Semi-automated Optical Heartbeat Analysis of small hearts

The heart of plastic: utilizing the Drosophila model to investigate the effects of micro/nanoplastics on heart function

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have increasingly been found in the environment. Until recently, most MPs/NPs toxicological research has been done in aquatic systems resulting in a gap in knowledge regarding terrestrial systems. Plastics have been shown to enter the circulatory system of humans, and can accumulate within organs, little is known about the effect this has on health. Heart disease is the leading cause of death globally, so it's critical to understand the possible impacts MPs/NPs have on the heart. The Drosophila model has been growing in popularity within the toxicology field, it allows for affordable and rapid research on the impacts of a variety of toxins, including plastics. Some research has examined toxicological effects of plastics on the fly, evaluating the effects on mortality, fecundity, development, and locomotion. However, no one has studied the effects on the Drosophila heart. We utilize the Drosophila model to identify the potential effects of oral exposure to polystyrene MPs (1 µm in diameter) and NPs (0.05 µm in diameter) particles on heart function. Flies were exposed to 1.4 × 1011 particles/d/kg of larvae for MPs and 1.2 × 1018 particles/d/kg of larvae for NPs from egg to pupal eclosion. Heart function was then analyzed utilizing semi-intact dissections and Semi-automatic Optic Heartbeat Analysis software (SOHA). Following exposure to MPs and NPs we see sexually dimorphic changes to heart size and function. This study highlights the importance of additional Drosophila MPs/NPs research to identify the molecular mechanisms behind these changes.

From promoter motif to cardiac function: a single DPE motif affects transcription regulation and organ function in vivo

Transcription initiates at the core promoter, which contains distinct core promoter elements. Here, we highlight the complexity of transcriptional regulation by outlining the effect of core promoter-dependent regulation on embryonic development and the proper function of an organism. We demonstrate in vivo the importance of the downstream core promoter element (DPE) in complex heart formation in Drosophila. Pioneering a novel approach using both CRISPR and nascent transcriptomics, we show the effects of mutating a single core promoter element within the natural context. Specifically, we targeted the downstream core promoter element (DPE) of the endogenous tin gene, encoding the Tinman transcription factor, a homologue of human NKX2-5 associated with congenital heart diseases. The 7 bp substitution mutation results in massive perturbation of the Tinman regulatory network that orchestrates dorsal musculature, which is manifested as physiological and anatomical changes in the cardiac system, impaired specific activity features, and significantly compromised viability of adult flies. Thus, a single motif can have a critical impact on embryogenesis and, in the case of DPE, functional heart formation.

Pygo-F773W Mutation Reveals Novel Functions beyond Wnt Signaling in Drosophila

Pygopus (Pygo) has been identified as a specific nuclear co-activator of the canonical Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signaling pathway in Drosophila melanogaster. Pygo proteins consist of two conserved domains: an N-terminal homologous domain (NHD) and a C-terminal plant homologous domain (PHD). The PHD's ability to bind to di- and trimethylated lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3K4me2/3) appears to be independent of Wnt signaling. There is ongoing debate regarding the significance of Pygo's histone-binding capacity. Drosophila Pygo orthologs have a tryptophan (W) > phenylalanine (F) substitution in their histone pocket-divider compared to vertebrates, leading to reduced histone affinity. In this research, we utilized CRISPR/Cas9 technology to introduce the Pygo-F773W point mutation in Drosophila, successfully establishing a viable homozygous Pygo mutant line for the first time. Adult mutant flies displayed noticeable abnormalities in reproduction, locomotion, heart function, and lifespan. RNA-seq and cluster analysis indicated that the mutation primarily affected pathways related to immunity, metabolism, and posttranslational modification in adult flies rather than the Wnt signaling pathway. Additionally, a reduction in H3K9 acetylation levels during the embryonic stage was observed in the mutant strains. These findings support the notion that Pygo plays a wider role in chromatin remodeling, with its involvement in Wnt signaling representing only a specific aspect of its chromatin-related functions.

PI(4,5)P 2 role in Transverse-tubule membrane formation and muscle function

Transverse (T)-tubules - vast, tubulated domains of the muscle plasma membrane - are critical to maintain healthy skeletal and heart contractions. How the intricate T-tubule membranes are formed is not well understood, with challenges to systematically interrogate in muscle. We established the use of intact Drosophila larval body wall muscles as an ideal system to discover mechanisms that sculpt and maintain the T-tubule membrane network. A muscle-targeted genetic screen identified specific phosphoinositide lipid regulators necessary for T-tubule organization and muscle function. We show that a PI4KIIIα - Skittles/PIP5K pathway is needed for T-tubule localized PI(4)P to PI(4,5)P 2 synthesis, T-tubule organization, calcium regulation, and muscle and heart rate functions. Muscles deficient for PI4KIIIα or Amphiphysin , the homolog of human BIN1 , similarly exhibited specific loss of transversal T-tubule membranes and dyad junctions, yet retained longitudinal membranes and the associated dyads. Our results highlight the power of live muscle studies, uncovering distinct mechanisms and functions for sub-compartments of the T-tubule network relevant to human myopathy.

Summary

T-tubules - vast, tubulated domains of the muscle plasma membrane - are critical to maintain skeletal and heart contractions. Fujita et al . establish genetic screens and assays in intact Drosophila muscles that uncover PI(4,5)P 2 regulation critical for T-tubule maintenance and function.

Key Findings

PI4KIIIα is required for muscle T-tubule formation and larval mobility. A PI4KIIIα-Sktl pathway promotes PI(4)P and PI(4,5)P 2 function at T-tubules. PI4KIIIα is necessary for calcium dynamics and transversal but not longitudinal dyads. Disruption of PI(4,5)P 2 function in fly heart leads to fragmented T-tubules and abnormal heart rate.

Multiplatform modeling of atrial fibrillation identifies phospholamban as a central regulator of cardiac rhythm

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common and genetically inheritable form of cardiac arrhythmia; however, it is currently not known how these genetic predispositions contribute to the initiation and/or maintenance of AF-associated phenotypes. One major barrier to progress is the lack of experimental systems to investigate the effects of gene function on rhythm parameters in models with human atrial and whole-organ relevance. Here, we assembled a multi-model platform enabling high-throughput characterization of the effects of gene function on action potential duration and rhythm parameters using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived atrial-like cardiomyocytes and a Drosophila heart model, and validation of the findings using computational models of human adult atrial myocytes and tissue. As proof of concept, we screened 20 AF-associated genes and identified phospholamban loss of function as a top conserved hit that shortens action potential duration and increases the incidence of arrhythmia phenotypes upon stress. Mechanistically, our study reveals that phospholamban regulates rhythm homeostasis by functionally interacting with L-type Ca2+ channels and NCX. In summary, our study illustrates how a multi-model system approach paves the way for the discovery and molecular delineation of gene regulatory networks controlling atrial rhythm with application to AF.

A single DPE core promoter motif contributes to in vivo transcriptional regulation and affects cardiac function

Transcription is initiated at the core promoter, which confers specific functions depending on the unique combination of core promoter elements. The downstream core promoter element (DPE) is found in many genes related to heart and mesodermal development. However, the function of these core promoter elements has thus far been studied primarily in isolated, in vitro or reporter gene settings. tinman (tin) encodes a key transcription factor that regulates the formation of the dorsal musculature and heart. Pioneering a novel approach utilizing both CRISPR and nascent transcriptomics, we show that a substitution mutation of the functional tin DPE motif within the natural context of the core promoter results in a massive perturbation of Tinman's regulatory network orchestrating dorsal musculature and heart formation. Mutation of endogenous tin DPE reduced the expression of tin and distinct target genes, resulting in significantly reduced viability and an overall decrease in adult heart function. We demonstrate the feasibility and importance of characterizing DNA sequence elements in vivo in their natural context, and accentuate the critical impact a single DPE motif has during Drosophila embryogenesis and functional heart formation.

