Fatty acid-binding protein 5 (FABP5) is an important member of the FABP family and plays a vital role in the metabolism of fatty acids. However, few studies have examined the role of FABP5 in pathological cardiac remodeling and heart failure. The aim of this study was to explore the role of FABP5 in transverse aortic constriction (TAC)-induced pathological cardiac remodeling and dysfunction in mice. Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blotting (WB) analysis showed that the levels of FABP5 mRNA and protein, respectively, were upregulated in hearts of the TAC model. Ten weeks after TAC in FABP5 knockout and wild type control mice, echocardiography, histopathology, qRT-PCR, and WB demonstrated that FABP5 deficiency aggravated cardiac injury (both cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis) and dysfunction. In addition, transmission electron microscopy, ATP detection, and WB revealed that TAC caused severe impairment to mitochondria in the hearts of FABP5-deficient mice compared with that in control mice. When FABP5 was downregulated by siRNA in primary mouse cardiac fibroblasts, FABP5 silencing increased oxidative stress, reduced mitochondrial respiration, and increased the expression of myofibroblast activation marker genes in response to treatment with transforming growth factor-β. Our findings demonstrate that FABP5 deficiency aggravates cardiac pathological remodeling and dysfunction by damaging cardiac mitochondrial function.
Keywords: Cardiac dysfunction; Cardiac fibroblasts; FABP5; Pathological cardiac remodeling.