Newborn hypoxia/anoxia inhibits cardiomyocyte proliferation and decreases cardiomyocyte endowment in the developing heart: role of endothelin-1.

Abstract

In the developing heart, cardiomyocytes undergo terminal differentiation during a critical window around birth. Hypoxia is a major stress to preterm infants, yet its effect on the development and maturation of the heart remains unknown. We tested the hypothesis in a rat model that newborn anoxia accelerates cardiomyocyte terminal differentiation and results in reduced cardiomyocyte endowment in the developing heart via an endothelin-1-dependent mechanism. Newborn rats were exposed to anoxia twice daily from postnatal day 1 to 3, and hearts were isolated and studied at postnatal day 4 (P4), 7 (P7), and 14 (P14). Anoxia significantly increased HIF-1α protein expression and pre-proET-1 mRNA abundance in P4 neonatal hearts. Cardiomyocyte proliferation was significantly decreased by anoxia in P4 and P7, resulting in a significant reduction of cardiomyocyte number per heart weight in the P14 neonates. Furthermore, the expression of cyclin D2 was significantly decreased due to anoxia, while p27 expression was increased. Anoxia has no significant effect on cardiomyocyte binucleation or myocyte size. Consistently, prenatal hypoxia significantly decreased cardiomyocyte proliferation but had no effect on binucleation in the fetal heart. Newborn administration of PD156707, an ETA-receptor antagonist, significantly increased cardiomyocyte proliferation at P4 and cell size at P7, resulting in an increase in the heart to body weight ratio in P7 neonates. In addition, PD156707 abrogated the anoxia-mediated effects. The results suggest that hypoxia and anoxia via activation of endothelin-1 at the critical window of heart development inhibits cardiomyocyte proliferation and decreases myocyte endowment in the developing heart, which may negatively impact cardiac function later in life.

• Authors: Alexandra N Paradis, Maresha S Gay, Christopher G Wilson, Lubo Zhang
• Journal: PloS one (PLoS One) Vol. 10 Issue 2 Pg. e0116600 ( 2015) ISSN: 1932-6203 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25692855 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural)

Chemical References

• Dioxoles
• Endothelin A Receptor Antagonists
• Endothelin-1
• Hif1a protein, rat
• Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit
• PD 156707
• Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen
• Protein Precursors
• RNA, Messenger
• Receptor, Endothelin A
• p27 antigen
• proendothelin 1

Topics

• Animals
• Animals, Newborn
• Body Weight (drug effects)
• Cell Count
• Cell Hypoxia (drug effects)
• Cell Proliferation (drug effects)
• Cell Size (drug effects)
• Dioxoles (pharmacology)
• Endothelin A Receptor Antagonists (pharmacology)
• Endothelin-1 (genetics, metabolism)
• Female
• Fetal Heart (cytology, embryology)
• Gene Expression Regulation (drug effects)
• Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit
• Myocytes, Cardiac (cytology, drug effects, metabolism)
• Organ Size (drug effects)
• Pregnancy
• Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (metabolism)
• Protein Precursors (genetics, metabolism)
• RNA, Messenger (genetics, metabolism)
• Rats
• Rats, Sprague-Dawley
• Receptor, Endothelin A (metabolism)