Cardiogenic genes expressed in cardiac fibroblasts contribute to heart development and repair

ABSTRACT: Cardiac fibroblasts are critical to proper heart function through multiple interactions with the myocardial compartment. Loosely defined based on their mesenchymal origin, capacity to adhere to plastic and to secrete extracellular matrix, cardiac fibroblasts have been largely neglected due to heterogeneity and lack of proper markers. Objective: To identify genes uniquely expressed in the cardiac fibroblast pool, we performed an unbiased comparative analysis between cardiac and tail fibroblasts, and tracked cardiac fibroblasts after injury to determine their contribution to myocardial regeneration. Methods and Results: High-throughput cell surface and intracellular profiling identified homogeneously expressed MSC markers in cardiac fibroblasts, as well as a surprising number of cardiogenic markers, some expressed at higher levels than in cardiomyocytes. Genetically marked fibroblasts contributed to interstitial but not cardiomyocyte compartments in infarcted hearts. Conclusions: The core transcriptional identity of cardiac fibroblasts reflects their embryological origin, provoking novel interpretations for studies on more specialized cardiac progenitors, and offering a novel perspective for reinterpreting cardiac regenerative therapies 3 biological replicates plated over 5 days after isolation pooled out of 2 animals were used for both tail and heart fibroblasts (6 total samples analysed)

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

SUBMITTER: Milena Furtado 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-50531 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress