Myocyte enlargement, differentiation, and proliferation kinetics in the fetal sheep heart

2007 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 1130-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonnet S. Jonker ◽  
Lubo Zhang ◽  
Samantha Louey ◽  
George D. Giraud ◽  
Kent L. Thornburg ◽  
...  

The generation of new myocytes is an essential process of in utero heart growth. Most, or all, cardiac myocytes lose their capacity for proliferation during the perinatal period through the process of terminal differentiation. An increasing number of studies focus on how experimental interventions affect cardiac myocyte growth in the fetal sheep. Nevertheless, fundamental questions about normal growth of the fetal heart remain unanswered. In this study, we determined that during the last third of gestation the hearts of fetal sheep grew primarily by four processes. 1) Myocyte proliferation contributed substantially to daily cardiac mass gain, and the number of cardiac myocytes continued to increase to term. 2) The (hitherto unrecognized) contribution to cardiac growth by the increase in myocyte size associated with the transition from mononucleation to binucleation (terminal differentiation) became considerable from ∼115 days of gestational age (dGA) until term (145dGA). Because binucleation became the more frequent outcome of myocyte cell cycle activity after ∼115dGA, the number of binucleated myocytes increased at the expense of the number of mononucleated myocytes. Both the interval between nuclear divisions and the duration of cell cycle activity in myocytes decreased substantially during this same period. Finally, cardiac growth was in part due to enlargement of 3) mononucleated and 4) binucleated myocytes, which grew in cross-sectional diameter but not length during the last third of gestation. These data on normal cardiac growth may enable a more detailed understanding of the consequences of experimental and pathological interventions in prenatal life.

2007 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preeti Ahuja ◽  
Patima Sdek ◽  
W. Robb MacLellan

Cardiac myocytes rapidly proliferate during fetal life but exit the cell cycle soon after birth in mammals. Although the extent to which adult cardiac myocytes are capable of cell cycle reentry is controversial and species-specific differences may exist, it appears that for the vast majority of adult cardiac myocytes the predominant form of growth postnatally is an increase in cell size (hypertrophy) not number. Unfortunately, this limits the ability of the heart to restore function after any significant injury. Interest in novel regenerative therapies has led to the accumulation of much information on the mechanisms that regulate the rapid proliferation of cardiac myocytes in utero, their cell cycle exit in the perinatal period, and the permanent arrest (terminal differentiation) in adult myocytes. The recent identification of cardiac progenitor cells capable of giving rise to cardiac myocyte-like cells has challenged the dogma that the heart is a terminally differentiated organ and opened new prospects for cardiac regeneration. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of cardiomyocyte cell cycle control in normal development and disease. In addition, we also discuss the potential usefulness of cardiomyocyte self-renewal as well as feasibility of therapeutic manipulation of the cardiac myocyte cell cycle for cardiac regeneration.


2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (2) ◽  
pp. R913-R919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonnet S. Jonker ◽  
J. Job Faber ◽  
Debra F. Anderson ◽  
Kent L. Thornburg ◽  
Samantha Louey ◽  
...  

While the fetal heart grows by myocyte enlargement and proliferation, myocytes lose their capacity for proliferation in the perinatal period after terminal differentiation. The relationship between myocyte enlargement, proliferation, and terminal differentiation has not been studied under conditions of combined arterial and venous hypertension, as occurs in some clinical conditions. We hypothesize that fetal arterial and venous hypertension initially leads to cardiomyocyte proliferation, followed by myocyte enlargement. Two groups of fetal sheep received intravascular plasma infusions for 4 or 8 days (from 130 days gestation) to increase vascular pressures. Fetal hearts were arrested in diastole and dissociated. Myocyte size, terminal differentiation (%binucleation), and cell cycle activity (Ki-67[+] cells as a % of mononucleated myocytes) were measured. We found that chronic plasma infusion greatly increased venous and arterial pressures. Heart (but not body) weights were ∼30% greater in hypertensive fetuses than controls. The incidence of cell cycle activity doubled in hypertensive fetuses compared with controls. After 4 days of hypertension, myocytes were (∼11%) longer, but only after 8 days were they wider (∼12%). After 8 days, %binucleation was ∼50% greater in hypertensive fetuses. We observed two phases of cardiomyocyte growth and maturation in response to fetal arterial and venous hypertension. In the early phase, the incidence of cell cycle activity increased and myocytes elongated. In the later phase, the incidence of cell cycle activity remained elevated, %binucleation increased, and cross sections were greater. This study highlights unique fetal adaptations of the myocardium and the importance of experimental duration when interpreting fetal cardiac growth data.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (5) ◽  
pp. C1242-C1249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Yan Lu ◽  
David P. Sontag ◽  
Karen A. Detillieux ◽  
Peter A. Cattini

