Comparison of mRNA expression of transcriptional factors and intercalated disk constituent proteins between in vivo and cultured cardiomyocytes

Unknown biological effects of L-glucose, ALA, and PUFA

Key substrates including glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids play core roles in nutrient metabolism. In this review, we describe phenomena observed when key substrates are applied to cells. We focused on three promising substrates: L-glucose derivatives, 5-aminolevulinic acid, and polyunsaturated fatty acid. Since they are assumed to give a specific reaction when they are transported into cells or metabolized in cells, they are expected to be applied in a clinical setting. We provide the latest knowledge regarding their behaviors and effects on cells.

Expression of microRNA-1, microRNA-133a and Hand2 protein in cultured embryonic rat cardiomyocytes

In this study, we investigated the expression of the pathway, SRF-microRNA-1/microRNA-133a-Hand2, in the Wistar rat embryonic ventricular cardiomyocytes under conventional monolayer culture. The morphological observation of the cultured cardiomyocytes and the mRNA expression levels of three vital constituent proteins, MLC-2v, N-cadherin, and connexin43, demonstrated the immaturity of these cultured cells, which was featured by less myofibril density, immature sarcomeric structure, and significantly lower mRNA expression of the three constituent proteins than those in neonatal ventricular samples. More importantly, results in this study suggest that the change of SRF-microRNA-1/microRNA-133a-Hand2 pathway results into the attenuation of the Hand2 repression in cultured cardiomyocytes. These outcomes are valuable to understand the cellular state as embryonic cardiomyocytes to be in vitro model and might be useful for the assessment of engineered cardiac tissue and cardiac differentiation of stem cells.

Fatty acid composition in fetal, neonatal, and cultured cardiomyocytes in rats

Reconstructed myocardial tissue still does not have enough pulsatile contraction. It is well known that fetal and mature neonatal cardiomyocytes utilize glucose and lipid, respectively, as their energy substrates, and that cultured ones mainly use glucose in spite of their age comparable to neonate ones, probably due to insufficient supply of lipids from culture medium. In the present study, we compared 7 saturated, 6 monounsaturated, and 11 polyunsaturated fatty acid contents in cultured cardiomyocytes (Cul group) with those in fetal (Fet group, approximately 17 d after impregnation) and neonatal (Neo group, 9 d old) rats, where the age of the Cul cells were set nearly equal to the Neo ones. Saturated fatty acid contents in the Cul group were generally lower than those in the Fet group and were close to those in the Neo group, except for C12:0 of which content was highest in the Neo group. Monounsaturated fatty acid contents in the Cul group were generally lower than those in the Fet group but similar to or higher than those in the Neo group, except for C24:1n-9 of which content was again highest in the Neo group. In contrast, most of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) contents in the Cul group appeared lower than those in both the Fet and Neo groups, and differences in 5 of 10 detected PUFAs were significant between the Cul and Neo groups. The results suggest that PUFA contents in cultured cardiomyocytes might be insufficient to exert enough contractile ability. In conclusion, it could be necessary for cultured cardiomyocytes to uptake more lipid; PUFAs in particular.

Controllable expansion of primary cardiomyocytes by reversible immortalization

Cardiac tissue engineering will remain only a prospect unless large numbers of therapeutic cells can be provided, either from small samples of cardiac cells or from stem cell sources. In contrast to most adult cells, cardiomyocytes are terminally differentiated and cannot be expanded in culture. We explored the feasibility of enabling the in vitro expansion of primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes by lentivector-mediated cell immortalization, and then reverting the phenotype of the expanded cells back to the cardiomyocyte state. Primary rat cardiomyocytes were transduced with simian virus 40 large T antigen (TAg), or with Bmi-1 followed by the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene; the cells were expanded; and the transduced genes were removed by adenoviral vector expressing Cre recombinase. The TAg gene was more efficient in cell transduction than the Bmi-1/hTERT gene, based on the rate of cell proliferation. Immortalized cells exhibited the morphological features of dedifferentiation (increased vimentin expression, and reduced expression of troponin I and Nkx2.5) along with the continued expression of cardiac markers (alpha-actin, connexin-43, and calcium transients). After the immortalization was reversed, cells returned to their differentiated state. This strategy for controlled expansion of primary cardiomyocytes by gene transfer has potential for providing large amounts of a patient's own cardiomyocytes for cell therapy, and the cardiomyocytes derived by this method could be a useful cellular model by which to study cardiogenesis.