Huang-Tian Yang

Differentiation of Pluripotent Embryonic Stem Cells Into Cardiomyocytes

Abstract— Embryonic stem (ES) cells have been established as permanent lines of undifferentiated pluripotent cells from early mouse embryos. ES cells provide a unique system for the genetic manipulation and the creation of knockout strains of mice through gene targeting. By cultivation in vitro as 3D aggregates called embryoid bodies, ES cells can differentiate into derivatives of all 3 primary germ layers, including cardiomyocytes. Protocols for the in vitro differentiation of ES cells into cardiomyocytes representing all specialized cell types of the heart, such as atrial-like, ventricular-like, sinus nodal–like, and Purkinje-like cells, have been established. During differentiation, cardiac-specific genes as well as proteins, receptors, and ion channels are expressed in a developmental continuum, which closely recapitulates the developmental pattern of early cardiogenesis. Exploitation of ES cell–derived cardiomyocytes has facilitated the analysis of early cardiac development and has permitted in vitro “gain-of-function” or “loss-of-function” genetic studies. Recently, human ES cell lines have been established that can be used to investigate cardiac development and the function of human heart cells and to determine the basic strategies of regenerative cell therapy. This review summarizes the current state of ES cell–derived cardiogenesis and provides an overview of how genomic strategies coupled with this in vitro differentiation system can be applied to cardiac research.

Ascorbic acid enhances the cardiac differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells through promoting the proliferation of cardiac progenitor cells.

Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has opened new avenues for the investigation of heart diseases, drug screening and potential autologous cardiac regeneration. However, their application is hampered by inefficient cardiac differentiation, high interline variability, and poor maturation of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (iPS-CMs). To identify efficient inducers for cardiac differentiation and maturation of iPSCs and elucidate the mechanisms, we systematically screened sixteen cardiomyocyte inducers on various murine (m) iPSCs and found that only ascorbic acid (AA) consistently and robustly enhanced the cardiac differentiation of eleven lines including eight without spontaneous cardiogenic potential. We then optimized the treatment conditions and demonstrated that differentiation day 2-6, a period for the specification of cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs), was a critical time for AA to take effect. This was further confirmed by the fact that AA increased the expression of cardiovascular but not mesodermal markers. Noteworthily, AA treatment led to approximately 7.3-fold (miPSCs) and 30.2-fold (human iPSCs) augment in the yield of iPS-CMs. Such effect was attributed to a specific increase in the proliferation of CPCs via the MEK-ERK1/2 pathway by through promoting collagen synthesis. In addition, AA-induced cardiomyocytes showed better sarcomeric organization and enhanced responses of action potentials and calcium transients to β-adrenergic and muscarinic stimulations. These findings demonstrate that AA is a suitable cardiomyocyte inducer for iPSCs to improve cardiac differentiation and maturation simply, universally, and efficiently. These findings also highlight the importance of stimulating CPC proliferation by manipulating extracellular microenvironment in guiding cardiac differentiation of the pluripotent stem cells.

The ryanodine receptor modulates the spontaneous beating rate of cardiomyocytes during development

In adult myocardium, the heartbeat originates from the sequential activation of ionic currents in pacemaker cells of the sinoatrial node. Ca2+ release via the ryanodine receptor (RyR) modulates the rate at which these cells beat. In contrast, the mechanisms that regulate heart rate during early cardiac development are poorly understood. Embryonic stem (ES) cells can differentiate into spontaneously contracting myocytes whose beating rate increases with differentiation time. These cells thus offer an opportunity to determine the mechanisms that regulate heart rate during development. Here we show that the increase in heart rate with differentiation is markedly depressed in ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes with a functional knockout (KO) of the cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2). KO myocytes show a slowing of the rate of spontaneous diastolic depolarization and an absence of calcium sparks. The depressed rate of pacemaker potential can be mimicked in wild-type myocytes by ryanodine, and rescued in KO myocytes with herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 amplicons containing full-length RyR2. We conclude that a functional RyR2 is crucial to the progressive increase in heart rate during differentiation of ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes, consistent with a mechanism that couples Ca2+ release via RyR before an action potential with activation of an inward current that accelerates membrane depolarization.

