Project description:Aims: Cardiac hypertrophy is a compensatory response to pressure overload, leading to heart failure. Recent studies have demonstrated that Rho is immediately activated in left ventricles after pressure overload, and that Rho signaling plays crucial regulatory roles in actin cytoskeleton rearrangement during cardiac hypertrophic responses. However, the mechanisms by which Rho and its downstream proteins control actin dynamics during hypertrophic responses remain not fully understood. In this study, we identified the pivotal roles of mammalian homologue of Drosophila diaphanous (mDia) 1, a Rho-effector molecule, in pressure overload-induced ventricular hypertrophy. Methods and Results: Male wild-type (WT) and mDia1-knockout (mDia1KO) mice (10–12 weeks old) were subjected to a transverse aortic constriction (TAC) or sham operation. The heart weight/tibia length ratio, cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area, left ventricular wall thickness, and expression of hypertrophy-specific genes were significantly decreased in mDia1KO mice 3 weeks after TAC, and the mortality rate was higher at 12 weeks. Echocardiography indicated that mDia1 deletion increased the severity of heart failure 8 weeks after TAC. Importantly, we could not observe apparent defects in cardiac hypertrophic responses in mDia3-knockout mice. Microarray analysis revealed that mDia1 was involved in the induction of hypertrophy related genes, including immediate early genes (IEGs), in pressure overloaded hearts. Loss of mDia1 attenuated activation of the mechanotransduction pathway in TAC-operated mice hearts. We also found that mDia1 was involved in stretch-induced activation of the mechanotransduction pathway and gene expression of c-fos in neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes (NRVMs). mDia1 regulated the F/G-actin ratio in response to pressure overload in mice. Additionally, increases in nuclear myocardin-related transcription factors (MRTFs) and serum response factor (SRF) were perturbed in response to pressure overload in mDia1KO mice and to mechanical stretch in mDia1 depleted NRVMs. Conclusions: mDia1, through actin dynamics, is involved in compensatory cardiac hypertrophy in response to pressure overload.

Project description:Compelling evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of heart failure, including defects in the substrate oxidation, and the electron transport chain (ETC) and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). However, whether such changes occur early in the development of heart failure, and are potentially involved in the pathologic events that lead to cardiac dysfunction is unknown. To address this question, we conducted transcriptomic/metabolomics profiling in hearts of mice with two progressive stages of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypetrophy: i) cardiac hypertrophy with preserved ventricular function achieved via transverse aortic constriction for 4 weeks (TAC) and ii) decompensated cardiac hypertrophy or heart failure (HF) caused by combining 4 wk TAC with a small apical myocardial infarction. Transcriptomic analyses revealed, as shown previously, downregulated expression of genes involved in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation in both TAC and HF hearts compared to sham-operated control hearts. Surprisingly, however, there were very few changes in expression of genes involved in other mitochondrial energy transduction pathways, ETC, or OXPHOS. Metabolomic analyses demonstrated significant alterations in pathway metabolite levels in HF (but not in TAC), including elevations in acylcarnitines, a subset of amino acids, and the lactate/pyruvate ratio. In contrast, the majority of organic acids were lower than controls. This metabolite profile suggests “bottlenecks” in the carbon substrate input to the TCA cycle. This transcriptomic/metabolomic profile was markedly different from that of mice PGC-1a/b deficiency in which a global downregulation of genes involved in mitochondrial ETC and OXPHOS was noted. In addition, the transcriptomic/metabolomic signatures of HF differed markedly from that of the exercise-trained mouse heart. We conclude that in contrast to current dogma, alterations in mitochondrial metabolism that occur early in the development of heart failure reflect largely post-transcriptional mechanisms resulting in impedance to substrate flux into the TCA cycle, reflected by alterations in the metabolome. Microarray gene expression profiling was performed with bi-ventricle RNA isolated from (1) 3 month-old female C57Bl6/J mice with transverse aortic constriction (CH), vs sham-operated control (Sham-CH), (2) 3 month-old female C57Bl6/J mice with heart failure (HF), vs. sham-operated control (Sham-HF); (3) 2 month-old female C57Bl6/J mice with voluntary wheel training for 2 months (Run), vs. Sedentary control (Sed). Five biological replicates are included for each group.

Project description:Compelling evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of heart failure, including defects in the substrate oxidation, and the electron transport chain (ETC) and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). However, whether such changes occur early in the development of heart failure, and are potentially involved in the pathologic events that lead to cardiac dysfunction is unknown. To address this question, we conducted transcriptomic/metabolomics profiling in hearts of mice with two progressive stages of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypetrophy: i) cardiac hypertrophy with preserved ventricular function achieved via transverse aortic constriction for 4 weeks (TAC) and ii) decompensated cardiac hypertrophy or heart failure (HF) caused by combining 4 wk TAC with a small apical myocardial infarction. Transcriptomic analyses revealed, as shown previously, downregulated expression of genes involved in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation in both TAC and HF hearts compared to sham-operated control hearts. Surprisingly, however, there were very few changes in expression of genes involved in other mitochondrial energy transduction pathways, ETC, or OXPHOS. Metabolomic analyses demonstrated significant alterations in pathway metabolite levels in HF (but not in TAC), including elevations in acylcarnitines, a subset of amino acids, and the lactate/pyruvate ratio. In contrast, the majority of organic acids were lower than controls. This metabolite profile suggests “bottlenecks” in the carbon substrate input to the TCA cycle. This transcriptomic/metabolomic profile was markedly different from that of mice PGC-1a/b deficiency in which a global downregulation of genes involved in mitochondrial ETC and OXPHOS was noted. In addition, the transcriptomic/metabolomic signatures of HF differed markedly from that of the exercise-trained mouse heart. We conclude that in contrast to current dogma, alterations in mitochondrial metabolism that occur early in the development of heart failure reflect largely post-transcriptional mechanisms resulting in impedance to substrate flux into the TCA cycle, reflected by alterations in the metabolome.

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Sirtuin 5 levels are limiting in preserving cardiac function and suppressing fibrosis in response to pressure overload

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