Modulation of connexin43 expression: effects on cellular coupling

Exploring the effectiveness of incorporating carbon nanotubes into bioengineered scaffolds to improve cardiomyocyte function

INTRODUCTION

Carbon nanotubes are effective in improving scaffolds to enhance cardiomyocyte function and hold great promise in the field of cardiac tissue engineering.

AREAS COVERED

A PubMed and Google Scholar search was performed to find relevant literature. 18 total studies were used as primary literature. The literature revealed that the incorporation of carbon nanotube into biocompatible scaffolds that mimic myocardial extracellular matrix enhanced the ability to promote cell functions by improving physical profiles of scaffolds. Several studies showed improved scaffold conductance, mechanical strength, improvements in cell properties such as viability, and beating behavior of cells grown on carbon nanotube incorporated scaffolds. Carbon nanotubes present a unique opportunity in the world of tissue engineering through reparation and regeneration of the myocardium, an otherwise irreparable tissue.

EXPERT OPINION

The high burden of cardiovascular disease has prompted research into cardiac tissue engineering applications. Carbon-nanotube incorporation into extracellular matrix-mimicking-scaffolds has shown to improve cardiomyocyte conductivity, viability, mechanical strength, beating behavior, and have protected them from damage to a certain degree. These are promising findings that have the potential of becoming the focus of future cardiac tissue engineering research.

TMEM43 mutation p.S358L alters intercalated disc protein expression and reduces conduction velocity in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a myocardial disease characterized by fibro-fatty replacement of myocardium in the right ventricular free wall and frequently results in life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. A heterozygous missense mutation in the transmembrane protein 43 (TMEM43) gene, p.S358L, has been genetically identified to cause autosomal dominant ARVC type 5 in a founder population from the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Little is known about the function of the TMEM43 protein or how it leads to the pathogenesis of ARVC. We sought to determine the distribution of TMEM43 and the effect of the p.S358L mutation on the expression and distribution of various intercalated (IC) disc proteins as well as functional effects on IC disc gap junction dye transfer and conduction velocity in cell culture. Through Western blot analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), immunofluorescence (IF), and electrophysiological analysis, our results showed that the stable expression of p.S358L mutation in the HL-1 cardiac cell line resulted in decreased Zonula Occludens (ZO-1) expression and the loss of ZO-1 localization to cell-cell junctions. Junctional Plakoglobin (JUP) and α-catenin proteins were redistributed to the cytoplasm with decreased localization to cell-cell junctions. Connexin-43 (Cx43) phosphorylation was altered, and there was reduced gap junction dye transfer and conduction velocity in mutant TMEM43-transfected cells. These observations suggest that expression of the p.S358L mutant of TMEM43 found in ARVC type 5 may affect localization of proteins involved in conduction, alter gap junction function and reduce conduction velocity in cardiac tissue.

Preconditioning of skeletal myoblast-based engineered tissue constructs enables functional coupling to myocardium in vivo

OBJECTIVE

Skeletal myoblasts fuse to form functional syncytial myotubes as an integral part of the skeletal muscle. During this differentiation process, expression of proteins for mechanical and electrical integration is seized, which is a major drawback for the application of skeletal myoblasts in cardiac regenerative cell therapy, because global heart function depends on intercellular communication.

METHODS

Mechanically preconditioned engineered tissue constructs containing neonatal mouse skeletal myoblasts were transplanted epicardially. A Y-chromosomal specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was undertaken up to 10 weeks after transplantation to confirm the presence of grafted cells. Histologic and electrophysiologic analyses were carried out 1 week after transplantation.

RESULTS

Cells within the grafted construct expressed connexin 43 at the interface to the host myocardium, indicating electrical coupling, confirmed by sharp electrode recordings. Analyses of the maximum stimulation frequency (5.65 ± 0.37 Hz), conduction velocity (0.087 ± 0.011 m/s) and sensitivity for pharmacologic conduction block (0.736 ± 0.080 mM 1-heptanol) revealed effective electrophysiologic coupling between graft and host cells, although significantly less robust than in native myocardial tissue (maximum stimulation frequency, 11.616 ± 0.238 Hz, P < .001; conduction velocity, 0.300 ± 0.057 m/s, P < .01; conduction block, 1.983 ± 0.077 mM 1-heptanol, P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Although untreated skeletal myoblasts cannot couple to cardiomyocytes, we confirm that mechanical preconditioning enables transplanted skeletal myoblasts to functionally interact with cardiomyocytes in vivo and, thus, reinvigorate the concept of skeletal myoblast-based cardiac cell therapy.

