Different modes of hypertrophy in skeletal muscle fibers

Skeletal muscles display a remarkable diversity in their arrangement of fibers into fascicles and in their patterns of innervation, depending on functional requirements and species differences. Most human muscle fascicles, despite their great length, consist of fibers that extend continuously from one tendon to the other with a single nerve endplate band. Other mammalian muscles have multiple endplate bands and fibers that do not insert into both tendons but terminate intrafascicularly. We investigated whether these alternate structural features may dictate different modes of cell hypertrophy in two mouse gracilis muscles, in response to expression of a muscle-specific insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 transgene (mIGF-1) or to chronic exercise. Both hypertrophic stimuli independently activated GATA-2 expression and increased muscle cross-sectional area in both muscle types, with additive effects in exercising myosin light chain/mIGF transgenic mice, but without increasing fiber number. In singly innervated gracilis posterior muscle, hypertrophy was characterized by a greater average diameter of individual fibers, and centralized nuclei. In contrast, hypertrophic gracilis anterior muscle, which is multiply innervated, contained longer muscle fibers, with no increase in average diameter, or in centralized nuclei. Different modes of muscle hypertrophy in domestic and laboratory animals have important implications for building appropriate models of human neuromuscular disease

Protocol for Isolation of Cardiac Interstitial Cells from Adult Murine Hearts for Unbiased Single Cell Profiling.

Interstitial cells have a crucial role in cardiac fibrosis and repair of the mammalian heart. Single-cell profiling using droplet-based technology has revolutionized the investigation of cell states and identities. Here, we present a protocol for the efficient isolation of high-quality live nucleated non-cardiomyocytes from adult murine heart, for unbiased single-cell RNA sequencing using 10× Chromium technology. This protocol has been applied to homeostatic and injured hearts from different mouse strains. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Forte et al. (2020)

growth factor enhancement of cardiac regeneration

The potential for endogenous or supplementary stem cells to restore the form and function of damaged tissues is particularly promising for overcoming the restricted regenerative capacity of the mammalian heart. To maintain blood circulation, this essential organ needs to launch a rapid response to repair damage of the muscle wall and to prevent muscle loss. The capacity of growth factors to supplement the repair process has been successfully applied to restore the integrity of damaged skeletal muscle, reducing the fibrotic response to injury, and recruiting local populations of self-renewing precursor cells and circulating stem cells. We review the recent evidence that extension of growth factor supplementation to the heart may overcome its inherent regenerative impediments through improvement of the local tissue environment and stimulation of cell replacement, and we speculate on future research directions for treatment of myocardial damage

Toward Regeneration of the Heart: Bioengineering Strategies for Immunomodulation.

Myocardial Infarction (MI) is the most common cardiovascular disease. An average-sized MI causes the loss of up to 1 billion cardiomyocytes and the adult heart lacks the capacity to replace them. Although post-MI treatment has dramatically improved survival rates over the last few decades, more than 20% of patients affected by MI will subsequently develop heart failure (HF), an incurable condition where the contracting myocardium is transformed into an akinetic, fibrotic scar, unable to meet the body\u27s need for blood supply. Excessive inflammation and persistent immune auto-reactivity have been suggested to contribute to post-MI tissue damage and exacerbate HF development. Two newly emerging fields of biomedical research, immunomodulatory therapies and cardiac bioengineering, provide potential options to target the causative mechanisms underlying HF development. Combining these two fields to develop biomaterials for delivery of immunomodulatory bioactive molecules holds great promise for HF therapy. Specifically, minimally invasive delivery of injectable hydrogels, loaded with bioactive factors with angiogenic, proliferative, anti-apoptotic and immunomodulatory functions, is a promising route for influencing the cascade of immune events post-MI, preventing adverse left ventricular remodeling, and offering protection from early inflammation to fibrosis. Here we provide an updated overview on the main injectable hydrogel systems and bioactive factors that have been tested in animal models with promising results and discuss the challenges to be addressed for accelerating the development of these novel therapeutic strategies

The contributions of interpersonal attachment and friendship group identification to depressive symptoms in a non-clinical sample:Attachment, group identification, and depression

Drawing on previous literature from the separate areas of adult attachment and group processes, we explored attachment and group identification as predictors for depressive symptoms in a nonclinical sample.We found that attachment anxiety and friendship group identification predicted scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, such that higher attachment anxiety resulted in higher depressive symptoms, and greater friendship group identification resulted in lower depressive symptoms. Mediational analysis suggested that group identification partially mediated the effect of attachment avoidance on depressive symptoms, but did not mediate the effect of attachment anxiety on depressive symptoms

Ex uno, plures-From One Tissue to Many Cells: A Review of Single-Cell Transcriptomics in Cardiovascular Biology.

Recent technological advances have revolutionized the study of tissue biology and garnered a greater appreciation for tissue complexity. In order to understand cardiac development, heart tissue homeostasis, and the effects of stress and injury on the cardiovascular system, it is essential to characterize the heart at high cellular resolution. Single-cell profiling provides a more precise definition of tissue composition, cell differentiation trajectories, and intercellular communication, compared to classical bulk approaches. Here, we aim to review how recent single-cell multi-omic studies have changed our understanding of cell dynamics during cardiac development, and in the healthy and diseased adult myocardium

Muscle-specific expression of insulin-like growth factor I counters muscle decline in mdx mice