GLP-1 action in L6 myotubes is via a receptor different from the pancreatic GLP-1 receptor

The incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-(7-36) amide is best known for its antidiabetogenic actions mediated via a GLP-1 receptor present on pancreatic endocrine cells. To investigate the molecular mechanisms of GLP-1 action in muscle, we used cultured L6 myotubes. In L6 myotubes, GLP-1 enhanced insulin-stimulated glycogen synthesis by 140% while stimulating CO2 production and lactate formation by 150%. In the presence of IBMX, GLP-1 diminished cAMP levels to 83% of IBMX alone. In L6 myotubes transfected with pancreatic GLP-1 receptor, GLP-1 increased cAMP levels and inhibited glycogen synthesis by 60%. An antagonist of pancreatic GLP-1 receptor, exendin-4-(9-39), inhibited GLP-1-mediated glycogen synthesis in GLP-1 receptor-transfected L6 myotubes. However, in parental L6 myotubes, exendin-4-(9-39) and GLP-1-(1-36) amide, an inactive peptide on pancreatic GLP-1 receptor, displaced 125I-labeled GLP-1 binding and stimulated glycogen synthesis by 186 and 130%, respectively. These results suggest that the insulinomimetic effects of GLP-1 in L6 cells are likely to be mediated by a receptor that is different from the GLP-1 receptor found in the pancreas.The incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-(7-36) amide is best known for its antidiabetogenic actions mediated via a GLP-1 receptor present on pancreatic endocrine cells. To investigate the molecular mechanisms of GLP-1 action in muscle, we used cultured L6 myotubes. In L6 myotubes, GLP-1 enhanced insulin-stimulated glycogen synthesis by 140% while stimulating CO2 production and lactate formation by 150%. In the presence of IBMX, GLP-1 diminished cAMP levels to 83% of IBMX alone. In L6 myotubes transfected with pancreatic GLP-1 receptor, GLP-1 increased cAMP levels and inhibited glycogen synthesis by 60%. An antagonist of pancreatic GLP-1 receptor, exendin-4-(9-39), inhibited GLP-1-mediated glycogen synthesis in GLP-1 receptor-transfected L6 myotubes. However, in parental L6 myotubes, exendin-4-(9-39) and GLP-1-(1-36) amide, an inactive peptide on pancreatic GLP-1 receptor, displaced125I-labeled GLP-1 binding and stimulated glycogen synthesis by 186 and 130%, respectively. These results suggest that the insulinomimetic effects of GLP-1 in L6 cells are likely to be mediated by a receptor that is different from the GLP-1 receptor found in the pancreas.

Elevated microRNA-155 promotes foam cell formation by targeting HBP1 in atherogenesis

AIM MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in inflammatory responses of macrophages. However, the function of miRNAs in macrophage-derived foam cell formation is unclear. Here, we investigated the role of miRNAs in macrophage-derived foam cell formation and atherosclerotic development. METHODS AND RESULTS Using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR), we found that the level of miR-155 expression was increased significantly in both plasma and macrophages from atherosclerosis (ApoE(-/-)) mice. We identified that oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) induced the expression and release of miR-155 in macrophages, and that miR-155 was required to mediate oxLDL-induced lipid uptake and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production of macrophages. Furthermore, ectopic overexpression and knockdown experiments identified that HMG box-transcription protein1 (HBP1) is a novel target of miR-155. Knockdown of HBP1 enhanced lipid uptake and ROS production in oxLDL-stimulated macrophages, and overexpression of HBP1 repressed these effects. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis identified three YY1 binding sites in the promoter region of pri-miR-155 and verified YY1 binding directly to its promoter region. Detailed analysis showed that the YY1/HDAC2/4 complex negatively regulated the expression of miR-155 to suppress oxLDL-induced foam cell formation. Importantly, inhibition of miR-155 by a systemically delivered antagomiR-155 decreased clearly lipid-loading in macrophages and reduced atherosclerotic plaques in ApoE(-/-) mice. Moreover, we observed that the level of miR-155 expression was up-regulated in CD14(+) monocytes from patients with coronary heart disease. CONCLUSION Our findings reveal a new regulatory pathway of YY1/HDACs/miR-155/HBP1 in macrophage-derived foam cell formation during early atherogenesis and suggest that miR-155 is a potential therapeutic target for atherosclerosis.