Carbon nanotubes instruct physiological growth and functionally mature syncytia: nongenetic engineering of cardiac myocytes

Myocardial tissue engineering currently represents one of the most realistic strategies for cardiac repair. We have recently discovered the ability of carbon nanotube scaffolds to promote cell division and maturation in cardiomyocytes. Here, we test the hypothesis that carbon nanotube scaffolds promote cardiomyocyte growth and maturation by altering the gene expression program, implementing the cell electrophysiological properties and improving networking and maturation of functional syncytia. In our study, we combine microscopy, biological and electrophysiological methodologies, and calcium imaging, to verify whether neonatal rat ventricular myocytes cultured on substrates of multiwall carbon nanotubes acquire a physiologically more mature phenotype compared to control (gelatin). We show that the carbon nanotube substrate stimulates the induction of a gene expression profile characteristic of terminal differentiation and physiological growth, with a 2-fold increase of α-myosin heavy chain (P < 0.001) and upregulation of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) ATPase 2a. In contrast, markers of pathological hypertrophy remain unchanged (β-myosin heavy chain, skeletal α-actin, atrial natriuretic peptide). These modifications are paralleled by an increase of connexin-43 gene expression, gap junctions and functional syncytia. Moreover, carbon nanotubes appear to exert a protective effect against the pathologic stimulus of phenylephrine. Finally, cardiomyocytes on carbon nanotubes demonstrate a more mature electrophysiological phenotype of syncytia and intracellular calcium signaling. Thus, carbon nanotubes interacting with cardiomyocytes have the ability to promote physiological growth and functional maturation. These properties are unique in the current vexing field of tissue engineering, and offer unprecedented perspectives in the development of innovative therapies for cardiac repair.

Lack of bystander killing in herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase-transduced colon cell lines due to deficient connexin43 gap junction formation

The efficacy of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) gene therapy for colorectal carcinoma has been investigated in an in vitro system. The magnitude and the mechanism of the HSV-TK bystander effect was determined in three human colon tumor cell lines: HCT-116, HCT-8, and HT-29. Each HSV-TK(+) cell line was generated by stable transduction with a bicistronic retroviral vector containing the HSV-TK and neomycin resistance (neo) genes; each exhibited an IC50 for GCV of < or =4 microM. When GCV was added to HSV-TK(+) cells mixed with parental cells or known bystander-positive cell lines, no bystander killing was evident in the HT-29 or HCT-8 cells. Western blots detected the expression of the gap junction protein connexin43 (Cx43) in HCT-8 and HT-29 cells; however, immunolocalization studies indicated predominantly cytoplasmic staining of Cx43 and no cell surface staining in these cell lines. Stable transfection of HCT-8 and HT-29 cells with Cx43 resulted in increased levels of Cx43 expression with the same subcellular distribution as before, yet there was again no apparent bystander killing. In contrast, Cx43 expression was localized to the cell surface in the bystander-positive colon tumor cell line HCT-116. These results demonstrate that expression and proper surface localization of Cx43 gap junctions are necessary components of the bystander effect in human colon tumor cells. They also indicate that future combination gene therapy approaches using coexpression of HSV-TK and Cx43 genes may not be applicable to all tumor systems.

Mouse connexin40: gene structure and promoter analysis

A family of related connexin genes encodes the subunit gap junction proteins that form intercellular channels in different tissues. Connexin40 (Cx40) is one of these proteins, and it exhibits limited expression only in a few cells of the cardiovascular system. To begin to analyze Cx40 expression, we isolated a 3.3-kb rat Cx40 cDNA by hybridization screening of a bacteriophage library prepared from BWEM cells and isolated corresponding mouse genomic clones from a bacterial artificial chromosome library. Restriction mapping, sequencing, and comparison to the rat cDNA showed that the mouse Cx40 gene contained a short first exon, an 11.4-kb intron, and a second exon containing the complete coding region and 3'-UTR. Exon I contained only 1 base that differed between rat and mouse. Primer extension experiments yielded a single band and confirmed the position of the transcriptional start site. We obtained 1.2 kb of sequence 5' of the transcriptional start site and 400 bp 3' of exon I. Exon I was closely preceded by a consensus TATA box. The flanking sequences contained a number of potential transcription factor binding sites (including AP-1, AP-2, SP1, TRE, and p53). To identify transcriptional regulatory elements in the Cx40 promoter region, a series of DNA deletion fragments flanking exon I was prepared, subcloned adjacent to a luciferase reporter gene, and used for transient transfections of BWEM, SHM, and N2A cells. The resulting luciferase activity determinations suggested that an area of 300 bp 5' of the transcription start site acted as a basal promoter for Cx40 and that there was a strong negative regulatory element in the region from +100 to +297.