In-ovo echocardiography for application in cardiovascular research

Preclinical cardiovascular research relies heavily on non-invasive in-vivo echocardiography in mice and rats to assess cardiac function and morphology, since the complex interaction of heart, circulation, and peripheral organs are challenging to mimic ex-vivo. While n-numbers of annually used laboratory animals worldwide approach 200 million, increasing efforts are made by basic scientists aiming to reduce animal numbers in cardiovascular research according to the 3R's principle. The chicken egg is well-established as a physiological correlate and model for angiogenesis research but has barely been used to assess cardiac (patho-) physiology. Here, we tested whether the established in-ovo system of incubated chicken eggs interfaced with commercially available small animal echocardiography would be a suitable alternative test system in experimental cardiology. To this end, we defined a workflow to assess cardiac function in 8-13-day-old chicken embryos using a commercially available high resolution ultrasound system for small animals (Vevo 3100, Fujifilm Visualsonics Inc.) equipped with a high frequency probe (MX700; centre transmit: 50 MHz). We provide detailed standard operating procedures for sample preparation, image acquisition, data analysis, reference values for left and right ventricular function and dimensions, and inter-observer variabilities. Finally, we challenged incubated chicken eggs with two interventions well-known to affect cardiac physiology-metoprolol treatment and hypoxic exposure-to demonstrate the sensitivity of in-ovo echocardiography. In conclusion, in-ovo echocardiography is a feasible alternative tool for basic cardiovascular research, which can easily be implemented into the small animal research environment using existing infrastructure to replace mice and rat experiments, and thus, reduce use of laboratory animals according to the 3R principle.

Deregulations of miR-1 and its target Multiplexin promote dilated cardiomyopathy associated with myotonic dystrophy type 1

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is the most common muscular dystrophy in adults. It is caused by the excessive expansion of noncoding CTG repeats, which when transcribed affects the functions of RNA-binding factors with adverse effects on alternative splicing, processing, and stability of a large set of muscular and cardiac transcripts. Among these effects, inefficient processing and down-regulation of muscle- and heart-specific miRNA, miR-1, have been reported in DM1 patients, but the impact of reduced miR-1 on DM1 pathogenesis has been unknown. Here, we use Drosophila DM1 models to explore the role of miR-1 in cardiac dysfunction in DM1. We show that miR-1 down-regulation in the heart leads to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a DM1-associated phenotype. We combined in silico screening for miR-1 targets with transcriptional profiling of DM1 cardiac cells to identify miR-1 target genes with potential roles in DCM. We identify Multiplexin (Mp) as a new cardiac miR-1 target involved in DM1. Mp encodes a collagen protein involved in cardiac tube formation in Drosophila. Mp and its human ortholog Col15A1 are both highly enriched in cardiac cells of DCM-developing DM1 flies and in heart samples from DM1 patients with DCM, respectively. When overexpressed in the heart, Mp induces DCM, whereas its attenuation rescues the DCM phenotype of aged DM1 flies. Reduced levels of miR-1 and consecutive up-regulation of its target Mp/Col15A1 might be critical in DM1-associated DCM.

Age-dependent Lamin changes induce cardiac dysfunction via dysregulation of cardiac transcriptional programs

As we age, structural changes contribute to progressive decline in organ function, which in the heart act through poorly characterized mechanisms. Taking advantage of the short lifespan and conserved cardiac proteome of the fruit fly, we found that cardiomyocytes exhibit progressive loss of Lamin C (mammalian Lamin A/C homologue) with age, coincident with decreasing nuclear size and increasing nuclear stiffness. Premature genetic reduction of Lamin C phenocopies aging's effects on the nucleus, and subsequently decreases heart contractility and sarcomere organization. Surprisingly, Lamin C reduction downregulates myogenic transcription factors and cytoskeletal regulators, possibly via reduced chromatin accessibility. Subsequently, we find a role for cardiac transcription factors in regulating adult heart contractility and show that maintenance of Lamin C, and cardiac transcription factor expression, prevents age-dependent cardiac decline. Our findings are conserved in aged non-human primates and mice, demonstrating that age-dependent nuclear remodeling is a major mechanism contributing to cardiac dysfunction.

Insect nephrocyte function is regulated by a store operated calcium entry mechanism controlling endocytosis and Amnionless turnover

Insect nephrocytes are ultrafiltration cells that remove circulating proteins and exogenous toxins from the haemolymph. Experimental disruption of nephrocyte development or function leads to systemic impairment of insect physiology as evidenced by cardiomyopathy, chronic activation of immune signalling and shortening of lifespan. The genetic and structural basis of the nephrocyte's ultrafiltration mechanism is conserved between arthropods and mammals, making them an attractive model for studying human renal function and systemic clearance mechanisms in general. Although dynamic changes to intracellular calcium are fundamental to the function of many cell types, there are currently no studies of intracellular calcium signalling in nephrocytes. In this work we aimed to characterise calcium signalling in the pericardial nephrocytes of Drosophila melanogaster. To achieve this, a genetically encoded calcium reporter (GCaMP6) was expressed in nephrocytes to monitor intracellular calcium both in vivo within larvae and in vitro within dissected adults. Larval nephrocytes exhibited stochastically timed calcium waves. A calcium signal could be initiated in preparations of adult nephrocytes and abolished by EGTA, or the store operated calcium entry (SOCE) blocker 2-APB, as well as RNAi mediated knockdown of the SOCE genes Stim and Orai. Neither the presence of calcium-free buffer nor EGTA affected the binding of the endocytic cargo albumin to nephrocytes but they did impair the subsequent accumulation of albumin within nephrocytes. Pre-treatment with EGTA, calcium-free buffer or 2-APB led to significantly reduced albumin binding. Knock-down of Stim and Orai was non-lethal, caused an increase to nephrocyte size and reduced albumin binding, reduced the abundance of the endocytic cargo receptor Amnionless and disrupted the localisation of Dumbfounded at the filtration slit diaphragm. These data indicate that pericardial nephrocytes exhibit stochastically timed calcium waves in vivo and that SOCE mediates the localisation of the endocytic co-receptor Amnionless. Identifying the signals both up and downstream of SOCE may highlight mechanisms relevant to the renal and excretory functions of a broad range of species, including humans.

Nascent polypeptide-Associated Complex and Signal Recognition Particle have cardiac-specific roles in heart development and remodeling

Establishing a catalog of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) genes and identifying functional networks would improve our understanding of its oligogenic underpinnings. Our studies identified protein biogenesis cofactors Nascent polypeptide-Associated Complex (NAC) and Signal-Recognition-Particle (SRP) as disease candidates and novel regulators of cardiac differentiation and morphogenesis. Knockdown (KD) of the alpha- (Nacα) or beta-subunit (bicaudal, bic) of NAC in the developing Drosophila heart disrupted cardiac developmental remodeling resulting in a fly with no heart. Heart loss was rescued by combined KD of Nacα with the posterior patterning Hox gene Abd-B. Consistent with a central role for this interaction in cardiogenesis, KD of Nacα in cardiac progenitors derived from human iPSCs impaired cardiac differentiation while co-KD with human HOXC12 and HOXD12 rescued this phenotype. Our data suggest that Nacα KD preprograms cardioblasts in the embryo for abortive remodeling later during metamorphosis, as Nacα KD during translation-intensive larval growth or pupal remodeling only causes moderate heart defects. KD of SRP subunits in the developing fly heart produced phenotypes that targeted specific segments and cell types, again suggesting cardiac-specific and spatially regulated activities. Together, we demonstrated directed function for NAC and SRP in heart development, and that regulation of NAC function depends on Hox genes.

mTORC2 protects the heart from high-fat diet-induced cardiomyopathy through mitochondrial fission in Drosophila

High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity has become the major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we use Drosophila as a model to study the role of mTORC2 in HFD-induced mitochondrial fission and cardiac dysfunction. We find that knockdown of mTORC2 subunit rictor blocks HFD-induced mitochondrial fragmentation and Drp1 recruitment. Knockdown of rictor further impairs cardiac contractile function under HFD treatment. Surprisingly, knockdown of Akt, the major effector of mTORC2, did not affect HFD-induced mitochondrial fission. Similar to mTORC2 inhibition, knockdown of Drp1 blocks HFD-induced mitochondrial fragmentation and induces contractile defects. Furthermore, overexpression of Drp1 restored HFD-induced mitochondrial fragmentation in rictor knockdown flies. Thus, we uncover a novel function of mTORC2 in protecting the heart from HFD treatment through Drp1-dependent mitochondrial fission.

Loxl2 is a mediator of cardiac aging in Drosophila melanogaster, genetically examining the role of aging clock genes

Transcriptomic, proteomic, and methylation aging clocks demonstrate that aging has a predictable preset program, while transcriptome trajectory turning points indicate that the 20-40 age range in humans is the likely stage at which the progressive loss of homeostatic control, and in turn aging, begins to have detrimental effects. Turning points in this age range overlapping with human aging clock genes revealed five candidates that we hypothesized could play a role in aging or age-related physiological decline. To examine these gene's effects on lifespan and health-span, we utilized whole body and heart-specific gene knockdown of human orthologs in Drosophila melanogaster. Whole body lysyl oxidase like 2 (Loxl2), fz3, and Glo1 RNAi positively affected lifespan as did heart-specific Loxl2 knockdown. Loxl2 inhibition concurrently reduced age-related cardiac arrythmia and collagen (Pericardin) fiber width. Loxl2 binds several transcription factors in humans and RT-qPCR confirmed that a conserved transcriptional target CDH1 (Drosophila CadN2) has expression levels which correlate with Loxl2 reduction in Drosophila. These results point to conserved pathways and multiple mechanisms by which inhibition of Loxl2 can be beneficial to heart health and organismal aging.

Quantitative measurements of zebrafish heartrate and heart rate variability: A survey between 1990-2020

Zebrafish is an essential model organism for studying cardiovascular diseases, given its advantages of fast proliferation and high gene homology with humans. Zebrafish embryos/larvae are valuable experimental models used in toxicology studies to analyze drug toxicity, including hepatoxicity, nephrotoxicity and cardiotoxicity, as well as for drug discovery and drug safety screening in the preclinical stage. Heart rate (HR) serves as a functional endpoint in studies of cardiotoxicity, while heart rate variability (HRV) serves as an indicator of cardiac arrhythmia. Cardiotoxicity is a major cause of early and late termination of drug trials, so a more comprehensive understanding of zebrafish HR and HRV is important. This review summarized HR and HRV in a specific range of applications and fields, focusing on zebrafish heartbeat detection procedures, signal analysis technology and well-established commercial software, such as LabVIEW, Rvlpulse, and ZebraLab. We also compared HR detection algorithms and electrocardiography (ECG)-based methods of heart signal extraction. The relationship between HR and HRV was also systematically analyzed; HR was shown to have an inverse correlation with HRV. Applications to drug testing are also highlighted in this review. Furthermore, HR and HRV were shown to be regulated by the automatic nervous system; their connections with ECG measurements are also summarized herein.

Drosophila Heart as a Model for Cardiac Development and Diseases

The Drosophila heart, also referred to as the dorsal vessel, pumps the insect blood, the hemolymph. The bilateral heart primordia develop from the most dorsally located mesodermal cells, migrate coordinately, and fuse to form the cardiac tube. Though much simpler, the fruit fly heart displays several developmental and functional similarities to the vertebrate heart and, as we discuss here, represents an attractive model system for dissecting mechanisms of cardiac aging and heart failure and identifying genes causing congenital heart diseases. Fast imaging technologies allow for the characterization of heartbeat parameters in the adult fly and there is growing evidence that cardiac dysfunction in human diseases could be reproduced and analyzed in Drosophila, as discussed here for heart defects associated with the myotonic dystrophy type 1. Overall, the power of genetics and unsuspected conservation of genes and pathways puts Drosophila at the heart of fundamental and applied cardiac research.

Rabphilin silencing causes dilated cardiomyopathy in a Drosophila model of nephrocyte damage

Heart failure (HF) and the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a direct association. Both can be cause and consequence of the other. Many factors are known, such as diabetes or hypertension, which can lead to the appearance and/or development of these two conditions. However, it is suspected that other factors, namely genetic ones, may explain the differences in the manifestation and progression of HF and CKD among patients. One candidate factor is Rph, a gene expressed in the nervous and excretory system in mammals and Drosophila, encoding a Rab small GTPase family effector protein implicated in vesicular trafficking. We found that Rph is expressed in the Drosophila heart, and the silencing of Rph gene expression in this organ had a strong impact in the organization of fibers and functional cardiac parameters. Specifically, we observed a significant increase in diastolic and systolic diameters of the heart tube, which is a phenotype that resembles dilated cardiomyopathy in humans. Importantly, we also show that silencing of Rabphilin (Rph) expression exclusively in the pericardial nephrocytes, which are part of the flies' excretory system, brings about a non-cell-autonomous effect on the Drosophila cardiac system. In summary, in this work, we demonstrate the importance of Rph in the fly cardiac system and how silencing Rph expression in nephrocytes affects the Drosophila cardiac system.

Identification of MYOM2 as a candidate gene in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and Tetralogy of Fallot, and its functional evaluation in the Drosophila heart

The causal genetic underpinnings of congenital heart diseases, which are often complex and multigenic, are still far from understood. Moreover, there are also predominantly monogenic heart defects, such as cardiomyopathies, with known disease genes for the majority of cases. In this study, we identified mutations in myomesin 2 (MYOM2) in patients with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), the most common cyanotic heart malformation, as well as in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), who do not exhibit any mutations in the known disease genes. MYOM2 is a major component of the myofibrillar M-band of the sarcomere, and a hub gene within interactions of sarcomere genes. We show that patient-derived cardiomyocytes exhibit myofibrillar disarray and reduced passive force with increasing sarcomere lengths. Moreover, our comprehensive functional analyses in the Drosophila animal model reveal that the so far uncharacterized fly gene CG14964 [herein referred to as Drosophila myomesin and myosin binding protein (dMnM)] may be an ortholog of MYOM2, as well as other myosin binding proteins. Its partial loss of function or moderate cardiac knockdown results in cardiac dilation, whereas more severely reduced function causes a constricted phenotype and an increase in sarcomere myosin protein. Moreover, compound heterozygous combinations of CG14964 and the sarcomere gene Mhc (MYH6/7) exhibited synergistic genetic interactions. In summary, our results suggest that MYOM2 not only plays a critical role in maintaining robust heart function but may also be a candidate gene for heart diseases such as HCM and TOF, as it is clearly involved in the development of the heart.This article has an associated First Person interview with Emilie Auxerre-Plantié and Tanja Nielsen, joint first authors of the paper.

Prolonged Exposure to Microgravity Reduces Cardiac Contractility and Initiates Remodeling in Drosophila

Understanding the effects of microgravity on human organs is crucial to exploration of low-earth orbit, the moon, and beyond. Drosophila can be sent to space in large numbers to examine the effects of microgravity on heart structure and function, which is fundamentally conserved from flies to humans. Flies reared in microgravity exhibit cardiac constriction with myofibrillar remodeling and diminished output. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in isolated hearts revealed reduced expression of sarcomeric/extracellular matrix (ECM) genes and dramatically increased proteasomal gene expression, consistent with the observed compromised, smaller hearts and suggesting abnormal proteostasis. This was examined further on a second flight in which we found dramatically elevated proteasome aggregates co-localizing with increased amyloid and polyQ deposits. Remarkably, in long-QT causing sei/hERG mutants, proteasomal gene expression at 1g, although less than the wild-type expression, was nevertheless increased in microgravity. Therefore, cardiac remodeling and proteostatic stress may be a fundamental response of heart muscle to microgravity.

Improved cardiac contraction imaging in live Drosophila embryos

Drosophila melanogaster is a powerful model organism in which to address the genetics of cardiac patterning and heart development. This system allows the pairing of live imaging with the myriad available genetic and transgenic techniques to not only identify the genes that are critical for heart development, but to assess their impact on heart function in living organisms. There are several described methods to assess cardiac function in Drosophila. However, these approaches are restricted to imaging of mid- to late-instar larval and adult hearts. This technical hurdle therefore does not allow for the recording and analysis of cardiac function in embryos bearing strong mutations that do not hatch into larvae. Our technical innovation lies in transgenically labeling the cells of the Drosophila heart and using line scan-based confocal imaging to repeatedly image the walls of the heart. By plotting this line scan as a kymograph, heart contractions can be visualized and assayed, thereby allowing for quantification of physiological defects. This method can be used to obtain physiological data from known mutations that affect cardiac development yet are incapable of hatching into larvae for conventional analysis.•

Use transgenic methods to label heart proper walls

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Use high-speed line scanning to capture position of heart proper walls

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Create X vs. time plot to visualize and quantify contractions over imaging period.

