Serotonin potentiates transforming growth factor-beta3 induced biomechanical remodeling in avian embryonic atrioventricular valves.

ABSTRACT: Embryonic heart valve primordia (cushions) maintain unidirectional blood flow during development despite an increasingly demanding mechanical environment. Recent studies demonstrate that atrioventricular (AV) cushions stiffen over gestation, but the molecular mechanisms of this process are unknown. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGFβ) and serotonin (5-HT) signaling modulate tissue biomechanics of postnatal valves, but less is known of their role in the biomechanical remodeling of embryonic valves. In this study, we demonstrate that exogenous TGFβ3 increases AV cushion biomechanical stiffness and residual stress, but paradoxically reduces matrix compaction. We then show that TGFβ3 induces contractile gene expression (RhoA, aSMA) and extracellular matrix expression (col1α2) in cushion mese

SUBMITTER: Buskohl PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3412853 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature