Cardiac troponin T content in heart and skeletal muscle and in blood samples from ApoE/LDL receptor double knockout mice

Development and analytical comparison of microflow and nanoflow liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry procedures for quantification of cardiac troponin T in mouse hearts

Three procedures for the quantification of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) based on liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) were developed, validated and compared. The procedures were applied to estimate the cTnT content in the hearts of wild type mice C57BL/6J (WT) and double knock-outs for apolipoprotein E and receptor for LDL (AL KO). Three variants of the procedure proposed include microflow, direct injection nanoflow and preconcentration nanoflow LC/MS. Troponin T tryptic peptide YEINVLR and its analog (internal standard) were monitored in a multiple reaction monitoring mode using triple quadrupole mass detector with electrospray (ESI) ion sources. The preconcentration nanoflow LC/MS method offered the best sensitivity with a lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 0.25 fg µL(-1) and a minimal matrix effect. The LLOQ value was 8 times better, compared with that in direct injection nanoflow LC/MS and 200 times better than in microflow LC/MS. The accuracy or precision for all three methods were not different. Separation time in the direct injection nanoflow (8 min) was equivalent to the microflow method (6 min). The cTnT contents in the mice hearts measured by the methods developed by the present authors were not different between the WT and AL KO. We conclude that nanoflow LC/MS based quantitative proteomics offers fundamentally better sensitivities while maintaining analytical quality and separation times equivalent to microflow procedures.

Bone Morphogenetic Protein 9 and 13 Induce C3H10T1/2 Cell Differentiation to Cardiomyocyte-Like Cells In Vitro

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of bone morphogenetic protein 9 (BMP9) and BMP13 on cardiac differentiation of C3H10T1/2 cells in vitro and to characterize the differentiated cells on their ultrastructure and transmembrane electrophysiological features. C3H10T1/2 cells were transfected with the vectors for BMP9 or BMP13 and differentiated into cardiomyocytes in vitro for up to 28 days. The expression of cardiac-specific genes Gata4 and Mef2c and proteins troponin T (cTnT) and connexin 43 (Cx43) was significantly increased in the cells transfected with BMP9 or BMP13 after differentiation over the controls as evaluated using quantitative RT-PCR, Western blotting, and immunofluorescence staining. Transmission electron microscopy and Masson trichrome staining showed that the specific myocardial leap dish and myofilament-like structure were present in the cells overexpressing BMP9 or BMP13, not in the control cells. Whole-cell patch-clamping study demonstrated the presence of delayed rectifier potassium current, inward rectifier potassium current, and T-type calcium current in the cells overexpressing BMP9 or BMP13. Sodium current was detected in a small number of cells overexpressing BMP9, not in the BMP13-transfected cells or the control cells. The expression of Mef2c gene and Cx43 and cTnT proteins was also significantly higher in the cells overexpressing BMP9 than those overexpressing BMP13. Our data indicate that BMP9 and BMP13 (BMP9 might be more effective) promoted the differentiation of C3H10T1/2 cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells with cellular ultrastructures and ion channel currents similar to mature cardiomyocytes in vitro.