Patient-specific genomics and cross-species functional analysis implicate LRP2 in hypoplastic left heart syndrome

Congenital heart diseases (CHDs), including hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), are genetically complex and poorly understood. Here, a multidisciplinary platform was established to functionally evaluate novel CHD gene candidates, based on whole-genome and iPSC RNA sequencing of a HLHS family-trio. Filtering for rare variants and altered expression in proband iPSCs prioritized 10 candidates. siRNA/RNAi-mediated knockdown in healthy human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) and in developing Drosophila and zebrafish hearts revealed that LDL receptor-related protein LRP2 is required for cardiomyocyte proliferation and differentiation. Consistent with hypoplastic heart defects, compared to patents the proband's iPSC-CMs exhibited reduced proliferation. Interestingly, rare, predicted-damaging LRP2 variants were enriched in a HLHS cohort; however, understanding their contribution to HLHS requires further investigation. Collectively, we have established a multi-species high-throughput platform to rapidly evaluate candidate genes and their interactions during heart development, which are crucial first steps toward deciphering oligogenic underpinnings of CHDs, including hypoplastic left hearts.

An Overview of Methods for Cardiac Rhythm Detection in Zebrafish

The heart is the most important muscular organ of the cardiovascular system, which pumps blood and circulates, supplying oxygen and nutrients to peripheral tissues. Zebrafish have been widely explored in cardiotoxicity research. For example, the zebrafish embryo has been used as a human heart model due to its body transparency, surviving several days without circulation, and facilitating mutant identification to recapitulate human diseases. On the other hand, adult zebrafish can exhibit the amazing regenerative heart muscle capacity, while adult mammalian hearts lack this potential. This review paper offers a brief description of the major methodologies used to detect zebrafish cardiac rhythm at both embryonic and adult stages. The dynamic pixel change method was mostly performed for the embryonic stage. Other techniques, such as kymography, laser confocal microscopy, artificial intelligence, and electrocardiography (ECG) have also been applied to study heartbeat in zebrafish embryos. Nevertheless, ECG is widely used for heartbeat detection in adult zebrafish since ECG waveforms' similarity between zebrafish and humans is prominent. High-frequency ultrasound imaging (echocardiography) and modern electronic sensor tag also have been proposed. Despite the fact that each method has its benefits and limitations, it is proved that zebrafish have become a promising animal model for human cardiovascular disease, drug pharmaceutical, and toxicological research. Using those tools, we conclude that zebrafish behaviors as an excellent small animal model to perform real-time monitoring for the developmental heart process with transparent body appearance, to conduct the in vivo cardiovascular performance and gene function assays, as well as to perform high-throughput/high content drug screening.

Systemic and heart autonomous effects of sphingosine Δ4 desaturase deficiency in lipotoxic cardiac pathophysiology

Lipotoxic cardiomyopathy (LCM) is characterized by cardiac steatosis, including the accumulation of fatty acids, triglycerides and ceramides. Model systems have shown the inhibition of ceramide biosynthesis to antagonize obesity and improve insulin sensitivity. Sphingosine Δ4 desaturase (encoded by ifc in Drosophila melanogaster) enzymatically converts dihydroceramide into ceramide. Here, we examine ifc mutants to study the effects of desaturase deficiency on cardiac function in Drosophila Interestingly, ifc mutants exhibited classic hallmarks of LCM: cardiac chamber dilation, contractile defects and loss of fractional shortening. This outcome was phenocopied in global ifc RNAi-mediated knockdown flies. Surprisingly, cardiac-specific ifc knockdown flies exhibited cardiac chamber restriction with no contractile defects, suggesting heart autonomous and systemic roles for ifc activity in cardiac function. Next, we demonstrated that ifc mutants exhibit suppressed Sphingosine kinase 1 (Sk1) expression. Ectopic overexpression of Sk1 was sufficient to prevent cardiac chamber dilation and loss of fractional shortening in ifc mutants. Partial rescue was also observed with cardiac- and fat-body-specific Sk1 overexpression. Finally, we showed that cardiac-specific expression of Drosophila inhibitor of apoptosis (dIAP) also prevented cardiac dysfunction in ifc mutants, suggesting a role for caspase activity in the observed cardiac pathology. Collectively, we show that spatial regulation of sphingosine Δ4 desaturase activity differentially affects cardiac function in heart autonomous and systemic mechanisms through tissue interplay.

Overexpression of Kif1A in the Developing Drosophila Heart Causes Valvar and Contractility Defects: Implications for Human Congenital Heart Disease

Left-sided congenital heart defects (CHDs) are among the most common forms of congenital heart disease, but a disease-causing gene has only been identified in a minority of cases. Here, we identified a candidate gene for CHDs, KIF1A, that was associated with a chromosomal balanced translocation t(2;8)(q37;p11) in a patient with left-sided heart and aortic valve defects. The breakpoint was in the 5′ untranslated region of the KIF1A gene at 2q37, which suggested that the break affected the levels of Kif1A gene expression. Transgenic fly lines overexpressing Kif1A specifically in the heart muscle (or all muscles) caused diminished cardiac contractility, myofibrillar disorganization, and heart valve defects, whereas cardiac knockdown had no effect on heart structure or function. Overexpression of Kif1A also caused increased collagen IV deposition in the fibrous network that normally surrounds the fly heart. Kif1A overexpression in C2C12 myoblasts resulted in specific displacement of the F-actin fibers, probably through a direct interaction with G-actin. These results point to a Kif1A-mediated disruption of F-actin organization as a potential mechanism for the pathogenesis in at least some human CHDs.

Model system identification of novel congenital heart disease gene candidates: focus on RPL13

Genetics is a significant factor contributing to congenital heart disease (CHD), but our understanding of the genetic players and networks involved in CHD pathogenesis is limited. Here, we searched for de novo copy number variations (CNVs) in a cohort of 167 CHD patients to identify DNA segments containing potential pathogenic genes. Our search focused on new candidate disease genes within 19 deleted de novo CNVs, which did not cover known CHD genes. For this study, we developed an integrated high-throughput phenotypical platform to probe for defects in cardiogenesis and cardiac output in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived multipotent cardiac progenitor (MCPs) cells and, in parallel, in the Drosophila in vivo heart model. Notably, knockdown (KD) in MCPs of RPL13, a ribosomal gene and SON, an RNA splicing cofactor, reduced proliferation and differentiation of cardiomyocytes, while increasing fibroblasts. In the fly, heart-specific RpL13 KD, predominantly at embryonic stages, resulted in a striking 'no heart' phenotype. KD of Son and Pdss2, among others, caused structural and functional defects, including reduced or abolished contractility, respectively. In summary, using a combination of human genetics and cardiac model systems, we identified new genes as candidates for causing human CHD, with particular emphasis on ribosomal genes, such as RPL13. This powerful, novel approach of combining cardiac phenotyping in human MCPs and in the in vivo Drosophila heart at high throughput will allow for testing large numbers of CHD candidates, based on patient genomic data, and for building upon existing genetic networks involved in heart development and disease.

Ceramide-Protein Interactions Modulate Ceramide-Associated Lipotoxic Cardiomyopathy

Lipotoxic cardiomyopathy (LCM) is characterized by abnormal myocardial accumulation of lipids, including ceramide; however, the contribution of ceramide to the etiology of LCM is unclear. Here, we investigated the association of ceramide metabolism and ceramide-interacting proteins (CIPs) in LCM in the Drosophila heart model. We find that ceramide feeding or ceramide-elevating genetic manipulations are strongly associated with cardiac dilation and defects in contractility. High ceramide-associated LCM is prevented by inhibiting ceramide synthesis, establishing a robust model of direct ceramide-associated LCM, corroborating previous indirect evidence in mammals. We identified several CIPs from mouse heart and Drosophila extracts, including caspase activator Annexin-X, myosin chaperone Unc-45, and lipogenic enzyme FASN1, and remarkably, their cardiac-specific manipulation can prevent LCM. Collectively, these data suggest that high ceramide-associated lipotoxicity is mediated, in part, through altering caspase activation, sarcomeric maintenance, and lipogenesis, thus providing evidence for conserved mechanisms in LCM pathogenesis in mammals.

