Social Disruption Stress Increases IL-6 Levels and Accelerates Atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- Mice

Introduction: We have previously shown that different forms of stress have distinctive effects on atherogenesis in mice. We showed that social stress increase atherosclerosis in ApoE(-/-) mice, while more physical forms of stress do not. Here we evaluated the effect of social disruption (SDR) stress on atherogenesis and evaluated cytokine release after SDR-stress and five more physical stressors.

Methods: Male ApoE(-/-) mice were exposed to SDR-stress during 12 weeks, and atherosclerotic plaque area was assessed in aorta, aortic root and innominate artery. Further, male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to SDR-stress or five physical stressors, and cytokine and corticosterone levels were analyzed in plasma/serum samples immediately after stress.

Results: We found a correlation between the level of SDR-stress and atherosclerotic plaque area in aorta and a numerical increased plaque area in aortic root. SDR stress did not affect histological features of plaque composition. However, SDR-stress increased levels of corticosterone, IL-6 and CXCL1. Plasma corticosterone increased for all five physical stressors, but IL-6 and CXCL1 only increased in the group exposed to restraint combined with rat odor.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that SDR-stress is indeed atherogenic, in contrast to our previous results using the physical stressors. A possible explanation to this difference is that SDR-stress, but not physical stressors, leads to release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and CXCL1.