Project description:Rationale: Monitoring and controlling cardiomyocyte activity with optogenetic tools offers exciting possibilities for fundamental and translational cardiovascular research. Genetically encoded voltage indicators may be particularly attractive for minimal invasive and repeated assessments of cardiac excitation from the cellular to the whole heart level. Objective: To test the hypothesis that cardiomyocyte-targeted voltage-sensitive fluorescence protein 2.3 (VSFP2.3) can be exploited as optogenetic tool for the monitoring of electrical activity in isolated cardiomyocytes and the whole heart as well as function and maturity in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes. Methods and Results: We first generated mice with cardiomyocyte-restricted expression of VSFP2.3 and demonstrated distinct sarcolemmal localization of VSFP2.3 without any signs for associated pathologies (assessed by echocardiography). Optically recorded VSFP2.3 signals correlated well with membrane voltage measured simultaneously by patch-clamping. The utility of VSFP2.3 for human action potential recordings was confirmed by simulation of immature and mature action potentials in murine VSFP2.3 cardiomyocytes. Optical cardiograms (OCGs) could be monitored in whole hearts ex vivo and minimally invasively in vivo via fiber optics at physiological heart rate (10 Hz) and under pacing-induced arrhythmia. Finally, we reprogrammed tail-tip fibroblasts from transgenic mice and used the VSFP2.3 sensor for benchmarking functional and structural maturation in iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Conclusions: We introduce a novel transgenic voltage-sensor model as a new method in cardiovascular research and provide proof-of-concept for its utility in optogenetic sensing of physiological and pathological excitation in mature and immature cardiomyocytes in vitro and in vivo. Determination of transgene (VSFP2.3) cardiotoxicity
Project description:Rationale: Monitoring and controlling cardiomyocyte activity with optogenetic tools offers exciting possibilities for fundamental and translational cardiovascular research. Genetically encoded voltage indicators may be particularly attractive for minimal invasive and repeated assessments of cardiac excitation from the cellular to the whole heart level. Objective: To test the hypothesis that cardiomyocyte-targeted voltage-sensitive fluorescence protein 2.3 (VSFP2.3) can be exploited as optogenetic tool for the monitoring of electrical activity in isolated cardiomyocytes and the whole heart as well as function and maturity in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes. Methods and Results: We first generated mice with cardiomyocyte-restricted expression of VSFP2.3 and demonstrated distinct sarcolemmal localization of VSFP2.3 without any signs for associated pathologies (assessed by echocardiography). Optically recorded VSFP2.3 signals correlated well with membrane voltage measured simultaneously by patch-clamping. The utility of VSFP2.3 for human action potential recordings was confirmed by simulation of immature and mature action potentials in murine VSFP2.3 cardiomyocytes. Optical cardiograms (OCGs) could be monitored in whole hearts ex vivo and minimally invasively in vivo via fiber optics at physiological heart rate (10 Hz) and under pacing-induced arrhythmia. Finally, we reprogrammed tail-tip fibroblasts from transgenic mice and used the VSFP2.3 sensor for benchmarking functional and structural maturation in iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Conclusions: We introduce a novel transgenic voltage-sensor model as a new method in cardiovascular research and provide proof-of-concept for its utility in optogenetic sensing of physiological and pathological excitation in mature and immature cardiomyocytes in vitro and in vivo.
Project description:Alterations in autonomic function are known to occur in cardiac conditions including sudden cardiac death. Cardiac stimulation via sympathetic neurons can potentially trigger arrhythmias. Dissecting direct neural-cardiac interactions at the cellular level is technically challenging and understudied due to the lack of experimental model systems and methodologies. Here we demonstrate the utility of optical interrogation of sympathetic neurons and their effects on macroscopic cardiomyocyte network dynamics to address research targets such as the effects of adrenergic stimulation via the release of neurotransmitters, the effect of neuronal numbers on cardiac wave behaviour and the applicability of optogenetics in mechanistic in vitro studies. We present novel methodologies to study neuron-cardiomyocyte interactions involving optogenetic selective probing and all-optical electrophysiology to measure electrical activity in an automated fashion, illustrating the power and high-throughput capability of such interrogations. We present new findings on how neurons impact cardiac macroscopic wave properties, the links between neuron density and cardiac firing rates as well as the challenges and benefits of macroscopic co-cultures as experimental model systems.
