果蝇心脏发育基因调控的研究进展

果蝇心脏的发育是一个受到一系列基因共同调控的复杂过程,这些基因在脊椎动物和无脊椎动物果蝇中具有惊人的相似性,对于它们功能的研究将有助于揭示人类心脏发育的过程及分子控制机理.通过将果蝇作为一种重要的模式动物,对心脏发育基因调控的研究进展作一综述.     

心脏发育的基因调控

心脏发育是一个复杂的过程.在脊椎动物和无脊椎动物果蝇中驱动早期心脏分化的基因具有惊人的相似性.以果蝇、斑马鱼、小鼠等作为模式动物,以心脏的发育过程为主线,探讨了心脏发育的基因调控的研究进展.     

控制果蝇心脏早期发育的基因研究进展

果蝇心脏早期发育与脊椎动物乃至人具有相似的分子机理,自90年代以来,通过P转位子诱变方法已鉴定出20多个与果蝇早期发育相关基因,这为揭示人体心脏发育的基因调控机理提供了重要的依据。     

斑马鱼心脏再生的研究

人类心脏损伤后不可再生,使得心脏疾病成为威胁人类生命的主要疾病之一。斑马鱼等其他非哺乳动物类脊椎动物的心脏在受损伤后可以再生,再加上其遗传操作已十分成熟,使其成为研究脊椎动物心脏再生的一个极好模型。本文总结了国内外关于斑马鱼心脏再生的最新进展、并分析了心脏再生特异的分子机制以及涉及再生现象的保守机制,进一步提出了这些研究对于人类心脏疾病的治疗的可借鉴之处。     

小鼠心脏发育的形态学研究

目的建立小鼠心脏正常发育的时间表以及对应的形态学特征模式.方法小鼠胚胎ED8.5、ED9.5、ED10.5、ED11.5、ED12.5、ED14.5、ED16.5、ED18.5和P1(postnatal day)(出生后1 d的仔鼠)标本,进行整体或心脏部位不同轴向切片,HE染色,采用PCTV图像分析系统,对各时相小鼠心脏形态发育特征进行研究.结果 ⑴细胞结构发育的时空模式:① ED8.5时,生心板形成;ED9.5时,心肌细胞呈不规则的纺锤形,细胞的大小多样化,细胞核小;ED10.5时,小血管和着色较浅的肌原纤维出现,细胞之间连接较松;ED11.5时,心肌纤维排列较紧,纵断面上呈细长形,横断面上呈不规则多角形;ED12.5时,细胞核着色更清晰,心肌细胞形状逐渐规则,细胞之间紧密连接,同时闰盘结构出现在心室心肌细胞.②ED12.5时心肌小梁结构第一次在心室出现,ED14.5时增厚,而在心房少见心肌小梁.⑵心室结构的形成和心脏发育的成熟:①心肌间充质网络结构在ED10.5的心室中明显呈现,随着它的发育,心室的心内膜在ED11.5出现,心室心外膜可以辨认.②房室隔在ED12.5完全形成,心内膜垫在ED12.5开始发生并快速发育,促进室间隔在ED14.5完全形成.③心包膜在ED16.5可明显辨认,心包膜腔形成,此时近段流出道心内膜垫完全心肌细胞替换.结论肌原纤维细胞和心肌间充质细胞同时在ED10.5出现,提示肌原纤维对心肌细胞的成型和心肌化起作用.细胞的结构变化和心肌层的成熟过程,显示小鼠心脏部位成熟时间的不同,心室成熟相对较晚.     

心脏早期发育的基因控制

果蝇和脊椎动物的心脏发育在早期具有惊人的相似性,两似从两侧心肌中胚层分化出心脏前体细胞,再在胚肿的中部形成一个管状结构,有研究结果表明,果蝇心脏发育基因控制模型是代替人体心脏发育研究的一个理想模式。     

Notch信号与心脏干细胞关系的研究进展

Notch信号是广泛存在于各种动物细胞中高度保守的信号途径,在干细胞生物学功能中发挥重要作用。心脏干细胞（cardiac stem cells,CSCs）是存在于心脏特殊微环境下的多潜能干细胞,其表面存在Notch受体,而与其相邻的细胞可表达Notch配体,提示心脏干细胞中的Notch信号在某些条件下可被活化。该文从Notch信号通路的组成和激活、CSCs的界定与来源、CSCs主要类型的一般生物学特征及Notch信号通路与CSCs形成、分化和增殖的关系等方面进行综述,并展望了基于CSCs在心肌再生相关转化医学研究中的前景。     

影响果蝇心脏发育的基因突变

最近的研究表明,果蝇与脊椎动物及人的心脏早期发育具有极为相似的基因控制机理,果蝇已成为研究人体心脏早期发育基因控制的理想模式动物。利用化学诱变剂甲磺酸乙酯大规模地诱变影响果蝇心脏发育的基因,利用心脏特异性抗体染色进行筛选,获得了112个有心脏突变表型的致死系,其中32个致死系的心脏畸变表型有别于目前已知心脏发育基因的突变表型。细胞遗传学定位研究表明在多线染色体的13个带纹区的某些隐性致死突变基因是目前未知的,其功能可能与发育有关的基因。     

Recent advances in heart regeneration

Although cardiac stem cells (CSCs) and tissue engineering are very promising for cardiac regenerative medicine, studies with model organisms for heart regeneration will provide alternative therapeutic targets and opportunities. Here, we present a review on heart regeneration, with a particular focus on the most recent work in mouse and zebrafish. We attempt to summarize the recent progresses and bottlenecks of CSCs and tissue engineering for heart regeneration; and emphasize what we have learned from mouse and zebrafish regenerative models on discovering crucial genetic and epigenetic factors for stimulating heart regeneration; and speculate the potential application of these regenerative factors for heart failure. A brief perspective highlights several important and promising research directions in this exciting field. Birth Defects Research (Part C) 99:160–169, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A complete heart regeneration model with inflammation as a key component

The neonatal mice myocardial infarction (MI) has been established as one of the heart regeneration models. However, the role of inflammation in this model is still unclear. We sought to systematically evaluate this model and explore the role of inflammation in it. Postnatal day 1 (P1) or day 7 (P7) mice were conducted left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) ligation. Cardiac damage, repair, and regeneration were examined by histology and echocardiography. Inflammation was detected by heart section hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and tissue qPCR. Dexamethasone (Dex) was used to inhibit inflammation and its effects on heart regeneration were evaluated. Two days after P1 mice MI, cardiomyocytes in ischemia area died and heart function decreased. Then surrounding cardiomyocytes proliferated to repair the injury. At day 28 after MI, hearts were almost fully regenerated with a little fibrosis existed. In contrary, P7 mice MI resulted in thinning and fibrosis of the ventricular wall. Inflammation was induced by LAD ligation after P1 mice MI and dynamic changed during the process. Inhibition of inflammation by Dex impaired heart regeneration. These demonstrated that cardiomyocytes death and heart regeneration occurred in this model and inflammation might play a crucial role in it. Modulating inflammation may provide a promising therapeutic strategy to support heart regeneration.     

Cardiac telocytes were decreased during myocardial infarction and their therapeutic effects for ischaemic heart in rat

Recently, cardiac telocytes were found in the myocardium. However, the functional role of cardiac telocytes and possible changes in the cardiac telocyte population during myocardial infarction in the myocardium are not known. In this study, the role of the recently identified cardiac telocytes in myocardial infarction (MI) was investigated. Cardiac telocytes were distributed longitudinally and within the cross network of the myocardium, which was impaired during MI. Cardiac telocytes in the infarction zone were undetectable from approximately 4 days to 4 weeks after an experimental coronary occlusion was used to induce MI. Although cardiac telocytes in the non‐ischaemic area of the ischaemic heart experienced cell death, the cell density increased approximately 2 weeks after experimental coronary occlusion. The cell density was then maintained at a level similar to that observed 1–4 days after left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD)‐ligation, but was still lower than normal after 2 weeks. We also found that simultaneous transplantation of cardiac telocytes in the infarcted and border zones of the heart decreased the infarction size and improved myocardial function. These data indicate that cardiac telocytes, their secreted factors and microvesicles, and the microenvironment may be structurally and functionally important for maintenance of the physiological integrity of the myocardium. Rebuilding the cardiac telocyte network in the infarcted zone following MI may be beneficial for functional regeneration of the infarcted myocardium.     

Aged‐senescent cells contribute to impaired heart regeneration

Aging leads to increased cellular senescence and is associated with decreased potency of tissue‐specific stem/progenitor cells. Here, we have done an extensive analysis of cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) isolated from human subjects with cardiovascular disease, aged 32–86 years. In aged subjects (>70 years old), over half of CPCs are senescent (p16^INK4A, SA‐β‐gal, DNA damage γH2AX, telomere length, senescence‐associated secretory phenotype [SASP]), unable to replicate, differentiate, regenerate or restore cardiac function following transplantation into the infarcted heart. SASP factors secreted by senescent CPCs renders otherwise healthy CPCs to senescence. Elimination of senescent CPCs using senolytics abrogates the SASP and its debilitative effect in vitro. Global elimination of senescent cells in aged mice (INK‐ATTAC or wild‐type mice treated with D + Q senolytics) in vivo activates resident CPCs and increased the number of small Ki67‐, EdU‐positive cardiomyocytes. Therapeutic approaches that eliminate senescent cells may alleviate cardiac deterioration with aging and restore the regenerative capacity of the heart.     

Myocardial regeneration by transplantation of modified endothelial progenitor cells expressing SDF-1 in a rat model

Cell based therapy has been shown to attenuate myocardial dysfunction after myocardial infarction (MI) in different acute and chronic animal models. It has been further shown that stromal‐cell derived factor‐1α (SDF‐1α) facilitates proliferation and migration of endogenous progenitor cells into injured tissue. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of exogenously applied and endogenously mobilized cells in a regenerative strategy for MI therapy. Lentivirally SDF‐1α‐infected endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were injected after 90 min. of ligation and reperfusion of the left anterior descending artery (LAD) intramyocardial and intracoronary using a new rodent catheter system. Eight weeks after transplantation, echocardiography and isolated heart studies revealed a significant improvement of LV function after intramyocardial application of lentiviral with SDF‐1 infected EPCs compared to medium control. Intracoronary application of cells did not lead to significant differences compared to medium injected control hearts. Histology showed a significantly elevated rate of apoptotic cells and augmented proliferation after transplantation of EPCs and EPCs + SDF‐1α in infarcted myocardium. In addition, a significant increased density of CD31⁺ vessel structures, a lower collagen content and higher numbers of inflammatory cells after transplantation of SDF‐1 transgenic cells were detectable. Intramyocardial application of lentiviral‐infected EPCs is associated with a significant improvement of myocardial function after infarction, in contrast to an intracoronary application. Histological results revealed a significant augmentation of neovascularization, lower collagen content, higher numbers of inflammatory cells and remarkable alterations of apoptotic/proliferative processes in infarcted areas after cell transplantation.     

Regulation of cardiomyocyte proliferation during development and regeneration

The regulation of cardiomyocyte proliferation is important for heart development and regeneration. The proliferation patterns of cardiomyocytes are closely related to heart morphogenesis, size, and functions. The proliferation levels are high during early embryogenesis; however, mammalian cardiomyocytes exit the cell cycle irreversibly soon after birth. The cell cycle exit inhibits cardiac regeneration in mammals. On the other hand, cardiomyocytes of adult zebrafish and probably newts can proliferate after cardiac injury, and the hearts can be regenerated. Therefore, the ability to reproliferate determines regenerative ability. As in other cells, the relationship between proliferation and differentiation is very interesting, and is closely related to cardiac development, regeneration and homeostasis. In this review, these topics are discussed.     

Endostatin attenuates heart failure via inhibiting reactive oxygen species in myocardial infarction rats

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether endostatin overexpression could improve cardiac function, hemodynamics, and fibrosis in heart failure (HF) via inhibiting reactive oxygen species (ROS). The HF models were established by inducing ischemia myocardial infarction (MI) through ligation of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery in Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats. Endostatin level in serum was increased in MI rats. The decrease in cardiac function and hemodynamics in MI rats were enhanced by endostatin overexpression. Endostatin overexpression inhibited the increase in collagen I, collagen III, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP9 in the hearts of MI rats. MI-induced cardiac hypertrophy was reduced by endostatin overexpression. The increased levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide anions, the promoted NAD(P)H oxidase (Nox) activity, and the reduced superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in MI rats were reversed by endostatin overexpression. Nox4 overexpression inhibited the cardiac protective effects of endostatin. These results demonstrated that endostatin improved cardiac dysfunction and hemodynamics, and attenuated cardiac fibrosis and hypertrophy via inhibiting oxidative stress in MI-induced HF rats.     

Growth plasticity of the embryonic and fetal heart

The developing mammalian heart responds to a variety of conditions, including changes in nutrient availability, blood oxygenation, hemodynamics, or tissue homeostasis, with impressive growth plasticity. This ensures the formation of a functional and normal sized organ by birth. During embryonic and fetal development the heart is exposed to various physiological and potentially pathological changes in the intrauterine environment which dramatically impact on normal cardiac function, tissue composition, and morphology. This paper summarizes the mechanisms employed by the embryonic and fetal heart to adapt to various intrauterine challenges to prevent or minimize postnatal consequences of impaired cardiac development. Future investigations of this growth plasticity might lead to new therapeutic strategies for the prevention of cardiac disease in postnatal life.