Innate immune cells play important roles in tissue injury and repair following acute myocardial infarction (MI). Although reprogramming of macrophage metabolism has been observed during inflammation and resolution phases, the mechanistic link to macrophage phenotype is not fully understood. In this study, we found myeloid specific deletion of mitochondrial Complex I protein Ndufs4 (mKO) reproduced the proinflammatory metabolic profile in macrophages and exaggerated the response to lipopolysacharride. Moreover, mKO mice showed increased mortality, poor scar formation and worsened cardiac function 30 days post-MI. We observed a greater inflammatory response in mKO on day 1 followed by increased cell death of infiltrating macrophages and blunted transition to reparative phase during day 3-7 post-MI. Efferocytosis is markedly impaired in mKO macrophages leading to lower expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine and tissue repair factors, which suppressed the proliferation/activation of myofibroblasts in the infarct area. Mitochondria-targeted ROS scavenging rescued these impairments and improved myofibroblast function in vivo and reduced post-MI mortality in mKO mice. Together these results reveal a novel role of mitochondria in inflammation resolution and tissue repair via modulating efferocytosis and crosstalk with fibroblasts. The findings are significant for post-MI recovery as well as for other inflammatory conditions.
Browse by Audience
Skip to content