Project description:Diabetes results from insufficient insulin secretion as a result of dysfunction to β-cells within the islet of Langerhans. Elevated glucose causes β-cell membrane depolarization and action potential generation, voltage gated Ca2+ channel activation and oscillations in free-Ca2+ activity ([Ca2+]), triggering insulin release. Nuclear Factor of Activated T-cell (NFAT) is a transcription factor that is regulated by increases in [Ca2+] and calceineurin (CaN) activation. NFAT regulation links cell activity with gene transcription in many systems, and within the β-cell regulates proliferation and insulin granule biogenesis. However the link between the regulation of β-cell electrical activity and oscillatory [Ca2+], with NFAT activation and downstream transcription is poorly understood. In this study we test whether dynamic changes to β-cell electrical activity and [Ca2+] regulates NFAT activation and downstream transcription. In cell lines, mouse islets and human islets, including those with type2 diabetes, we applied both agonists/antagonists of ion channels together with optogenetics to modulate β-cell electrical activity. Both glucose-induced membrane depolarization and optogenetic-stimulation triggered NFAT activation, and increased transcription of NFAT targets and intermediate early genes (IEGs). Importantly only conditions in which slow sustained [Ca2+] oscillations were generated led to NFAT activation and downstream transcription. In contrast in human islets from donors with type2 diabetes NFAT activation by glucose was diminished, but rescued upon pharmacological stimulation of electrical activity. Thus, we gain insight into the specific patterns of electrical activity that regulate NFAT activation and gene transcription and how this is disrupted in diabetes.
Project description:We study the role of glycosylation in ion channel function. Specfically, we are focusing on how ion channel glycosylation modulates, controls, and impacts cardiac, skeletal muscle, and neuronal electrical activity. We wish to determine differences in gene expression through development and between the atria and ventricles of the mouse heart. Our data indicate differential sialylation directly affects voltage-gated sodium channel function through the developing heart in a chamber-specific manner. We wish to expand our findings to include other ion channels involved in the cardiac action potential, and to eventually create a map of the cardiac conduction system that details the role of differential glycosylation in cardiac excitability. Determining differential expression of the genes that regulate ion channel glycosylation is vital to these goals. We analyzed four sets of pooled RNA to be run in triplicate: one each from neonatal and adult mouse atria and ventricles.
Project description:Voltage gated calcium channels play a central role in regulating the electrical and biochemical properties of neurons and muscle cells. Cells coordinate the expression of voltage gated calcium channels with the expression of other proteins that regulate membrane potential and calcium homeostasis. We report that the C-terminus of CaV 1.2, an L-type calcium channel (LTC) contains a C-terminal fragment that translocates to the nucleus and regulates transcription. This calcium channel associated transcription factor (CCAT) associates with transcriptional co-regulators such as p54nrb/NonO and binds to endogenous promoters. CCAT regulates the expression of gap junctions, sodium calcium exchangers, NMDA receptors, potassium channels and other proteins that regulate neuronal signaling. Electrical activity and developmental processes regulate the nuclear localization of CCAT, suggesting that the CCAT integrates information about the number of LTCs with information about the developmental history and electrical activity of a cell. These findings provide the first evidence that voltage gated calcium channels can directly activate transcription and suggest a novel mechanism linking voltage gated channels to the function and differentiation of excitable cells. Keywords: Genetic modification Analysis
Project description:We study the role of glycosylation in ion channel function. Specfically, we are focusing on how ion channel glycosylation modulates, controls, and impacts cardiac, skeletal muscle, and neuronal electrical activity. We wish to determine differences in gene expression through development and between the atria and ventricles of the mouse heart. Our data indicate differential sialylation directly affects voltage-gated sodium channel function through the developing heart in a chamber-specific manner. We wish to expand our findings to include other ion channels involved in the cardiac action potential, and to eventually create a map of the cardiac conduction system that details the role of differential glycosylation in cardiac excitability. Determining differential expression of the genes that regulate ion channel glycosylation is vital to these goals.