FGF-16 has been reported to be preferentially expressed in the adult rat heart. We have investigated the expression of FGF-16 in the perinatal and postnatal heart and its functional significance in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes. FGF-16 mRNA accumulation was observed by quantitative RT-PCR between neonatal days 1 and 7, with this increased expression persisting into adulthood. FGF-2 has been shown to increase neonatal rat cardiac myocyte proliferative potential via PKC activation. Gene array analysis revealed that FGF-16 inhibited the upregulation by FGF-2 of cell cycle promoting genes including cyclin F and Ki67. Furthermore, the CDK4/6 inhibitor gene Arf/INK4A was upregulated with the combination of FGF-16 and FGF-2 but not with either factor on its own. The effect on Ki67 was validated by protein immunodetection, which also showed that FGF-16 significantly decreased FGF-2-induced Ki67 labeling of cardiac myocytes, although it alone had no effect on Ki67 labeling. Inhibition of p38 MAPK potentiated cardiac myocyte proliferation induced by FGF-2 but did not alter the inhibitory action of FGF-16. Receptor binding assay showed that FGF-16 can compete with FGF-2 for binding sites including FGF receptor 1. FGF-16 had no effect on activated p38, ERK1/2, or JNK/SAPK after FGF-2 treatment. However, FGF-16 inhibited PKC-α and PKC-ε activation induced by FGF-2 and, importantly, IGF-1. Collectively, these data suggest that expression and release of FGF-16 in the neonatal myocardium interfere with cardiac myocyte proliferative potential by altering the local signaling environment via modulation of PKC activation and cell cycle-related gene expression.


2012 ◽  
Vol 111 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maengjo Kim ◽  
Roger Hunter ◽  
Kei Sakamoto ◽  
Stephen Kolwicz ◽  
Lorena Menendez ◽  
...  

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an energy sensor and a key regulator of cell metabolism, hence a promising drug target. Point mutations in the regulatory γ2-subunit (encoded by PRKAG2 gene) have been shown to cause a unique form of cardiomyopathy in humans characterized by cardiac growth, arrhythmias and glycogen storage. In previous studies, we demonstrated that the mutation of prkag2 (N488I) caused aberrant activation of AMPK leading to glycogen storage. However, elimination of glycogen storage by inhibiting glycogen synthase activity failed to normalize heart weight (HW) of the mutant mice. Here, we aimed to determine whether cardiac growth in PRKAG2 ardiomyopathy was dueto cellular hypertrophy or hyperplasia. We used transgenic mice expressing a mutant PRKAG2 (N488I) in the heart (TGγ2 N488I ) that faithfully recapitulated PRKAG2 cardiomyopathy. We determined HW and cardiac myocyte size in adult (2 months) and postnatal (2 weeks) hearts in WT and TGγ2 N488I . At 2 months, TGγ2 N488I hearts show a 2.4-fold increase in HW/BW (body weight) (10.3 ± 1.44 vs. 4.3± 0.17 mg/g) as well as cross-sectional cell surface area compared WT hearts (325 ± 13 vs. 155 ± 5.4 μm 2 ,p<0.01), suggesting cellular hypertrophy in adult TGγ2 N488I heart. Furthermore, we observed increased mTOR activity evidenced by enhanced phosphorylation of mTOR (Ser2448) as well as its downstream targets S6 and 4E-BP. The HW of TGγ2 N488I was partially inhibited by treatment with rapamycin, an inhibitor of mTOR. Interestingly, the length and width of isolated cardiomyocytes from 2 weeks old mice were not different between the WT and TGγ2 N488I heart in spite of a 50% increase of HW of TGγ2 N488I mice. We observed a 2- fold increase in the expression of a proliferation marker, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) during postnatal cardiac growth. Expression of Cyclin genes including cyclin D1, D2 and E1 was greatly increased in TGγ2 N488I hearts (2.4 - 4 fold, p<0.01 vs. WT). Taken together, these data indicate that aberrant γ2-AMPK activation stimulates cardiac growth through increased cell number during postnatal growth period and increased cell size at adulthood. These results suggest a novel role of γ2-AMPK in the growth of cardiac myocytes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 316 (5) ◽  
pp. H985-H991
Author(s):  
Tara Karamlou ◽  
George D. Giraud ◽  
Donogh McKeogh ◽  
Sonnet S. Jonker ◽  
Irving Shen ◽  
...  

The fetal myocardium is known to be sensitive to hemodynamic load, responding to systolic overload with cellular hypertrophy, proliferation, and accelerated maturation. However, the fetal cardiac growth response to primary volume overload is unknown. We hypothesized that increased venous return would stimulate fetal cardiomyocyte proliferation and terminal differentiation, particularly in the right ventricle (RV). Vascular catheters and pulmonary artery flow probes were implanted in 16 late-gestation fetal sheep: a right carotid artery-jugular vein (AV) fistula was surgically created in nine fetuses, and sham operations were performed on seven fetuses. Instrumented fetuses were studied for 1 wk before hearts were dissected for component analysis or cardiomyocyte dispersion for cellular measurements. Within 1 day of AV fistula creation, RV output was 20% higher in experimental than sham fetuses ( P < 0.0001). Circulating atrial natriuretic peptide levels were elevated fivefold in fetuses with an AV fistula ( P < 0.002). On the terminal day, RV-to-body weight ratios were 35% higher in the AV fistula group ( P < 0.05). Both left ventricular and RV cardiomyocytes grew longer in fetuses with an AV fistula ( P < 0.02). Cell cycle activity was depressed by >50% [significant in left ventricle ( P < 0.02), but not RV ( P < 0.054)]. Rates of terminal differentiation were unchanged. Based on these studies, we speculate that atrial natriuretic peptide suppressed fetal cardiomyocyte cell cycle activity. Unlike systolic overload, fetal diastolic load appears to drive myocyte enlargement, but not cardiomyocyte proliferation or maturation. These changes could predispose to RV dysfunction later in life. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Adaptation of the fetal heart to changes in cardiac load allows the fetus to maintain adequate blood flow to its systemic and placental circulations, which is necessary for the well-being of the fetus. Addition of arterial-venous fistula flow to existing venous return increased right ventricular stroke volume and output. The fetal heart compensated by cardiomyocyte elongation without accelerated cellular maturation, while cardiomyocyte proliferation decreased. Even transient volume overload in utero alters myocardial structure and cardiomyocyte endowment.


2005 ◽  
Vol 288 (3) ◽  
pp. R567-R574 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. R. Lumbers ◽  
A. C. Boyce ◽  
G. Joulianos ◽  
V. Kumarasamy ◽  
E. Barner ◽  
...  

In 17 fetal sheep aged 129 days, the effects of large-dose infusions of cortisol (72.1 mg/day for 2–3 days) on proliferation, binucleation, and hypertrophy of cardiac myocytes, cardiac expression of angiotensinogen, angiotensin receptor subtypes 1 and 2, Glut-1, glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors, proteins of the MAPK pathways and calcineurin were studied. Cortisol levels were 8.7 ± 2.3 nM (SE) in 8 control and 1,028 ± 189 nM in 9 treated fetuses ( P < 0.001). Cortisol had no effect on myocyte binucleation. Left ventricular free wall (LVFW) uni- and binucleated myocytes were larger in cortisol-treated fetuses ( P < 0.001, P < 0.05). Cortisol-treated fetuses had higher right ventricular free wall (RVFW) and LVFW angiotensinogen (Aogen) mRNA levels (treated: 2.30 ± 0.37, n = 8 and 2.05 ± 0.45, n = 7 vs. control: 0.94 ± 0.12, n = 8 and 0.67 ± 0.09, n = 7, P < 0.02). Levels of the glucose transporter Glut-1 mRNA were lower in the LVFW of treated fetuses (0.83 ± 0.23 vs. 1.47 ± 0.30 in control, P < 0.05, n = 7, 8). The higher the cortisol level, the greater the Aogen mRNA level (RVFW, r = 0.61, P < 0.01, n = 16; LVFW, r = 0.83, P < 0.0003, n = 14). There were no other changes in mRNA levels nor in levels of extracellular kinase, JNK, p38, their phosphorylated forms, and calcineurin. Thus high levels of cortisol such as occur after birth do not affect fetal cardiac myocyte binucleation or number but are associated with higher levels of ventricular Aogen mRNA, lower levels of Glut-1 mRNA, and hypertrophy of LVFW myocytes. These effects could impact on postnatal cardiac development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
V Montiel ◽  
R Bella ◽  
L Michel ◽  
E Robinson ◽  
J.C Jonas ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Pathological remodeling of the myocardium has long been known to involve oxidant signaling, but so far, strategies using systemic anti-oxidants have generally failed to prevent it. Aquaporins are a family of transmembrane water channels with thirteen isoforms currently known. Some isoforms have been implicated in oxidant signaling. AQP1 is the most abundant aquaporin in cardiovascular tissues but its specific role in cardiac remodeling remains unknown. Purpose We tested the role of AQP1 as a key regulator of oxidant-mediated cardiac remodeling amenable to targeted pharmacological therapy. Methods We used mice with genetic deletion of Aqp1 (and wild-type littermate), as well as primary isolates from the same mice and human iPSC/Engineered Heart Tissue to test the role of AQP1 in pro-hypertrophic signaling. Human cardiac myocyte-specific (PCM1+) expression of AQP's and genes involved in hypertrophic remodeling was studied by RNAseq and bioinformatic GO pathway analysis. Results RNA sequencing from human cardiac myocytes revealed that the archetypal AQP1 is a major isoform. AQP1 expression correlates with the severity of hypertrophic remodeling in patients with aortic stenosis. The AQP1 channel was detected at the plasma membrane of human and mouse cardiac myocytes from hypertrophic hearts, where it colocalizes with the NADPH oxidase-2 (NOX2) and caveolin-3. We show that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), produced extracellularly, is necessary for the hypertrophic response of isolated cardiac myocytes and that AQP1 facilitates the transmembrane transport of H2O2 through its water pore, resulting in activation of oxidant-sensitive kinases in cardiac myocytes. Structural analysis of the amino acid residues lining the water pore of AQP1 supports its permeation by H2O2. Deletion of Aqp1 or selective blockade of AQP1 intra-subunit pore (with Bacopaside II) inhibits H2O2 transport in mouse and human cells and rescues the myocyte hypertrophy in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived engineered heart muscle. This protective effect is due to loss of transmembrane transport of H2O2, but not water, through the intra-subunit pore of AQP1. Treatment of mice with clinically-approved Bacopaside extract (CDRI08) inhibitor of AQP1 attenuates cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. Conclusion We provide the first demonstration that AQP1 functions as an aqua-peroxiporin in primary rodent and human cardiac parenchymal cells. We show that cardiac hypertrophy is mediated by the transmembrane transport of H2O2 through the AQP1 water channel. Our studies open the way to complement the therapeutic armamentarium with specific blockers of AQP1 for the prevention of adverse remodeling in many cardiovascular diseases leading to heart failure. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): FRS-FNRS, Welbio


1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 7243-7258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhu Gupta ◽  
Radovan Zak ◽  
Towia A. Libermann ◽  
Mahesh P. Gupta

ABSTRACT The expression of the α-myosin heavy chain (MHC) gene is restricted primarily to cardiac myocytes. To date, several positive regulatory elements and their binding factors involved in α-MHC gene regulation have been identified; however, the mechanism restricting the expression of this gene to cardiac myocytes has yet to be elucidated. In this study, we have identified by using sequential deletion mutants of the rat cardiac α-MHC gene a 30-bp purine-rich negative regulatory (PNR) element located in the first intronic region that appeared to be essential for the tissue-specific expression of the α-MHC gene. Removal of this element alone elevated (20- to 30-fold) the expression of the α-MHC gene in cardiac myocyte cultures and in heart muscle directly injected with plasmid DNA. Surprisingly, this deletion also allowed a significant expression of the α-MHC gene in HeLa and other nonmuscle cells, where it is normally inactive. The PNR element required upstream sequences of the α-MHC gene for negative gene regulation. By DNase I footprint analysis of the PNR element, a palindrome of two high-affinity Ets-binding sites (CTTCCCTGGAAG) was identified. Furthermore, by analyses of site-specific base-pair mutation, mobility gel shift competition, and UV cross-linking, two different Ets-like proteins from cardiac and HeLa cell nuclear extracts were found to bind to the PNR motif. Moreover, the activity of the PNR-binding factor was found to be increased two- to threefold in adult rat hearts subjected to pressure overload hypertrophy, where the α-MHC gene is usually suppressed. These data demonstrate that the PNR element plays a dual role, both downregulating the expression of the α-MHC gene in cardiac myocytes and silencing the muscle gene activity in nonmuscle cells. Similar palindromic Ets-binding motifs are found conserved in the α-MHC genes from different species and in other cardiac myocyte-restricted genes. These results are the first to reveal a role of the Ets class of proteins in controlling the tissue-specific expression of a cardiac muscle gene.


Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 130 (suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John E Baker ◽  
Jidong Su ◽  
Stacy Koprowski ◽  
Anuradha Dhanasekaran ◽  
Tom P Aufderheide ◽  
...  

Thrombopoietin confers immediate protection against injury caused by ischemia/reperfusion in the rat heart at a dose that does not increase platelet levels. Eltrombopag is a small molecule agonist of the thrombopoietin receptor; the physiological target of thrombopoietin. Administration of thrombopoietin and eltrombopag result in a dose- and time-dependent increase in platelet counts in patients with thrombocytopenia. However, the ability of eltrombopag and thrombopoietin to immediately protect human cardiac myocytes against injury and the mechanisms underlying myocyte protection are not known. Human cardiac myocytes (7500 cells, n=10/group) were treated with eltrombopag (0.1- 30.0 μM) or thrombopoietin ( 0.1 - 30.0 ng/ml) and then subjected to 5 hours of hypoxia (95% N 2 /5%CO 2 ) and 16 hours of reoxygenation to determine their ability to confer resistance to necrotic and apoptotic myocardial injury . The thrombopoietin receptor (c-Mpl) was detected in unstimulated human cardiac myocytes by western blotting. Eltrombopag and thrombopoietin confer immediate protection to human cardiac myocytes against injury from hypoxia/reoxygenation by decreasing necrotic and apoptotic cell death in a concentration-dependent manner with an optimal concentration of 3 μM for eltrombopag and 1.0 ng/ml for thrombopoietin. The extent of protection conferred to cardiac myocytes with eltrombopag is equivalent to that of thrombopoietin. Eltrombopag and thrombopoietin activate multiple pro-survival pathways; inhibition of JAK-2 (AG-490, 10 μM), p38 MAPK (SB203580, 10 μM), p44/42 MAPK (PD98059, 10 μM), Akt/PI 3 kinase (Wortmannin, 100 nM), and src kinase (PP1, 20 μM) prior to and during hypoxia abolished cardiac myocyte protection by eltrombopag and thrombopoietin. These inhibitors had no effect on hypoxia/reoxygenation injury in myocytes when used alone. Eltrombopag and thrombopoietin may represent important and potent agents for immediately and substantially increasing protection of human cardiac myocytes, and may offer long-lasting benefit through activation of pro-survival pathways during ischemia.


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