Conditional Deletion of HIF-2α in Mouse Nucleus Pulposus Reduces Fibrosis and Provides Mild and Transient Protection From Age-Dependent Structural Changes in Intervertebral Disc.

ABSTRACT: Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are critical to the development and homeostasis of hypoxic tissues. Although HIF-2α, one of the main HIF-α isoforms, is expressed in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells, its functions remain unknown. We deleted HIF-2α in the NP tissue using a notochord-specific FoxA2^Cre allele to study HIF-2α function in the adult intervertebral disc. Unlike observations in HIF-1α^cKO mice, fate mapping studies using Rosa26-mTmG reporter showed that HIF-2α loss in NP did not negatively impact cell survival or affect compartment development. Rather, loss of HIF-2α resulted in slightly better attributes of NP morphology in 14-month-old HIF-2α^cKO mice as evident from lower scores of degeneration. These 14-month-old HIF-2α^cKO mice also exhibit

SUBMITTER: Johnston SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9772060 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature