cardioprotective lipoprotein HDL (high-density lipoprotein) prevents myocardial infarction and cardiomyocyte death due to ischemia/reperfusion injury. The scavenger receptor class B, type 1 (SR-B1) is a high-affinity HDL receptor and has been shown to mediate HDL-dependent lipid transport as well as signaling in a variety of different cell types. The contribution of SR-B1 in cardiomyocytes to the protective effects of HDL on cardiomyocyte survival following ischemia has not yet been studied. Here, we use a model of simulated ischemia (oxygen and glucose deprivation, OGD) to assess the mechanistic involvement of SR-B1, PI3K (phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase), and AKT in HDL-mediated protection of cardiomyocytes from cell death. Neonatal mouse cardiomyocytes and immortalized human ventricular cardiomyocytes, subjected to OGD for 4 h, underwent substantial cell death due to necrosis but not necroptosis or apoptosis. Pretreatment of cells with HDL, but not low-density lipoprotein, protected them against OGD-induced necrosis. HDL-mediated protection was lost in cardiomyocytes from SR-B1-/- mice or when SR-B1 was knocked down in human immortalized ventricular cardiomyocytes. HDL treatment induced the phosphorylation of AKT in cardiomyocytes in an SR-B1-dependent manner. Finally, chemical inhibition of PI3K or AKT or silencing of either AKT1 or AKT2 gene expression abolished HDL-mediated protection against OGD-induced necrosis of cardiomyocytes. These results are the first to identify a role of SR-B1 in mediating the protective effects of HDL against necrosis in cardiomyocytes, and to identify AKT activation downstream of SR-B1 in cardiomyocytes.