In Vivo Study
Animals
Pathogen-free male Sprague–Dawley rats weighing 200 to 250 g were obtained from the animal care facility of Harbin Medical University. All animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Harbin Medical University. All animal experiments were performed under the Guidelines on National Institutes of Health Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NIH Publication No. 85–23, revised, 1996). The present study was approved by the Ethical Board of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University (Harbin, China; No. SYDW2020-022).
Establishment of a type 2 diabetic rat model
High-fat diet-fed streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rat model was induced as described previously[5, 13]. The rats with fasting plasma glucose above 11.1 mmol/L 72 hours after STZ injection were considered as diabetic. Next, we tested the glucose tolerance of various groups by conducting the intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT) and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to confirm the successful establishment of the type 2 diabetic rat model. The standard laboratory chow-fed rats were studied as the nondiabetic controls.
Lung Transplantation
Orthotopic left lung transplantation using the cuff technique procedure was carried out as described previously[18, 19]. Briefly, donor rats were anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital (30 mg/kg) administered intraperitoneally, intubated with 12-gauge catheter and ventilated with 40% oxygen (balance nitrogen) at a tidal volume of 10 ml/kg with 2 cm H2O positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). After heparinization, the donor left lung was flushed with 20 ml of low-potassium dextran solution at 4°C at a perfusion pressure of 20 cm H2O through the pulmonary artery. The left lung was clipped and attached to a cuff tube, and preserved at 4°C in the perfusion solution for 2 hours.
The recipient rats were anesthetized and ventilated in the same manner as the donor rats. After a left thoracotomy, the left pulmonary arteries, bronchi and left pulmonary veins were conjugated between donors and recipients by the cuff technique. During the lung transplantation, the tidal volumes were regulated to 6 mL/kg and restored to 10 mL/kg immediately after reperfusion. The recipients were extubated after recovery from anesthesia. The recipient rats were treated with 0.125% ropivacaine by local infiltration analgesia every 12 hours. The recipients using type 2 diabetic rats were studied as diabetic lung transplantation. All rats were positioned on a heating pad to maintain body temperature and sodium pentobarbital was used to maintain anesthesia. The body temperature of individual rats was measured by a rectal thermometer and maintained between 37°C and 39°C.
Experimental groups
The rats were randomly assigned to seven groups: sham group (Con+Sham), lung IR group (Con+IR), DM+ sham group (DM+ Sham), DM+ lung IR group (DM+IR), DM+ IR+ adiponectin -treated group (DM+IR+A), DM+ IR+ adiponectin and EX527 (the inhibitor of SIRT1 signaling) treated group (DM+IR+A+S), and DM+ IR+ adiponectin+ 3-methyladenine (3-MA) treated group (DM+IR+A+M). Adiponectin (100 μg/kg, dissolved in 1.0 ml of sterile normal saline) was injected intravenously immediately after reperfusion following the lung transplantation. 3-methyladenine (15 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) was injected 30 min before the operative model of lung transplantation[20]. EX527 (5 mg/kg/day, intraperitoneally) was injected for 3 days before the surgery and once 20 min before the reperfusion as described previously[13]. The doses of adiponectin, EX527 and 3-MA were selected as described previously[13, 21].
Histological analysis
The lung tissues were fixed in paraformaldehyde and embedded in paraffin. 5-μm thickness sections were prepared and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The degree of the lung injury was assessed for airway epithelial cell damage, neutrophil infiltration, hemorrhage, interstitial edema, and hyaline membrane formation, and by 2 pathologists in a blinded manner.
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Serum concentrations of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (R&D Systems, Minnesota, USA) according to the manufacturer’s protocols.
Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay
Lung parenchymal cell apoptosis was detected by TUNEL using an In Situ Cell Death Detection kit (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Mannheim, Germany) according to the manufacturer’s protocols.
Western blot analysis
Western blot analysis was carried out as described previously[5, 13].
Determination of SIRT1 activity
SIRT1 activity was evaluated using a fluorometric assay (SIRT1 fluorogenic Assay Kit, BPS Bioscience, San Diego, CA) as described previously[13].
Measurement of mitochondrial membrane potential
Mitochondrial membrane potential was assessed by a JC-1 staining kit (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) as described previously[5].
