scholarly journals Human Erbb2-induced Erk activity robustly stimulates cycling and functional remodeling of rat and human cardiomyocytes

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Strash ◽  
Sophia DeLuca ◽  
Geovanni L Janer Carattini ◽  
Soon Chul Heo ◽  
Ryne Gorsuch ◽  
...  

Multiple mitogenic pathways capable of promoting mammalian cardiomyocyte (CM) proliferation have been identified as potential candidates for functional heart repair following myocardial infarction. However, it is unclear whether the effects of these mitogens are species-specific and how they directly compare in the same cardiac setting. Here, we examined how CM-specific lentiviral expression of various candidate mitogens affects human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived CMs (hiPSC-CMs) and neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) in vitro. In 2D-cultured CMs from both species, and in highly mature 3D-engineered cardiac tissues generated from NRVMs, a constitutively-active mutant form of the human gene Erbb2 (cahErbb2) was the most potent tested mitogen. Persistent expression of cahErbb2 induced CM proliferation, sarcomere loss, and remodeling of tissue structure and function, which were attenuated by small molecule inhibitors of Erk signaling. These results suggest transient activation of Erbb2/Erk axis in cardiomyocytes as a potential strategy for regenerative heart repair.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Strash ◽  
Sophia DeLuca ◽  
Geovanni Janer Carattini ◽  
Soon Chul Heo ◽  
Ryne Gorsuch ◽  
...  

Multiple mitogenic pathways capable of promoting mammalian cardiomyocyte (CM) proliferation have been identified as potential candidates for functional heart repair following myocardial infarction. However, it is unclear whether the effects of these mitogens are species-specific and how they directly compare in the same cardiac setting. Here, we examined how CM-specific lentiviral expression of various candidate mitogens affects human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) and neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) in vitro. In 2D-cultured CMs from both species, and in highly mature 3D-engineered cardiac tissues generated from NRVMs, a constitutively-active mutant form of the human gene Erbb2 (cahErbb2) was the most potent tested mitogen. Persistent expression of cahErbb2 induced CM proliferation, sarcomere loss, and remodeling of tissue structure and function, which were attenuated by small molecule inhibitors of Erk signaling. These results suggest transient activation of Erbb2/Erk axis in cardiomyocytes as a potential strategy for regenerative heart repair.


2019 ◽  
Vol 317 (6) ◽  
pp. C1256-C1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon P. Wells ◽  
Helen M. Waddell ◽  
Choon Boon Sim ◽  
Shiang Y. Lim ◽  
Gabriel B. Bernasochi ◽  
...  

Cardiac arrhythmias of both atrial and ventricular origin are an important feature of cardiovascular disease. Novel antiarrhythmic therapies are required to overcome current drug limitations related to effectiveness and pro-arrhythmia risk in some contexts. Cardiomyocyte culture models provide a high-throughput platform for screening antiarrhythmic compounds, but comparative information about electrophysiological properties of commonly used types of cardiomyocyte preparations is lacking. Standardization of cultured cardiomyocyte microelectrode array (MEA) experimentation is required for its application as a high-throughput platform for antiarrhythmic drug development. The aim of this study was to directly compare the electrophysiological properties and responses to isoproterenol of three commonly used cardiac cultures. Neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs), immortalized atrial HL-1 cells, and custom-generated human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) were cultured on microelectrode arrays for 48–120 h. Extracellular field potentials were recorded, and conduction velocity was mapped in the presence/absence of the β-adrenoceptor agonist isoproterenol (1 µM). Field potential amplitude and conduction velocity were greatest in NRVMs and did not differ in cardiomyocytes isolated from male/female hearts. Both NRVMs and hiPSC-CMs exhibited longer field potential durations with rate dependence and were responsive to isoproterenol. In contrast, HL-1 cells exhibited slower conduction and shorter field potential durations and did not respond to 1 µM isoproterenol. This is the first study to compare the intrinsic electrophysiologic properties of cultured cardiomyocyte preparations commonly used for in vitro electrophysiology assessment. These findings offer important comparative data to inform methodological approaches in the use of MEA and other techniques relating to cardiomyocyte functional screening investigations of particular relevance to arrhythmogenesis.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter E. Knight ◽  
Yingqiong Cao ◽  
Ying-Hsi Lin ◽  
Genevieve C. Sparagna ◽  
Betty Bai ◽  
...  

AbstractRationaleHuman induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are a powerful platform for biomedical research. However, they are immature, which is a barrier to modeling adult-onset cardiovascular disease.ObjectiveWe sought to develop a simple method which could drive cultured hiPSC-CMs towards maturity across a number of phenotypes.Methods and resultsCells were cultured in fatty acid-based media and plated on micropatterned surfaces to promote alignment and elongation. These cells display many characteristics of adult human cardiomyocytes, including elongated cell morphology, enhanced maturity of sarcomeric structures, metabolic behavior, and increased myofibril contractile force. Most notably, hiPSC-CMs cultured under optimal maturity-inducing conditions recapitulate the pathological hypertrophy caused by either a pro-hypertrophic agent or genetic mutations.ConclusionsThe more mature hiPSC-CMs produced by the methods described here will serve as a useful in vitro platform for characterizing cardiovascular disease.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 204173141984174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Dwenger ◽  
William J Kowalski ◽  
Fei Ye ◽  
Fangping Yuan ◽  
Joseph P Tinney ◽  
...  

The immaturity of human induced pluripotent stem cell derived engineered cardiac tissues limits their ability to regenerate damaged myocardium and to serve as robust in vitro models for human disease and drug toxicity studies. Several chronic biomimetic conditioning protocols, including mechanical stretch, perfusion, and/or electrical stimulation promote engineered cardiac tissue maturation but have significant technical limitations. Non-contacting chronic optical stimulation using heterologously expressed channelrhodopsin light-gated ion channels, termed optogenetics, may be an advantageous alternative to chronic invasive electrical stimulation for engineered cardiac tissue conditioning. We designed proof-of-principle experiments to successfully transfect human induced pluripotent stem cell derived engineered cardiac tissues with a desensitization resistant, chimeric channelrhodopsin protein, and then optically paced engineered cardiac tissues to accelerate maturation. We transfected human induced pluripotent stem cell engineered cardiac tissues using an adeno-associated virus packaged chimeric channelrhodopsin and then verified optically paced by whole cell patch clamp. Engineered cardiac tissues were then chronically optically paced above their intrinsic beat rates in vitro from day 7 to 14. Chronically optically paced resulted in improved engineered cardiac tissue electrophysiological properties and subtle changes in the expression of some cardiac relevant genes, though active force generation and histology were unchanged. These results validate the feasibility of a novel chronically optically paced paradigm to explore non-invasive and scalable optically paced–induced engineered cardiac tissue maturation strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Batalov ◽  
Quentin Jallerat ◽  
Sean Kim ◽  
Jacqueline Bliley ◽  
Adam W. Feinberg

AbstractCardiac two-dimensional tissues were engineered using biomimetic micropatterns based on the fibronectin-rich extracellular matrix (ECM) of the embryonic heart. The goal of this developmentally-inspired, in vitro approach was to identify cell–cell and cell-ECM interactions in the microenvironment of the early 4-chambered vertebrate heart that drive cardiomyocyte organization and alignment. To test this, biomimetic micropatterns based on confocal imaging of fibronectin in embryonic chick myocardium were created and compared to control micropatterns designed with 2 or 20 µm wide fibronectin lines. Results show that embryonic chick cardiomyocytes have a unique density-dependent alignment on the biomimetic micropattern that is mediated in part by N-cadherin, suggesting that both cell–cell and cell-ECM interactions play an important role in the formation of aligned myocardium. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes also showed density-dependent alignment on the biomimetic micropattern but were overall less well organized. Interestingly, the addition of human adult cardiac fibroblasts and conditioning with T3 hormone were both shown to increase human cardiomyocyte alignment. In total, these results show that cardiomyocyte maturation state, cardiomyocyte-cardiomyocyte and cardiomyocyte-fibroblast interactions, and cardiomyocyte-ECM interactions can all play a role when engineering anisotropic cardiac tissues in vitro and provides insight as to how these factors may influence cardiogenesis in vivo.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Strigli ◽  
Christian Raab ◽  
Sabine Hessler ◽  
Tobias Huth ◽  
Adam J. T. Schuldt ◽  
...  

AbstractThe voltage-gated potassium channel Kv7.1 (KCNQ1) co-assembles with KCNE1 to generate the cardiac potassium current IKs. Gain- and loss-of-function mutations in KCNQ1 are associated with atrial fibrillation and long-QT (LQT) syndrome, respectively, highlighting the importance of modulating IKS activity for proper cardiac function. On a post-translational level, IKS can be regulated by phosphorylation, ubiquitination and sumoylation. Here, we report proteolysis of Kv7.1 as a novel, irreversible posttranslational modification. The identification of two C-terminal fragments (CTF1 and CTF2) of Kv7.1 led us to identify an aspartate critical for the generation of CTF2 and caspases as responsible for mediating Kv7.1 proteolysis. Activating caspases by apoptotic stimuli significantly reduced Kv7.1/KCNE1 currents, which was abrogated in cells expressing caspase-resistant Kv7.1 D459A/KCNE1 channels. An increase in cleavage of Kv7.1 could be detected in the case of LQT mutation G460S, which is located adjacent to the cleavage site. Application of apoptotic stimuli or doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity provoked caspase-mediated cleavage of endogenous Kv7.1 in human cardiomyocytes. In summary, our findings establish caspases as novel regulatory components for modulating Kv7.1 activity which may have important implications for the molecular mechanism of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.Non-standard Abbreviations and AcronymsCamcalmodulinEBCequilibrium buffer contentLQT syndromelong QT syndromeNRVMNeonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocyteshiPSC-CMshuman induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes


Author(s):  
Arun Sharma ◽  
Gustavo Garcia ◽  
Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami ◽  
Clive N. Svendsen

SUMMARYCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 is predominantly defined by respiratory symptoms, but cardiac complications including arrhythmias, heart failure, and viral myocarditis are also prevalent. Although the systemic ischemic and inflammatory responses caused by COVID-19 can detrimentally affect cardiac function, the direct impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on human cardiomyocytes is not well-understood. We used human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) as a model system to examine the mechanisms of cardiomyocyte-specific infection by SARS-CoV-2. Microscopy and immunofluorescence demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 can enter and replicate within hiPSC-CMs, localizing at perinuclear locations within the cytoplasm. Viral cytopathic effect induced hiPSC-CM apoptosis and cessation of beating after 72 hours of infection. These studies show that SARS-CoV-2 can infect hiPSC-CMs in vitro, establishing a model for elucidating the mechanisms of infection and potentially a cardiac-specific antiviral drug screening platform.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Pekkanen-Mattila ◽  
Martta Häkli ◽  
Risto-Pekka Pölönen ◽  
Tuomas Mansikkala ◽  
Anni Junnila ◽  
...  

Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have the potential to serve as a model for human cardiomyocytes. However, hiPSC-CMs are still considered immature. CMs differentiated from hiPSCs more resemble fetal than adult cardiomyocytes. Putative factors enhancing maturation include in vitro culture duration, culture surface topography, and mechanical, chemical, and electrical stimulation. Stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes are traditionally cultured on glass surfaces coated with extracellular matrix derivatives such as gelatin. hiPSC-CMs are flat and round and their sarcomeres are randomly distributed and unorganized. Morphology can be enhanced by culturing cells on surfaces providing topographical cues to the cells. In this study, a textile based-culturing method used to enhance the maturation status of hiPSC-CMs is presented. Gelatin-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-based textiles were used as the culturing surface for hiPSC-CMs and the effects of the textiles on the maturation status of the hiPSC-CMs were assessed. The hiPSC-CMs were characterized by analyzing their morphology, sarcomere organization, expression of cardiac specific genes, and calcium handling. We show that the topographical cues improve the structure of the hiPSC-CMs in vitro. Human iPSC-CMs grown on PET textiles demonstrated improved structural properties such as rod-shape structure and increased sarcomere orientation.


Circulation ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 132 (suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroko Iseoka ◽  
Shigeru Miyagawa ◽  
Satsuki Fukushima ◽  
Shin Yajima ◽  
Atsuhiro Saito ◽  
...  

Background: It has been shown that transplantation of engineered cardiac tissue (ECT) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) into the infarct heart induces electrical communication between the ECT and the native myocardium; however, factors enhancing the electrical integrity and thus the therapeutic effects are not fully understood. We herein hypothesized that content of cardiomyocytes in the ECT may be a key to achieve efficient electrical coupling and functional contribution in chronic rat myocardial infarction (MI) heart. Methods and Results: Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCM), mimicking the host myocardium, were partially covered by the ECT containing iPSC-CMs produced by thermoresponsive culture dishes in vitro , to explore electrical communication of the ECT with myocardium. As a result, the NRCM and the ECT showed spontaneous, individual contractions for 2 hours, though they gradually showed electrical and motional synchronization, featuring transmitted electrical pulse from the NRCM to the ECT, as assessed by multi-electrode array. Subsequently, the ECT of different ratios (25, 50, 70, and 90%) of iPSC-CMs were generated by magnetic-activated cell sorting using cardiac specific cell surface marker. As a result, the 70% group exhibited the highest contractile and relaxation properties in vitro , as assessed by high-speed video microscopy image-based motion analysis and Ca transient measurement. Finally, the ECTs including 25, 50, 70% CMs were transplanted to immune deficient rat MI model (n=7 each). As a result, ejection fraction was significantly improved in the 50% (52±10%) and 70% (52±12%) groups, but not in the 25% group (35±5%), as compared to the control (35±10%; P <0.05). Epicardial optical mapping of Langendorff perfused heart on day 3 showed that the ECTs of 50% and the 70% groups exhibited electrical activity and synchronization with the native myocardium. Conclusion: Transplantation of the ECT improved cardiac performance associated with synchronization with the myocardium in rat infarction model, dependent upon content of the cardiomyocytes in the ECT. It was thus suggested that transplanted ECT may behave “working cardiac construct” in the damaged heart.


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