Project description:Scar tissue that forms in the heart after cardiac injury, comprises an abundant number of non-excitable fibroblasts in close proximity to excitable myocytes, that are embedded within the matrix of the scar. Electrical coupling of fibroblasts and myocytes is known to occur and in vitro simulation studies have demonstrated that changes in fibroblast membrane potential can lead to myocyte excitability and susceptibility to arrhythmogenesis. However, the physiologic significance of electrical coupling between myocytes and fibroblasts in scar tissue, in the regulation of cardiac excitability and arrhythmogenesis in vivo is hotly debated and has never been demonstrated. Here, we genetically engineer a mouse that expresses the optogenetic cationic channel ChR2 exclusively in cardiac fibroblasts and not in cardiac myocytes. We subject the animal to cardiac injury and demonstrate that optical stimulation of scar tissue elicits cardiac excitability and induces arrhythmias. Connexin 43 (Cx43) is a gap junctional protein that is the most abundant connexin isoform in the heart and thought to mediate electrical coupling of fibroblasts and myocytes. Using genetic loss of function approaches, we show that Cx43 is not necessary for fibroblast-myocyte electrical coupling in vivo. CRISPR/Cas 9 mediated sequential deletion of the other highly expressed connexins also did not affect electrical coupling of fibroblasts and myocytes. Using computational modeling approaches, we show that gap junctional and non-gap junctional coupling mechanisms synergize in a functionally redundant manner to excite myocytes coupled to fibroblasts. These observations demonstrate that cardiac fibroblasts in scar tissue directly regulate cardiac excitability in vivo and can induce arrhythmogenesis. Our findings throw insight into the importance of electrical coupling of fibroblasts and myocytes in the genesis of scar associated cardiac arrhythmias.
Project description:An important event in the pathogenesis of heart failure is the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy. In cultured cardiac cardiomyocytes, the transcription factor Gata4 is required for agonist-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. We hypothesized that in the intact organism Gata4 is an important regulator of postnatal heart function and of the hypertrophic response of the heart to pathological stress. To test this hypothesis, we studied mice heterozygous for deletion of the second exon of Gata4 (G4D). At baseline, G4D mice had mild systolic and diastolic dysfunction associated with reduced heart weight and decreased cardiomyocyte number. After transverse aortic constriction (TAC), G4D mice developed overt heart failure and eccentric cardiac hypertrophy, associated with significantly increased fibrosis and cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Inhibition of apoptosis by overexpression of the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor prevented TAC-induced heart failure in G4D mice. Unlike WT-TAC controls, G4D-TAC cardiomyocytes hypertrophied by increasing in length more than width. Gene expression profiling revealed upregulation of genes associated with apoptosis and fibrosis, including members of the TGF? pathway. Our data demonstrate that Gata4 is essential for cardiac function in the postnatal heart. After pressure overload, Gata4 regulates the pattern of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and protects the heart from load-induced failure. Experiment Overall Design: We reasoned that if Gata4 was a crucial regulator of pathways necessary for cardiac hypertrophy, then modest reductions of Gata4 activity should result in an observable cardiac phenotype. To test this hypothesis, we used gene targeted mice that express reduced levels of Gata4. We characterized these mice at baseline and after pressure Experiment Overall Design: overload.
Project description:Voltage gated calcium channels play a central role in regulating the electrical and biochemical properties of neurons and muscle cells. Cells coordinate the expression of voltage gated calcium channels with the expression of other proteins that regulate membrane potential and calcium homeostasis. We report that the C-terminus of CaV 1.2, an L-type calcium channel (LTC) contains a C-terminal fragment that translocates to the nucleus and regulates transcription. This calcium channel associated transcription factor (CCAT) associates with transcriptional co-regulators such as p54nrb/NonO and binds to endogenous promoters. CCAT regulates the expression of gap junctions, sodium calcium exchangers, NMDA receptors, potassium channels and other proteins that regulate neuronal signaling. Electrical activity and developmental processes regulate the nuclear localization of CCAT, suggesting that the CCAT integrates information about the number of LTCs with information about the developmental history and electrical activity of a cell. These findings provide the first evidence that voltage gated calcium channels can directly activate transcription and suggest a novel mechanism linking voltage gated channels to the function and differentiation of excitable cells. Experiment Overall Design: The goal of these experiments was to identify the genes that are regulated by CCAT, a novel transcription factor derived from the C-terminus of CaV1.2. Neuro2A neuroblastoma cells were transfected with the last 503 AA of CaV1.2 which is full length CCAT (CCAT FL) or with the last 280 AA of CaV1.2, a form of CCAT that lacks the transcriptional activation domain (CCAT DTA). The mRNA from either CCAT FL or CCAT DTA expressing cells was hybridized to Agilent mouse genome microarrays along with mRNA from untransfected neuro2A cells (CCAT FL or DTA A series). Subsequent investigation revealed that transfection with the PA1 plasmid by itself increases the expression of some genes. To control for this effect we compared Neuro2A cells transfected with full length CCAT (in PA1) with Neuro2A cells transfectected with PA1 alone (CCAT FL B series). The microarray data was analyzed with the Rossetta Luminator gene expression data analysis system.