A homozygous KAT2B variant modulates the clinical phenotype of ADD3 deficiency in humans and flies

Recent evidence suggests that the presence of more than one pathogenic mutation in a single patient is more common than previously anticipated. One of the challenges hereby is to dissect the contribution of each gene mutation, for which animal models such as Drosophila can provide a valuable aid. Here, we identified three families with mutations in ADD3, encoding for adducin-γ, with intellectual disability, microcephaly, cataracts and skeletal defects. In one of the families with additional cardiomyopathy and steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS), we found a homozygous variant in KAT2B, encoding the lysine acetyltransferase 2B, with impact on KAT2B protein levels in patient fibroblasts, suggesting that this second mutation might contribute to the increased disease spectrum. In order to define the contribution of ADD3 and KAT2B mutations for the patient phenotype, we performed functional experiments in the Drosophila model. We found that both mutations were unable to fully rescue the viability of the respective null mutants of the Drosophila homologs, hts and Gcn5, suggesting that they are indeed pathogenic in flies. While the KAT2B/Gcn5 mutation additionally showed a significantly reduced ability to rescue morphological and functional defects of cardiomyocytes and nephrocytes (podocyte-like cells), this was not the case for the ADD3 mutant rescue. Yet, the simultaneous knockdown of KAT2B and ADD3 synergistically impaired kidney and heart function in flies as well as the adhesion and migration capacity of cultured human podocytes, indicating that mutations in both genes may be required for the full clinical manifestation. Altogether, our studies describe the expansion of the phenotypic spectrum in ADD3 deficiency associated with a homozygous likely pathogenic KAT2B variant and thereby identify KAT2B as a susceptibility gene for kidney and heart disease in ADD3-associated disorders.

An automatic method to calculate heart rate from zebrafish larval cardiac videos

Background

Zebrafish is a widely used model organism for studying heart development and cardiac-related pathogenesis. With the ability of surviving without a functional circulation at larval stages, strong genetic similarity between zebrafish and mammals, prolific reproduction and optically transparent embryos, zebrafish is powerful in modeling mammalian cardiac physiology and pathology as well as in large-scale high throughput screening. However, an economical and convenient tool for rapid evaluation of fish cardiac function is still in need. There have been several image analysis methods to assess cardiac functions in zebrafish embryos/larvae, but they are still improvable to reduce manual intervention in the entire process. This work developed a fully automatic method to calculate heart rate, an important parameter to analyze cardiac function, from videos. It contains several filters to identify the heart region, to reduce video noise and to calculate heart rates.

Results

The proposed method was evaluated with 32 zebrafish larval cardiac videos that were recording at three-day post-fertilization. The heart rate measured by the proposed method was comparable to that determined by manual counting. The experimental results show that the proposed method does not lose accuracy while largely reducing the labor cost and uncertainty of manual counting.

Conclusions

With the proposed method, researchers do not have to manually select a region of interest before analyzing videos. Moreover, filters designed to reduce video noise can alleviate background fluctuations during the video recording stage (e.g. shifting), which makes recorders generate usable videos easily and therefore reduce manual efforts while recording.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12859-018-2166-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A new method to characterize function of the Drosophila heart by means of optical flow

The minuteness of Drosophila poses a challenge to quantify performance of its tubular heart and computer-aided analysis of its beating heart has evolved as a resilient compromise between instrumental costs and data robustness. Here, we introduce an optical flow algorithm (OFA) that continuously registers coherent movement within videos of the beating Drosophila heart and uses this information to subscribe the time course of observation with characteristic phases of cardiac contraction or relaxation. We report that the OFA combines high discriminatory power with robustness to characterize the performance of the Drosophila tubular heart using indicators from human cardiology. We provide proof of this concept using the test bed of established cardiac conditions that include the effects of ageing, knockdown of the slow repolarizing potassium channel subunit KCNQ and ras-mediated hypertrophy of the heart tube. Together, this establishes the analysis of coherent movement as a suitable indicator of qualitative changes of the heart's beating characteristics, which improves the usefulness of Drosophila as a model of cardiac diseases.

LITTLE FISH, BIG DATA: ZEBRAFISH AS A MODEL FOR CARDIOVASCULAR AND METABOLIC DISEASE

The burden of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases worldwide is staggering. The emergence of systems approaches in biology promises new therapies, faster and cheaper diagnostics, and personalized medicine. However, a profound understanding of pathogenic mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels remains a fundamental requirement for discovery and therapeutics. Animal models of human disease are cornerstones of drug discovery as they allow identification of novel pharmacological targets by linking gene function with pathogenesis. The zebrafish model has been used for decades to study development and pathophysiology. More than ever, the specific strengths of the zebrafish model make it a prime partner in an age of discovery transformed by big-data approaches to genomics and disease. Zebrafish share a largely conserved physiology and anatomy with mammals. They allow a wide range of genetic manipulations, including the latest genome engineering approaches. They can be bred and studied with remarkable speed, enabling a range of large-scale phenotypic screens. Finally, zebrafish demonstrate an impressive regenerative capacity scientists hope to unlock in humans. Here, we provide a comprehensive guide on applications of zebrafish to investigate cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. We delineate advantages and limitations of zebrafish models of human disease and summarize their most significant contributions to understanding disease progression to date.

Age-dependent electrical and morphological remodeling of the Drosophila heart caused by hERG/seizure mutations

Understanding the cellular-molecular substrates of heart disease is key to the development of cardiac specific therapies and to the prevention of off-target effects by non-cardiac targeted drugs. One of the primary targets for therapeutic intervention has been the human ether a go-go (hERG) K⁺ channel that, together with the KCNQ channel, controls the rate and efficiency of repolarization in human myocardial cells. Neither of these channels plays a major role in adult mouse heart function; however, we show here that the hERG homolog seizure (sei), along with KCNQ, both contribute significantly to adult heart function as they do in humans. In Drosophila, mutations in or cardiac knockdown of sei channels cause arrhythmias that become progressively more severe with age. Intracellular recordings of semi-intact heart preparations revealed that these perturbations also cause electrical remodeling that is reminiscent of the early afterdepolarizations seen in human myocardial cells defective in these channels. In contrast to KCNQ, however, mutations in sei also cause extensive structural remodeling of the myofibrillar organization, which suggests that hERG channel function has a novel link to sarcomeric and myofibrillar integrity. We conclude that deficiency of ion channels with similar electrical functions in cardiomyocytes can lead to different types or extents of electrical and/or structural remodeling impacting cardiac output.

We have used the fruit fly cardiac model to show that seizure, the fly homolog of the human ether a go-go K⁺ channel hERG, is functional in the fly heart. This channel plays a major role in cardiac repolarization in humans but not in adult rodent hearts. Loss of channel function in the fly causes bradycardia, electrical arrhythmia and altered myofibrillar structure. Gene expression analysis indicates that Wnt signaling is affected and we show a genetic interaction between sei and pygopus, a Wnt pathway component, on heart function.

Identification and in silico modeling of enhancers reveals new features of the cardiac differentiation network

Developmental patterning and tissue formation are regulated through complex gene regulatory networks (GRNs) driven through the action of transcription factors (TFs) converging on enhancer elements. Here, as a point of entry to dissect the poorly defined GRN underlying cardiomyocyte differentiation, we apply an integrated approach to identify active enhancers and TFs involved in Drosophila heart development. The Drosophila heart consists of 104 cardiomyocytes, representing less than 0.5% of all cells in the embryo. By modifying BiTS-ChIP for rare cells, we examined H3K4me3 and H3K27ac chromatin landscapes to identify active promoters and enhancers specifically in cardiomyocytes. These in vivo data were complemented by a machine learning approach and extensive in vivo validation in transgenic embryos, which identified many new heart enhancers and their associated TF motifs. Our results implicate many new TFs in late stages of heart development, including Bagpipe, an Nkx3.2 ortholog, which we show is essential for differentiated heart function.

Deletion of Pr130 Interrupts Cardiac Development in Zebrafish

Protein phosphatase 2 regulatory subunit B, alpha (PPP2R3A), a regulatory subunit of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), is a major serine/threonine phosphatase that regulates crucial function in development and growth. Previous research has implied that PPP2R3A was involved in heart failure, and PR130, the largest transcription of PPP2R3A, functioning in the calcium release of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), plays an important role in the excitation-contraction (EC) coupling. To obtain a better understanding of PR130 functions in myocardium and cardiac development, two pr130-deletion zebrafish lines were generated using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated proteins (Cas) system. Pr130-knockout zebrafish exhibited cardiac looping defects and decreased cardiac function (decreased fractional area and fractional shortening). Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining demonstrated reduced cardiomyocytes. Subsequent transmission electron microscopy revealed that the bright and dark bands were narrowed and blurred, the Z- and M-lines were fogged, and the gaps between longitudinal myocardial fibers were increased. Additionally, increased apoptosis was observed in cardiomyocyte in pr130-knockout zebrafish compared to wild-type (WT). Taken together, our results suggest that pr130 is required for normal myocardium formation and efficient cardiac contractile function.

Lifetime regular exercise affects the incident of different arrhythmias and improves organismal health in aging female Drosophila melanogaster

We used Drosophila melanogaster as an animal model system to study the impact of exercise training initiated early in life on cardiac function using a well-established model of inherent myogenic properties of the heart and discussed the changes on myosin, a myocardial contractile protein. We also explored the effect of early physical exercise on organismal aging by analyzing the wake-sleep pattern using a Drosophila activity monitor system. We found that a variety of arrhythmias are part of the heart spectrum in old flies after a lifetime of physical exercise as evidenced by reducing the incidence of fibrillations and increasing the occurrence of bradycardias. Maintenance of myocardial myosin levels may be an underlying contributor to these exercise-induced improvements in cardiac function at an advanced age. Moreover, we found that exercise training resulted in improved sleep quality by ameliorating age-related sleep inefficiency, fragmentation and sleep consolidation.

The expression of CG9940 affects the adaptation of cardiac function, mobility, and lifespan to exercise in aging Drosophila

The CG9940 gene, which encodes the NAD(+) synthase protein in Drosophila, is conserved in human, zebra fish, and mosquito. NAD(+) synthase is a homodimer, which catalyzes the final step in de novo nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) biosynthesis, an amide transfer from either ammonia or glutamine to nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide (NaAD). Both the CG9940 and exercise are closely relative to NAD(+) level, and NAD(+) plays important roles not only in energy metabolism and mitochondrial functions but also in aging. In our study, the expression of CG9940 was changed by UAS/GAL4 system in Drosophila. Flies were trained by a training device. Cardiac function was analyzed by M-mode traces, climbing index was measured through negative geotaxis assay, and lifespan was measured via lifespan assays. The important new findings from our present study included the following: (1) the expression of the CG9940 could affect cardiac function, mobility, and lifespan in Drosophila. Over-expression of the CG9940 gene had positive effects on Drosophila, such as enhanced aging cardiac output, reduced heart failure, delayed age-related mobility decline, and prolonged lifespan, but lower-expression of the CG9940 had negative effects on them. (2) Different expressions of the CG9940 resulted in different influences on the adaptation of cardiac function, mobility, and lifespan to exercise in aging Drosophila. Both normal-expression and over-expression of the CG9940 resulted in positive influences on the adaptation of cardiac functions, mobility, and lifespan to exercise in aging Drosophila such as exercise slowed age-related decline of cardiac function, mobility and extent of lifespan in these flies, while lower-expression of the CG9940 led to negative impacts on the adaptation of mobility and lifespan to exercise in Drosophila.

A Restrictive Cardiomyopathy Mutation in an Invariant Proline at the Myosin Head/Rod Junction Enhances Head Flexibility and Function, Yielding Muscle Defects in Drosophila

An "invariant proline" separates the myosin S1 head from its S2 tail and is proposed to be critical for orienting S1 during its interaction with actin, a process that leads to muscle contraction. Mutation of the invariant proline to leucine (P838L) caused dominant restrictive cardiomyopathy in a pediatric patient (Karam et al., Congenit. Heart Dis. 3:138-43, 2008). Here, we use Drosophila melanogaster to model this mutation and dissect its effects on the biochemical and biophysical properties of myosin, as well as on the structure and physiology of skeletal and cardiac muscles. P838L mutant myosin isolated from indirect flight muscles of transgenic Drosophila showed elevated ATPase and actin sliding velocity in vitro. Furthermore, the mutant heads exhibited increased rotational flexibility, and there was an increase in the average angle between the two heads. Indirect flight muscle myofibril assembly was minimally affected in mutant homozygotes, and isolated fibers displayed normal mechanical properties. However, myofibrils degraded during aging, correlating with reduced flight abilities. In contrast, hearts from homozygotes and heterozygotes showed normal morphology, myofibrillar arrays, and contractile parameters. When P838L was placed in trans to Mhc(5), an allele known to cause cardiac restriction in flies, it did not yield the constricted phenotype. Overall, our studies suggest that increased rotational flexibility of myosin S1 enhances myosin ATPase and actin sliding. Moreover, instability of P838L myofibrils leads to decreased function during aging of Drosophila skeletal muscle, but not cardiac muscle, despite the strong evolutionary conservation of the P838 residue.

Profilin modulates sarcomeric organization and mediates cardiomyocyte hypertrophy

Aims

Heart failure is often preceded by cardiac hypertrophy, which is characterized by increased cell size, altered protein abundance, and actin cytoskeletal reorganization. Profilin is a well-conserved, ubiquitously expressed, multifunctional actin-binding protein, and its role in cardiomyocytes is largely unknown. Given its involvement in vascular hypertrophy, we aimed to test the hypothesis that profilin-1 is a key mediator of cardiomyocyte-specific hypertrophic remodelling.

Methods and results

Profilin-1 was elevated in multiple mouse models of hypertrophy, and a cardiomyocyte-specific increase of profilin in Drosophila resulted in significantly larger heart tube dimensions. Moreover, adenovirus-mediated overexpression of profilin-1 in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) induced a hypertrophic response, measured by increased myocyte size and gene expression. Profilin-1 silencing suppressed the response in NRVMs stimulated with phenylephrine or endothelin-1. Mechanistically, we found that profilin-1 regulates hypertrophy, in part, through activation of the ERK1/2 signalling cascade. Confocal microscopy showed that profilin localized to the Z-line of Drosophila myofibrils under normal conditions and accumulated near the M-line when overexpressed. Elevated profilin levels resulted in elongated sarcomeres, myofibrillar disorganization, and sarcomeric disarray, which correlated with impaired muscle function.

Conclusion

Our results identify novel roles for profilin as an important mediator of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. We show that overexpression of profilin is sufficient to induce cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and sarcomeric remodelling, and silencing of profilin attenuates the hypertrophic response.

Drosophila tools and assays for the study of human diseases

Many of the internal organ systems of Drosophila melanogaster are functionally analogous to those in vertebrates, including humans. Although humans and flies differ greatly in terms of their gross morphological and cellular features, many of the molecular mechanisms that govern development and drive cellular and physiological processes are conserved between both organisms. The morphological differences are deceiving and have led researchers to undervalue the study of invertebrate organs in unraveling pathogenic mechanisms of diseases. In this review and accompanying poster, we highlight the physiological and molecular parallels between fly and human organs that validate the use of Drosophila to study the molecular pathogenesis underlying human diseases. We discuss assays that have been developed in flies to study the function of specific genes in the central nervous system, heart, liver and kidney, and provide examples of the use of these assays to address questions related to human diseases. These assays provide us with simple yet powerful tools to study the pathogenic mechanisms associated with human disease-causing genes.