In Vitro Study
The culture and identification of rat pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs)
Rat PMVECs were isolated and cultured using the “tissue” method as previously described[22]. Briefly, the rats were euthanized by exsanguination, and the lungs were removed by sterile techniques. The visceral pleura was removed and peripheral lung tissue was cut into small pieces (<1 mm3) in medium M199 containing 20% fetal bovine serum and 50 μg/mL endothelial cell growth supplement. Then, the fragments were placed in a 25 cm2 culture flask upside down adding penicillin–streptomycin (100 U/ml) in a 5% CO2, at 37°C. After 60 hours of culture, the tissues were removed and M199 was changed. PMVECs were identified according to the results of immunocytochemistry staining of CD31 and lectin binding.
Simulated IR
In vitro ischemia-reperfusion was performed as previously described[22]. PMVECs were placed in a sealed incubator and pre-ventilated with 95% O2 and 5% CO2 for 2 hours.
Simulated cold storage
The sealed incubator was placed in 4˚C, and M199 culture medium was immediately replaced with low‑potassium dextran solution (pH 7.2-7.4) with gas insufflation stoppage.
Simulated implantation
After 2 hours of simulated cold storage, the incubators were kept at room temperature and sealed for 1 hour to simulate the transplantation period.
Simulated reperfusion
Following the replacement of low‑potassium dextran solution immediately with 37 °C preheated M199 culture medium (pH 7.2-7.4), the incubator was ventilated with 40% O2, 5% CO2 and 45% N2 for 24 hours.
For simulated type 2 diabetic reperfusion, high glucose-high fat (HG/HF) M199 containing 15 mM glucose and saturated FFA palmitate (16:0; 500 μM) was used to simulate pathophysiology condition of diabetic state, while normal M199 culture medium was used as a control [23]. For adiponectin pretreatment, adiponectin (2 μg/mL) was used immediately after reperfusion[24]. Gas concentrations in the incubator were monitored with a gas analyzer (S/N 32590; Datex Ohmeda, Helsinki, Finland).
Short interfering RNA and transfection
Short interfering RNA (siRNA) oligonucleotides against SIRT1, Pink1 and their negative control siRNA were designed and synthesized by Gene Pharma (Shanghai, China). The sequences of siRNA oligonucleotides were as follows: SIRT1 siRNA, 5’-CAUUGUUAUUGGGUCUUCUCUGAAATT-3’(sense) and 5’- UUUCAGAGAAGACCCAAUAACAAUGTT-3’ (antisense), Pink1 siRNA, 5’-GCAGCGUAGCAUGUCUGAUUUTT-3’(sense) and 5’-AAAUCAGACAUGCUACGCUGCTT-3’ (antisense). PMVECs were transfected with siRNA using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen, Rockford, USA) as previously described[5].
Immunofluorescent staining
PMVECs were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and permeabilized with 0.2% Triton X-100, blocked with 5% bovine serum albumin, and subsequently incubated with primary antibodies. After washing with PBS, cells were exposure to secondary antibodies conjugated to an Alexa fluorophore. Fluorescent images were obtained with a laser scanning confocal microscope. Five randomly selected fields from one coverslip were included to calculate an average, and experiments were repeated independently at least 3 times.
Cell viability
The effect of high glucose on the cell viability for PMVECs was evaluated by performing WST-8 assay using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8, Dojindo Laboratories, Japan), and the absorbance was assessed at 450 nm using a microplate reader (Bio‑Rad iMark; Bio‑Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA).
Apoptosis Assay
Annexin V-7-AAD apoptosis assay kit (Biotech, China) was used to measure apoptosis of PMVECs by flow cytometry following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Mitochondrial membrane potential and mitochondrial ROS
Mitochondrial membrane potential was measured by exposing PMVECs to JC-1 molecular probes (Invitrogen, Calif, USA) following the manufacturer’s instructions. Mitochondrial membrane potential was expressed as the ratio of red to green fluorescence areas. To assess mitochondrial ROS production, cells were incubated with MitoSOX (Life Technologies, USA). Mitochondrial ROS generation was visualized by fluorescence microscopy.
Measurement of mitochondrial morphology
The mitochondrial disruption was evaluated by the Flameng score[25] as follows: 0, structures are normal and particles are intact; 1, structures are normal and particles are lost; 2, mitochondria are swollen but matrices are clear; 3, cristae are broken and matrices are concentrated; 4, cristae are extensively destroyed and the membranes are ruptured.
Statistical analysis
The data are presented as the means ± standard deviation (SD). Statistical testing was examined using Prism software package version 5.0 (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA, USA). Statistical significance was evaluated by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test for multiple comparisons among the groups or using a 2-tailed Student t test for unpaired observations. A value of P < 0.05 was considered to indicate a statistically significant difference. In vitro experiments were repeated at least 3 times, and 8 independent experiments for the in vivo study.