Fibrosis, not cell size, delineates beta-myosin heavy chain reexpression during cardiac hypertrophy and normal aging in vivo.

ABSTRACT: Reexpression of the fetally expressed beta-myosin heavy chain (beta-MHC) gene is a well documented marker of pathological cardiac hypertrophy and normal aging in many experimental models. To gain insights into factors affecting this reexpression of beta-MHC within the complex anatomical structure of the heart, we investigated the spatial pattern of its expression at the level of single cells during aging and hypertrophy. We generated mice that express yellow fluorescent protein fused to the N terminus of the beta-MHC and examined its expression pattern during normal aging and in mice with hypertrophy induced by constitutive expression of a renin transgene. The localization of fibrosis within the hearts also was determined by using a fluorescent lectin. The results show that reexpression of

SUBMITTER: Pandya K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1624863 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature