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Rosales RM, Mountris KA, Oliván-Viguera A, Pérez-Zabalza M, Cedillo-Servin G, Iglesias-García O, Hrynevich A, Castilho M, Malda J, Prósper F, Doblaré M, Mazo MM, Pueyo E. Experimentally-guided in silico design of engineered heart tissues to improve cardiac electrical function after myocardial infarction. Comput Biol Med 2024; 171:108044. [PMID: 38335818 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.108044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2023] [Revised: 12/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Engineered heart tissues (EHTs) built from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) showed promising results for cardiac function restoration following myocardial infarction. Nevertheless, human iPSC-CMs have longer action potential and lower cell-to-cell coupling than adult-like CMs. These immature electrophysiological properties favor arrhythmias due to the generation of electrophysiological gradients when hiPSC-CMs are injected in the cardiac tissue. Culturing hiPSC-CMs on three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds can promote their maturation and influence their alignment. However, it is still uncertain how on-scaffold culturing influences the overall electrophysiology of the in vitro and implanted EHTs, as it requires expensive and time consuming experimentation. Here, we computationally investigated the impact of the scaffold design on the EHT electrical depolarization and repolarization before and after engraftment on infarcted tissue. We first acquired and processed electrical recordings from in vitro EHTs, which we used to calibrate the modeling and simulation of in silico EHTs to replicate experimental outcomes. Next, we built in silico EHT models for a range of scaffold pore sizes, shapes (square, rectangular, auxetic, hexagonal) and thicknesses. In this setup, we found that scaffolds made of small (0.2 mm2), elongated (30° half-angle) hexagons led to faster EHT activation and better mimicked the cardiac anisotropy. The scaffold thickness had a marginal role on the not engrafted EHT electrophysiology. Moreover, EHT engraftment on infarcted tissue showed that the EHT conductivity should be at least 5% of that in healthy tissue for bidirectional EHT-myocardium electrical propagation. For conductivities above such threshold, the scaffold made of small elongated hexagons led to the lowest activation time (AT) in the coupled EHT-myocardium. If the EHT conductivity was further increased and the hiPSC-CMs were uniformly oriented parallel to the epicardial cells, the total AT and the repolarization time gradient decreased substantially, thus minimizing the likelihood for arrhythmias after EHT transplantation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo M Rosales
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain; CIBER-BBN, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain; Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain.
| | | | - Aida Oliván-Viguera
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain; CIBER-BBN, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain; Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain.
| | - María Pérez-Zabalza
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain; CIBER-BBN, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain; Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain; Defense University Centre (CUD), Zaragoza, Spain.
| | - Gerardo Cedillo-Servin
- Regenerative Medicine Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Orthopedics, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Olalla Iglesias-García
- Regenerative Medicine Program, CIMA Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Spain.
| | - Andrei Hrynevich
- Regenerative Medicine Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Orthopedics, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Miguel Castilho
- Department of Orthopedics, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
| | - Jos Malda
- Regenerative Medicine Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Orthopedics, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Felipe Prósper
- Regenerative Medicine Program, CIMA Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Spain; Hematology and Cell Therapy, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; CIBER de Cáncer (CIBERONC, team CB16/12/00489), Pamplona, Spain.
| | - Manuel Doblaré
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain; CIBER-BBN, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain; Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain.
| | - Manuel M Mazo
- Regenerative Medicine Program, CIMA Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Spain; Hematology and Cell Therapy, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
| | - Esther Pueyo
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain; CIBER-BBN, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain; Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain.
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Abrasheva VO, Kovalenko SG, Slotvitsky M, Romanova SА, Aitova AA, Frolova S, Tsvelaya V, Syunyaev RA. Human sodium current voltage-dependence at physiological temperature measured by coupling a patch-clamp experiment to a mathematical model. J Physiol 2024; 602:633-661. [PMID: 38345560 DOI: 10.1113/jp285162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Voltage-gated Na+ channels are crucial to action potential propagation in excitable tissues. Because of the high amplitude and rapid activation of the Na+ current, voltage-clamp measurements are very challenging and are usually performed at room temperature. In this study, we measured Na+ current voltage-dependence in stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes at physiological temperature. While the apparent activation and inactivation curves, measured as the dependence of current amplitude on voltage, fall within the range reported in previous studies, we identified a systematic error in our measurements. This error is caused by the deviation of the membrane potential from the command potential of the amplifier. We demonstrate that it is possible to account for this artifact using computer simulation of the patch-clamp experiment. We obtained surprising results through patch-clamp model optimization: a half-activation of -11.5 mV and a half-inactivation of -87 mV. Although the half-activation deviates from previous research, we demonstrate that this estimate reproduces the conduction velocity dependence on extracellular potassium concentration. KEY POINTS: Voltage-gated Na+ currents play a crucial role in excitable tissues including neurons, cardiac and skeletal muscle. Measurement of Na+ current is challenging because of its high amplitude and rapid kinetics, especially at physiological temperature. We have used the patch-clamp technique to measure human Na+ current voltage-dependence in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. The patch-clamp data were processed by optimization of the model accounting for voltage-clamp experiment artifacts, revealing a large difference between apparent parameters of Na+ current and the results of the optimization. We conclude that actual Na+ current activation is extremely depolarized in comparison to previous studies. The new Na+ current model provides a better understanding of action potential propagation; we demonstrate that it explains propagation in hyperkalaemic conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sandaara G Kovalenko
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia
- M. F. Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russia
- ITMO University, St Petersburg, Russia
| | - Mihail Slotvitsky
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia
- M. F. Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russia
- ITMO University, St Petersburg, Russia
| | - Serafima А Romanova
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia
- M. F. Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russia
| | - Aleria A Aitova
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia
- M. F. Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russia
- ITMO University, St Petersburg, Russia
| | - Sheida Frolova
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia
- M. F. Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russia
| | - Valeria Tsvelaya
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia
- M. F. Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russia
- ITMO University, St Petersburg, Russia
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Johnson RD, Lei M, McVey JH, Camelliti P. Human myofibroblasts increase the arrhythmogenic potential of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Cell Mol Life Sci 2023; 80:276. [PMID: 37668685 PMCID: PMC10480244 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-023-04924-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have the potential to remuscularize infarcted hearts but their arrhythmogenicity remains an obstacle to safe transplantation. Myofibroblasts are the predominant cell-type in the infarcted myocardium but their impact on transplanted hiPSC-CMs remains poorly defined. Here, we investigate the effect of myofibroblasts on hiPSC-CMs electrophysiology and Ca2+ handling using optical mapping of advanced human cell coculture systems mimicking cell-cell interaction modalities. Human myofibroblasts altered the electrophysiology and Ca2+ handling of hiPSC-CMs and downregulated mRNAs encoding voltage channels (KV4.3, KV11.1 and Kir6.2) and SERCA2a calcium pump. Interleukin-6 was elevated in the presence of myofibroblasts and direct stimulation of hiPSC-CMs with exogenous interleukin-6 recapitulated the paracrine effects of myofibroblasts. Blocking interleukin-6 reduced the effects of myofibroblasts only in the absence of physical contact between cell-types. Myofibroblast-specific connexin43 knockdown reduced functional changes in contact cocultures only when combined with interleukin-6 blockade. This provides the first in-depth investigation into how human myofibroblasts modulate hiPSC-CMs function, identifying interleukin-6 and connexin43 as paracrine- and contact-mediators respectively, and highlighting their potential as targets for reducing arrhythmic risk in cardiac cell therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ming Lei
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - John H McVey
- School of Biosciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
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