Fatiguing exercise initiated later in life reduces incidence of fibrillation and improves sleep quality in Drosophila

As the human body ages, the risk of heart disease and stroke greatly increases. While there is evidence that lifelong exercise is beneficial to the heart's health, the effects of beginning exercise later in life remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether exercise training started later in life is beneficial to cardiac aging in Drosophila. We examined 4-week-old wild-type virgin female flies that were exposed to exercise periods of either 1.5, 2.0, or 2.5 h per day, 5 days a week for 2 weeks. Using M-mode traces to analyze cardiac function by looking at parameters including heart rate, rhythmicity, systolic and diastolic diameter, and interval and fractional shortening, we found that cardiac function declined with age, shown by an increase in the number of fibrillation events and a decrease in fractional shortening. About 2.0 and 2.5 h of exercise per day displayed a reduced incidence of fibrillation events, and only physical exercise lasting 2.5-h period increased fractional shortening and total sleep time in Drosophila. These data suggested that training exercise needs to be performed for longer duration to exert physiological benefits for the aging heart. Additionally, climbing ability to assess the exercise-induced muscle fatigue was also measured. We found that 2.0 and 2.5 h of exercise caused exercise-induced fatigue, and fatiguing exercise is beneficial for cardiac and healthy aging overall. This study provides a basis for further study in humans on the impact of beginning an exercise regimen later in life on cardiac health.

Genetic manipulation of cardiac ageing

Ageing in humans is associated with a significant increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease. We still do not fully understand the molecular mechanisms underpinning this correlation. However, a number of insights into which genes control cardiac ageing have come from studying hearts of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The fly's simple heart tube has similar molecular structure and basic physiology to the human heart. Also, both fly and human hearts experience significant age-related morphological and functional decline. Studies on the fly heart have highlighted the involvement of key nutrient sensing, ion channel and sarcomeric genes in cardiac ageing. Many of these genes have also been implicated in ageing of the mammalian heart. Genes that increase oxidative stress, or are linked to cardiac hypertrophy or neurodegenerative diseases in mammals also affect cardiac ageing in the fruit fly. Moreover, fly studies have demonstrated the potential of exercise and statins to treat age-related cardiac disease. These results show the value of Drosophila as a model to discover the genetic causes of human cardiac ageing.

PGC-1/Spargel Counteracts High-Fat-Diet-Induced Obesity and Cardiac Lipotoxicity Downstream of TOR and Brummer ATGL Lipase

Obesity and metabolic syndrome are associated with an increased risk for lipotoxic cardiomyopathy, which is strongly correlated with excessive accumulation of lipids in the heart. Obesity- and type-2-diabetes-related disorders have been linked to altered expression of the transcriptional cofactor PGC-1α, which regulates the expression of genes involved in energy metabolism. Using Drosophila, we identify PGC-1/spargel (PGC-1/srl) as a key antagonist of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced lipotoxic cardiomyopathy. We find that HFD-induced lipid accumulation and cardiac dysfunction are mimicked by reduced PGC-1/srl function and reversed by PGC-1/srl overexpression. Moreover, HFD feeding lowers PGC-1/srl expression by elevating TOR signaling and inhibiting expression of the Drosophila adipocyte triglyceride lipase (ATGL) (Brummer), both of which function as upstream modulators of PGC-1/srl. The lipogenic transcription factor SREBP also contributes to HFD-induced cardiac lipotoxicity, likely in parallel with PGC-1/srl. These results suggest a regulatory network of key metabolic genes that modulates lipotoxic heart dysfunction.

Automatic zebrafish heartbeat detection and analysis for zebrafish embryos

A fully automatic detection and analysis method of heartbeats in videos of nonfixed and nonanesthetized zebrafish embryos is presented. This method reduces the manual workload and time needed for preparation and imaging of the zebrafish embryos, as well as for evaluating heartbeat parameters such as frequency, beat-to-beat intervals, and arrhythmicity. The method is validated by a comparison of the results from automatic and manual detection of the heart rates of wild-type zebrafish embryos 36-120 h postfertilization and of embryonic hearts with bradycardia and pauses in the cardiac contraction.

Methods to assess Drosophila heart development, function and aging

In recent years the Drosophila heart has become an established model for many different aspects of human cardiac disease. This model has allowed identification of disease-causing mechanisms underlying congenital heart disease and cardiomyopathies and has permitted the study of underlying genetic, metabolic and age-related contributions to heart function. In this review we discuss methods currently employed in the analysis of the Drosophila heart structure and function, such as optical methods to infer heart function and performance, electrophysiological and mechanical approaches to characterize cardiac tissue properties, and conclude with histological techniques used in the study of heart development and adult structure.

ROS regulate cardiac function via a distinct paracrine mechanism

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) can act cell autonomously and in a paracrine manner by diffusing into nearby cells. Here, we reveal a ROS-mediated paracrine signaling mechanism that does not require entry of ROS into target cells. We found that under physiological conditions, nonmyocytic pericardial cells (PCs) of the Drosophila heart contain elevated levels of ROS compared to the neighboring cardiomyocytes (CMs). We show that ROS in PCs act in a paracrine manner to regulate normal cardiac function, not by diffusing into the CMs to exert their function, but by eliciting a downstream D-MKK3-D-p38 MAPK signaling cascade in PCs that acts on the CMs to regulate their function. We find that ROS-D-p38 signaling in PCs during development is also important for establishing normal adult cardiac function. Our results provide evidence for a previously unrecognized role of ROS in mediating PC/CM interactions that significantly modulates heart function.

Huntington's disease induced cardiac amyloidosis is reversed by modulating protein folding and oxidative stress pathways in the Drosophila heart

Amyloid-like inclusions have been associated with Huntington's disease (HD), which is caused by expanded polyglutamine repeats in the Huntingtin protein. HD patients exhibit a high incidence of cardiovascular events, presumably as a result of accumulation of toxic amyloid-like inclusions. We have generated a Drosophila model of cardiac amyloidosis that exhibits accumulation of PolyQ aggregates and oxidative stress in myocardial cells, upon heart-specific expression of Huntingtin protein fragments (Htt-PolyQ) with disease-causing poly-glutamine repeats (PolyQ-46, PolyQ-72, and PolyQ-102). Cardiac expression of GFP-tagged Htt-PolyQs resulted in PolyQ length-dependent functional defects that included increased incidence of arrhythmias and extreme cardiac dilation, accompanied by a significant decrease in contractility. Structural and ultrastructural analysis of the myocardial cells revealed reduced myofibrillar content, myofibrillar disorganization, mitochondrial defects and the presence of PolyQ-GFP positive aggregates. Cardiac-specific expression of disease causing Poly-Q also shortens lifespan of flies dramatically. To further confirm the involvement of oxidative stress or protein unfolding and to understand the mechanism of PolyQ induced cardiomyopathy, we co-expressed expanded PolyQ-72 with the antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD) or the myosin chaperone UNC-45. Co-expression of SOD suppressed PolyQ-72 induced mitochondrial defects and partially suppressed aggregation as well as myofibrillar disorganization. However, co-expression of UNC-45 dramatically suppressed PolyQ-72 induced aggregation and partially suppressed myofibrillar disorganization. Moreover, co-expression of both UNC-45 and SOD more efficiently suppressed GFP-positive aggregates, myofibrillar disorganization and physiological cardiac defects induced by PolyQ-72 than did either treatment alone. Our results demonstrate that mutant-PolyQ induces aggregates, disrupts the sarcomeric organization of contractile proteins, leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and increases oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes leading to abnormal cardiac function. We conclude that modulation of both protein unfolding and oxidative stress pathways in the Drosophila heart model can ameliorate the detrimental PolyQ effects, thus providing unique insights into the genetic mechanisms underlying amyloid-induced cardiac failure in HD patients.