Highly efficient induction and long-term maintenance of multipotent cardiovascular progenitors from human pluripotent stem cells under defined conditions

Cardiovascular progenitor cells (CVPCs) derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), hold great promise for the study of cardiovascular development and cell-based therapy of heart diseases, but their applications are challenged by the difficulties in their efficient generation and stable maintenance. This study aims to develop chemically defined systems for robust generation and stable propagation of hPSC-derived CVPCs by modulating the key early developmental pathways involved in human cardiovascular specification and CVPC self-renewal. Herein we report that a combination of bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4), glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) inhibitor CHIR99021 and ascorbic acid is sufficient to rapidly convert monolayer-cultured hPSCs, including hESCs and hiPSCs, into homogeneous CVPCs in a chemically defined medium under feeder- and serum-free culture conditions. These CVPCs stably self-renewed under feeder- and serum-free conditions and expanded over 107-fold when the differentiation-inducing signals from BMP, GSK3 and Activin/Nodal pathways were simultaneously eliminated. Furthermore, these CVPCs exhibited expected genome-wide molecular features of CVPCs, retained potentials to generate major cardiovascular lineages including cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells in vitro, and were non-tumorigenic in vivo. Altogether, the established systems reported here permit efficient generation and stable maintenance of hPSC-derived CVPCs, which represent a powerful tool to study early embryonic cardiovascular development and provide a potentially safe source of cells for myocardial regenerative medicine.

Crucial role of the sarcoplasmic reticulum in the developmental regulation of Ca2+ transients and contraction in cardiomyocytes derived from embryonic stem cells

In adult myocardium, excitation‐contraction coupling is critically regulated by sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release via type 2 ryanodine receptor (RyR2), but generally, it is believed that SR‐function is rudimentary in the fetal heart and in embryonic stem (ES) cell‐derived cardiomyocytes (ESCMs), a possible source for cell replacement therapies. This study used wild‐type (RyR2+/+) and RyR2 null (RyR2−/−) ESCMs as an in vitro model of cardiomyogenesis, together with pharmacological approaches and expression profiles of genes relevant for SR function, to elucidate the functional importance of RyR2 and SR on the regulation of Ca2+ transients and contraction during early cardiomyocyte development. During differentiation of RyR2+/+ ESCMs, SR function developed progressively with increased basal cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), enhanced frequency and amplitude, and decreased duration of Ca2+ transients that were inhibited by ryanodine and thapsigargin. These functional traits correlated with SR Ca2+ load and the expression of RyR2, SERCA2a, and phospholamban. RyR2−/− ESCMs, comparatively, demonstrated a significantly prolonged time‐to‐peak and reduced frequency of Ca2+ transients and contractions. β‐adrenergic stimulation of RyR2+/+ ESCMs increased the frequency and amplitude of Ca2+ transients with differentiation but was much weaker in RyR2−/− ESCMs. We conclude that functional SR and control of RyR2‐mediated SR Ca2+ release directly contribute to the spontaneous and β‐adrenergic receptor‐stimulated contraction of ESCMs, even at very immature stages of development.

The long noncoding RNA Chaer defines an epigenetic checkpoint in cardiac hypertrophy.

