Project description:Tendon tissue growth is promoted by mechanical stimulation, but the mechanism is not well understood. Piezo1, a mechanical stress-responsive channel receptor, is expressed in tendon cells, and the fact that tendon tissue growth was accelerated in Piezo1 gain of function mice suggests that Piezo1 plays an important role in tendon tissue growth. RNA-seq of tendon tissues from these mice showed increased expression of tendon-related genes and decreased expression of muscle-related genes, suggesting that Piezo1 may play a role in maintaining and enhancing the properties of tendon cells.
Project description:We have compared the gene expression profile of rat Achilles tendon-derived stem cells in post-natal tendon development. Rat tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) were isolated at different stages of post-natal development: TSPCs-1d, TSPCs-7d and TSPCs-56d.
Project description:Tendon pathologies affect a large portion of people with diabetes. This high rate of tendon pain, injury, and disease appears to manifest independent of well-controlled HbA1c and fasting blood glucose. Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are elevated in the serum of those with diabetes. In vitro, AGEs severely impact tendon fibroblast proliferation and mitochondrial function. However, the extent that AGEs impact the tendon cell transcriptome has not been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to investigate transcriptome-wide changes that occur to tendon-derived fibroblasts following treatment with AGEs. We propose to complete a descriptive approach to pathway profiling to broaden our mechanistic understanding of cell signaling events that may contribute to the development of tendon pathology. Rat Achilles tendon fibroblasts were treated with glycolaldehyde-derived AGEs (200μg/ml) for 48 hours in normal glucose (5.5mM) conditions. In addition, total RNA was isolated, and the PolyA+ library was sequenced. We demonstrate that tendon fibroblasts treated with 200μg/ml of AGEs differentially express 2,159 gene targets compared to fibroblasts treated with an equal amount of BSA-Control. Additionally, we report in a descriptive and ranked fashion 21 implicated cell-signaling pathways. We demonstrate that tendon fibroblasts treated with 200μg/ml of AGEs differentially express 2,159 gene targets compared to fibroblasts treated with an equal amount of BSA-Control. Additionally, we report in a descriptive and ranked fashion 21 implicated cell-signaling pathways. Our findings suggest that AGEs disrupt the tendon fibroblast transcriptome on a large scale and that these pathways may contribute to the development and progression of diabetic tendinopathy. Specifically, pathways related to cell cycle progression and extracellular matrix remodeling were affected in our data set and may play a contributing role in the development of diabetic tendon complications.
Project description:We have compared the gene expression profile of rat Achilles tendon-derived stem cells in post-natal tendon development. Rat tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) were isolated at different stages of post-natal development: TSPCs-1d, TSPCs-7d and TSPCs-56d. TSPCs at different post-natal development stages (1d, 7d and 56d) were isolated, cultured and used for microarray analyses at passage 2. All TSPCs in this study were of isolated from more than one individual. Total RNA was extracted and fragmented biotin-tagged cRNA was hybridized to Rat Genome 230 2.0 Array.
Project description:The Prx1cre driven Piezo1/2 knockout mice showed bone fractures caused by reduced bone formation. In order to understand the underlying mechanism, we performed RNA seq experiments using total RNA from the bone tissue of control and Piezo1/2 mutant P0 pups.
Project description:Piezo1 is a stretch-gated ion channel required for mechanosensation in many organ systems. Recent provocative findings describe a new role for Piezo1 in the gut, suggesting that it is a sensor of microbial single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) rather than mechanical force. If true, this would redefine the scope of Piezo biology. Here, we sought to replicate the central finding that fecal ssRNA is a natural agonist of Piezo1. While we observed that fecal extracts and ssRNA stimulate calcium influx in certain cell lines, this response was independent of Piezo1. Additionally, sterilized dietary extracts devoid of gut biome RNA showed similar cell line-specific stimulatory activity to fecal extracts. Together, our data highlight potential confounds inherent to gut-derived extracts, exclude Piezo1 as a receptor for ssRNA in the gut, and support a dedicated role for Piezo channels in mechanosensing.
Project description:Tendons play fundamental role in the musculoskeletal system and locomotion by transferring forces generated by muscles to the skeleton. Tendon injuries can occur due to sports related incidents, as a result of trauma to overuse or during disease or ageing and are among the leading causes of musculoskeletal disability. Scleraxis is a marker of the tendon lineage and appears to be induced at the earliest stage of specification of this lineage, however little is known how scleraxis is modulating tendon growth activity. This study aimed to investigate how scleraxis modulates tendon cells activity.
Project description:Platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) signaling plays an important role in the embryonic formation of many different tissues. There is a family of PDGF isoforms which signal through the PDGF receptors α (PDGFRα) and β (PDGFRβ). PDGF regulates many key cellular processes of mesenchymal cell function including proliferation, differentiation, migration and extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis. While PDGF has been used to enhance flexor tendon healing in vivo, its role in postnatal tendon growth has remained largely unexplored. To determine the importance of PDGFR signaling in postnatal tendon growth, we performed pharmacological blockade of PDGFRα and PDGFRβ, and then induced tendon growth via mechanical overload using the hindlimb synergist ablation model. Our hypothesis was that inhibition of PDGFR signaling will restrict normal growth of tendon tissue in response to mechanical loading.
Project description:In gastric cancer (GC), PIEZO1 was suggested to promote cell migration by interacting with Trefoil factor family 1 (TFF1) and serve as a therapeutic target against invasion and metastasis. In addition, PIEZO1 demonstrates abundant expression in most GC cell lines and primary samples and highly-expressed PIEZO1 is associated with poor disease-specific survival. As Yoda1 is known to be an agonist of PIEZO1, we try to explore the PIEZO1 function in GC by Yoda1 treatment.