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an X-linked degenerative disorder of muscle caused by the absence of the protein dystrophin. A major consequence of muscular dystrophy is that the normal regenerative capacity of skeletal muscle cannot compensate for increased susceptibility to damage, leading to repetitive cycles of degeneration–regeneration and ultimately resulting in the replacement of muscle fibers with fibrotic tissue. Because insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) has been shown to enhance muscle regeneration and protein synthetic pathways, we asked whether high levels of muscle-specific expression of IGF-I in mdx muscle could preserve muscle function in the diseased state. In transgenic mdx mice expressing mIgf-I (mdx:mIgf+/+), we showed that muscle mass increased by at least 40% leading to similar increases in force generation in extensor digitorum longus muscles compared with those from mdx mice. Diaphragms of transgenic mdx:mIgf+/+ exhibited significant hypertrophy and hyperplasia at all ages observed. Furthermore, the IGF-I expression significantly reduced the amount of fibrosis normally observed in diaphragms from aged mdx mice. Decreased myonecrosis was also observed in diaphragms and quadriceps from mdx:mIgf+/+ mice when compared with age-matched mdx animals. Finally, signaling pathways associated with muscle regeneration and protection against apoptosis were significantly elevated. These results suggest that a combination of promoting muscle regenerative capacity and preventing muscle necrosis could be an effective treatment for the secondary symptoms caused by the primary loss of dystrophin

Increased cardiogenesis in P19-GFP teratocarcinoma cells expressing the propeptide IGF-1Ea

AbstractThe mechanism implicated in differentiation of endogenous cardiac stem cells into cardiomyocytes to regenerate the heart tissue upon an insult remains elusive, limiting the therapeutical goals to exogenous cell injection and/or gene therapy. We have shown previously that cardiac specific overexpression of the insulin-like growth factor 1 propeptide IGF-1Ea induces beneficial myocardial repair after infarct. Although the mechanism is still under investigation, the possibility that this propeptide may be involved in promoting stem cell differentiation into the cardiac lineage has yet to be explored. To investigate whether IGF-1Ea promote cardiogenesis, we initially modified P19 embryonal carcinoma cells to express IGF-1Ea. Taking advantage of their cardiomyogenic nature, we analyzed whether overexpression of this propeptide affected cardiac differentiation program. The data herein presented showed for the first time that constitutively overexpressed IGF-1Ea increased cardiogenic differentiation program in both undifferentiated and DMSO-differentiated cells. In details, IGF-1Ea overexpression promoted localization of alpha-actinin in finely organized sarcomeric structure compared to control cells and upregulated the cardiac mesodermal marker NKX-2.5 and the ventricular structural protein MLC2v. Furthermore, activated IGF-1 signaling promoted cardiac mesodermal induction in undifferentiated cells independently of cell proliferation. This analysis suggests that IGF-1Ea may be a good candidate to improve both in vitro production of cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells and in vivo activation of the differentiation program of cardiac progenitor cells

Revealing New Mouse Epicardial Cell Markers through Transcriptomics

The epicardium has key functions during myocardial development, by contributing to the formation of coronary endothelial and smooth muscle cells, cardiac fibroblasts, and potentially cardiomyocytes. The epicardium plays a morphogenetic role by emitting signals to promote and maintain cardiomyocyte proliferation. In a regenerative context, the adult epicardium might comprise a progenitor cell population that can be induced to contribute to cardiac repair. Although some genes involved in epicardial function have been identified, a detailed molecular profile of epicardial gene expression has not been available.Using laser capture microscopy, we isolated the epicardial layer from the adult murine heart before or after cardiac infarction in wildtype mice and mice expressing a transgenic IGF-1 propeptide (mIGF-1) that enhances cardiac repair, and analyzed the transcription profile using DNA microarrays.Expression of epithelial genes such as basonuclin, dermokine, and glycoprotein M6A are highly enriched in the epicardial layer, which maintains expression of selected embryonic genes involved in epicardial development in mIGF-1 transgenic hearts. After myocardial infarct, a subset of differentially expressed genes are down-regulated in the epicardium representing an epicardium-specific signature that responds to injury.This study presents the description of the murine epicardial transcriptome obtained from snap frozen tissues, providing essential information for further analysis of this important cardiac cell layer

Local IGF-1 isoform protects cardiomyocytes from hypertrophic and oxidative stresses via SirT1 activity

Oxidative and hypertrophic stresses contribute to the pathogenesis of heart failure. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a peptide hormone with a complex post-transcriptional regulation, generating distinct isoforms. Locally acting IGF-1 isoform (mIGF-1) helps the heart to recover from toxic injury and from infarct. In the murine heart, moderate overexpression of the NAD+-dependent deacetylase SirT1 was reported to mitigate oxidative stress. SirT1 is known to promote lifespan extension and to protect from metabolic challenges. Circulating IGF-1 and SirT1 play antagonizing biological roles and share molecular targets in the heart, in turn affecting cardiomyocyte physiology. However, how different IGF-1 isoforms may impact SirT1 and affect cardiomyocyte function is unknown. Here we show that locally acting mIGF-1 increases SirT1 expression/activity, whereas circulating IGF-1 isoform does not affect it, in cultured HL-1 and neonatal cardiomyocytes. mIGF-1-induced SirT1 activity exerts protection against angiotensin II (Ang II)-triggered hypertrophy and against paraquat (PQ) and Ang II-induced oxidative stress. Conversely, circulating IGF-1 triggered itself oxidative stress and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Interestingly, potent cardio-protective genes (adiponectin, UCP-1 and MT-2) were increased specifically in mIGF-1-overexpressing cardiomyocytes, in a SirT1-dependent fashion. Thus, mIGF-1 protects cardiomyocytes from oxidative and hypertrophic stresses via SirT1 activity, and may represent a promising cardiac therapeutic