Epigenetic reprogramming is a critical process of pathological gene induction during cardiac hypertrophy and remodeling, but the underlying regulatory mechanisms remain to be elucidated. Here we identified a heart-enriched long noncoding (lnc)RNA, named cardiac-hypertrophy-associated epigenetic regulator (Chaer), which is necessary for the development of cardiac hypertrophy. Mechanistically, Chaer directly interacts with the catalytic subunit of polycomb repressor complex 2 (PRC2). This interaction, which is mediated by a 66-mer motif in Chaer, interferes with PRC2 targeting to genomic loci, thereby inhibiting histone H3 lysine 27 methylation at the promoter regions of genes involved in cardiac hypertrophy. The interaction between Chaer and PRC2 is transiently induced after hormone or stress stimulation in a process involving mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1, and this interaction is a prerequisite for epigenetic reprogramming and induction of genes involved in hypertrophy. Inhibition of Chaer expression in the heart before, but not after, the onset of pressure overload substantially attenuates cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction. Our study reveals that stress-induced pathological gene activation in the heart requires a previously uncharacterized lncRNA-dependent epigenetic checkpoint.

Overexpression of heat shock protein 27 protects against ischaemia/reperfusion-induced cardiac dysfunction via stabilization of troponin I and T

AIMS Heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) renders cardioprotection from ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, but little is known about its role in myofilaments. We proposed that increased expression of Hsp27 may improve post-ischaemic contractile dysfunction by preventing I/R-induced cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and troponin T (cTnT) degradation. METHODS AND RESULTS Adenovirus-mediated Hsp27 overexpression improved contractile function in perfused rat hearts subjected to global no-flow I/R (30-min/30-min). Such improvement was further confirmed in Hsp27-overexpressing cardiomyocytes subjected to simulated I/R (20-min/30-min). Moreover, these cells showed restored myofilament response to Ca(2+) but not intracellular Ca(2+) transients. The protection correlated with attenuation of I/R-induced cTnI and cTnT degradation. Confocal microscopy revealed co-localization of Hsp27 with these proteins. Co-immunoprecipitation and pull-down assays further confirmed that Hsp27 interacted with the COOH-terminus of cTnI and the NH(2)-terminus of cTnT and that Hsp27 overexpression decreased the interaction between mu-calpain (a protease mediating proteolysis of cTnI and cTnT) and cTnI or cTnT under I/R. CONCLUSION The findings reveal a novel role of Hsp27 in the protection of cTnI and cTnT from I/R-induced degradation by preventing their proteolytic cleavage via interacting with these proteins. Such protection may result in restored post-ischaemic myofilament response to Ca(2+) and improved post-ischaemic contractile function.

Inducible nitric oxide synthase contributes to intermittent hypoxia against ischemia/reperfusion injury.

AbstractAim:To investigate the role of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)-derived nitric oxide (NO) in the cardioprotection of intermittent hypoxia (IH) against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury.Methods:Langendorff-perfused isolated rat hearts were used to measure variables of left ventricular function during baseline perfusion, ischemia, and reperfusion period. Nitrate plus nitrite (NOx) content in myocardium was measured using a biochemical method. iNOS mRNA and protein expression in rat left ventricles were detected using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot, respectively.Results:Myocardial function recovered better in IH rat hearts than in normoxic control hearts. The iNOS-selective inhibitor aminoguanidine (AG) (100 μmol/L) significantly inhibited the protective effects of IH, but had no influence on normoxic rat hearts. The baseline content of NOx in IH hearts was higher than that in normoxic hearts. After 30 min ischemia, the NOx level in normoxic hearts increased compared to the corresponding baseline level, whereas there was no significant change in IH hearts. However, the NOx level in IH hearts was still higher than that of normoxic hearts during ischemia and reperfusion period. AG 100 μmol/L significantly diminished the NOx content in IH and normoxic hearts during ischemia and reperfusion period. The baseline levels of iNOS mRNA and protein in IH hearts were higher than those of normoxic hearts. Compared to the corresponding baseline level, iNOS mRNA and protein levels in normoxic rat hearts increased and those in IH rat hearts decreased after reperfusion. The addition of AG 100 μmol/L significantly decreased iNOS mRNA and protein expression in IH rat hearts after I/R.Conclusion:IH upregulated the baseline level of iNOS mRNA and protein expression leading to an increase in NO production, which may play an important role in the cardiac protection of IH against I/R injury.