Huntington's disease (HD) is associated with amyloid-like inclusions in the brain and heart, and accumulation of amyloid protein is associated with neurodegeneration and cardiomyopathy. Recent studies suggest that HD patients show increased susceptibility to cardiac failure. However, the mechanisms by which disease-causing poly-glutamine repeats (PolyQ) cause heart dysfunction in these patients are unclear. We have developed a novel Drosophila heart model that exhibits significant GFP-positive aggregates upon HD-causing PolyQ expression in myocardial cells resulting in PolyQ length-dependent physiological defects. Modulation of protein folding and oxidative stress pathways in this system reduced the number of aggregates and reversed the cardiac dysfunction in response to expression of disease-causing PolyQ. The ability to explore PolyQ-associated mechanisms of cardiomyopathy in a genetically tractable whole organism, Drosophila melanogaster, promises to provide novel insights into the relationship between amyloid accumulation and heart dysfunction. Our findings not only impact the understanding of PolyQ-induced cardiomyopathy but also other human cardiac diseases associated with oxidative stress, mitochondrial defects and protein homeostasis.

The role of pygopus in the differentiation of intracardiac valves in Drosophila

Cardiac valves serve an important function; they support unidirectional blood flow and prevent blood regurgitation. Wnt signaling plays an important role in the formation of mouse cardiac valves and cardiac valve proliferation in Zebrafish, but identification of the specific signaling components involved has not been addressed systematically. Of the components involved in Wnt signal transduction, pygopus (pygo), first identified as a core component of Wnt signaling in Drosophila, has not yet to be investigated with respect to valve development and differentiation. Here, we take advantage of the Drosophila heart model to study the role of pygo in formation of valves between the cardiac chambers. We found that cardiac-specific pygo knockdown in the Drosophila heart causes dilation in the region of these cardiac valves, and their characteristic dense mesh of myofibrils does not form and resembles that of neighboring cardiomyocytes. In contrast, heart-specific knockdown of the transcription factors, arm/β-Cat, lgs/BCL9, or pan/TCF, which mediates canonical Wnt signal transduction, shows a much weaker valve differentiation defect. Double-heterozygous combinations of mutants for pygo and the Wnt-signaling components have no additional effect on heart function compared with pygo heterozygotes alone. These results are consistent with the idea that pygo functions independently of canonical Wnt signaling in the differentiation of the adult interchamber cardiac valves.

Automated processing of zebrafish imaging data: a survey

Due to the relative transparency of its embryos and larvae, the zebrafish is an ideal model organism for bioimaging approaches in vertebrates. Novel microscope technologies allow the imaging of developmental processes in unprecedented detail, and they enable the use of complex image-based read-outs for high-throughput/high-content screening. Such applications can easily generate Terabytes of image data, the handling and analysis of which becomes a major bottleneck in extracting the targeted information. Here, we describe the current state of the art in computational image analysis in the zebrafish system. We discuss the challenges encountered when handling high-content image data, especially with regard to data quality, annotation, and storage. We survey methods for preprocessing image data for further analysis, and describe selected examples of automated image analysis, including the tracking of cells during embryogenesis, heartbeat detection, identification of dead embryos, recognition of tissues and anatomical landmarks, and quantification of behavioral patterns of adult fish. We review recent examples for applications using such methods, such as the comprehensive analysis of cell lineages during early development, the generation of a three-dimensional brain atlas of zebrafish larvae, and high-throughput drug screens based on movement patterns. Finally, we identify future challenges for the zebrafish image analysis community, notably those concerning the compatibility of algorithms and data formats for the assembly of modular analysis pipelines.

The NADPH metabolic network regulates human αB-crystallin cardiomyopathy and reductive stress in Drosophila melanogaster

Dominant mutations in the alpha-B crystallin (CryAB) gene are responsible for a number of inherited human disorders, including cardiomyopathy, skeletal muscle myopathy, and cataracts. The cellular mechanisms of disease pathology for these disorders are not well understood. Among recent advances is that the disease state can be linked to a disturbance in the oxidation/reduction environment of the cell. In a mouse model, cardiomyopathy caused by the dominant CryAB(R120G) missense mutation was suppressed by mutation of the gene that encodes glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), one of the cell's primary sources of reducing equivalents in the form of NADPH. Here, we report the development of a Drosophila model for cellular dysfunction caused by this CryAB mutation. With this model, we confirmed the link between G6PD and mutant CryAB pathology by finding that reduction of G6PD expression suppressed the phenotype while overexpression enhanced it. Moreover, we find that expression of mutant CryAB in the Drosophila heart impaired cardiac function and increased heart tube dimensions, similar to the effects produced in mice and humans, and that reduction of G6PD ameliorated these effects. Finally, to determine whether CryAB pathology responds generally to NADPH levels we tested mutants or RNAi-mediated knockdowns of phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (PGD), isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH), and malic enzyme (MEN), the other major enzymatic sources of NADPH, and we found that all are capable of suppressing CryAB(R120G) pathology, confirming the link between NADP/H metabolism and CryAB.

Multiplexin promotes heart but not aorta morphogenesis by polarized enhancement of slit/robo activity at the heart lumen

The Drosophila heart tube represents a structure that similarly to vertebrates' primary heart tube exhibits a large lumen; the mechanisms promoting heart tube morphology in both Drosophila and vertebrates are poorly understood. We identified Multiplexin (Mp), the Drosophila orthologue of mammalian Collagen-XV/XVIII, and the only structural heart-specific protein described so far in Drosophila, as necessary and sufficient for shaping the heart tube lumen, but not that of the aorta. Mp is expressed specifically at the stage of heart tube closure, in a polarized fashion, uniquely along the cardioblasts luminal membrane, and its absence results in an extremely small heart tube lumen. Importantly, Mp forms a protein complex with Slit, and interacts genetically with both slit and robo in the formation of the heart tube. Overexpression of Mp in cardioblasts promotes a large heart lumen in a Slit-dependent manner. Moreover, Mp alters Slit distribution, and promotes the formation of multiple Slit endocytic vesicles, similarly to the effect of overexpression of Robo in these cells. Our data are consistent with Mp-dependent enhancement of Slit/Robo activity and signaling, presumably by affecting Slit protein stabilization, specifically at the lumen side of the heart tube. This activity results with a Slit-dependent, local reduction of F-actin levels at the heart luminal membrane, necessary for forming the large heart tube lumen. Consequently, lack of Mp results in decreased diastolic capacity, leading to reduced heart contractility, as measured in live fly hearts. In summary, these findings show that the polarized localization of Mp controls the direction, timing, and presumably the extent of Slit/Robo activity and signaling at the luminal membrane of the heart cardioblasts. This regulation is essential for the morphogenetic changes that sculpt the heart tube in Drosophila, and possibly in forming the vertebrates primary heart tube.

Fermitins, the orthologs of mammalian Kindlins, regulate the development of a functional cardiac syncytium in Drosophila melanogaster

The vertebrate Kindlins are an evolutionarily conserved family of proteins critical for integrin signalling and cell adhesion. Kindlin-2 (KIND2) is associated with intercalated discs in mice, suggesting a role in cardiac syncytium development; however, deficiency of Kind2 leads to embryonic lethality. Morpholino knock-down of Kind2 in zebrafish has a pleiotropic effect on development that includes the heart. It therefore remains unclear whether cardiomyocyte Kind2 expression is required for cardiomyocyte junction formation and the development of normal cardiac function. To address this question, the expression of Fermitin 1 and Fermitin 2 (Fit1, Fit2), the two Drosophila orthologs of Kind2, was silenced in Drosophila cardiomyocytes. Heart development was assessed in adult flies by immunological methods and videomicroscopy. Silencing both Fit1 and Fit2 led to a severe cardiomyopathy characterised by the failure of cardiomyocytes to develop as a functional syncytium and loss of synchrony between cardiomyocytes. A null allele of Fit1 was generated but this had no impact on the heart. Similarly, the silencing of Fit2 failed to affect heart function. In contrast, the silencing of Fit2 in the cardiomyocytes of Fit1 null flies disrupted syncytium development, leading to severe cardiomyopathy. The data definitively demonstrate a role for Fermitins in the development of a functional cardiac syncytium in Drosophila. The findings also show that the Fermitins can functionally compensate for each other in order to control syncytium development. These findings support the concept that abnormalities in cardiomyocyte KIND2 expression or function may contribute to cardiomyopathies in humans.