Biology subjects

Pedrazzini, T.

Publications and source records attributed to Pedrazzini, T..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

The lncRNA Sweetheart regulates compensatory cardiac hypertrophy after myocardial injury

After myocardial infarction in the adult heart the remaining, non-infarcted tissue adapts to compensate the loss of functional tissue. This adaptation requires changes in gene expression networks, which are mostly controlled by transcription regulating proteins. Long non-coding transcripts (lncRNAs) are now recognized for taking part in fine-tuning such gene programs. We identified and characterized the cardiomyocyte specific lncRNA Sweetheart RNA (Swhtr), an approximately 10 kb long transcript divergently expressed from the cardiac core transcription factor coding gene Nkx2-5. We show that Swhtr is dispensable for normal heart development and function, but becomes essential for the tissue adaptation process after myocardial infarction. Re-expressing Swhtr from an exogenous locus rescues the Swhtr null phenotype. Genes depending on Swhtr after cardiac stress are significantly occupied, and therefore most likely regulated by NKX2-5. Our results indicate a synergistic role for Swhtr and the developmentally essential transcription factor NKX2-5 in tissue adaptation after myocardial injury.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Deletion of the ion channel Trpm4 increases cardiac inflammatory markers and fibrosis after myocardial infarction in mice

BACKGROUNDThe first cause of mortality worldwide is ischemic heart disease. In myocardial infarction (MI), the ischemic event causes cell death, which triggers a large inflammatory response responsible for removing necrotic material and inducing tissue repair. Endothelial cells, immune cells and fibroblasts play a key role in orchestrating this healing process. TRPM4 is a Ca2+-activated ion channel permeable to monovalent cations and its silencing or knocking out was shown to critically modify cellular functions of these non-myocytic cell types. OBJECTIVEOur aims were to 1) evaluate the role of TRPM4 on mice survival and cardiac function after MI; and 2) investigate the role of TRPM4 in the post-MI acute and chronic inflammatory response. METHODSWe performed ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery or sham intervention on 154 Trpm4 WT or KO male mice and monitored survival for up to 5 weeks as well as cardiac function using echocardiography at 72h and five weeks. We drew blood at different acute time points (6h, 12h, 24h) and performed time-of-flight mass spectrometry to analyze the sera proteomes. Further, we sacrificed sub-groups of mice at 24h and 72h after surgery and performed single-cell RNA sequencing on the non-myocytic cells. Lastly, we assessed fibrosis and angiogenesis at five weeks using type I collagen and CD31 immunostaining respectively. RESULTSWe observed no significant differences in survival or cardiac function post-MI between both genotypes. However, our serum proteomics data showed significantly decreased tissue injury markers such as creatine kinase M and VE-Cadherin in KO compared to WT 12h after MI. On the other hand, inflammation characterized by serum amyloid P component in the serum, as well as higher number of recruited granulocytes, M1 macrophages, M1 monocytes, Mac-6 macrophages, and expression of pro-inflammatory genes such as Il1b, Lyz2 and S100a8/a9 was significantly higher in endothelial cells, macrophages and fibroblasts of KO than of WT. This correlated with increased cardiac fibrosis and angiogenesis 5 weeks after MI in KO. CONCLUSIONOur data suggest that knocking out Trpm4 drastically increases acute inflammation post-MI, is associated with increased chronic fibrosis and does not improve survival at 5 weeks post-MI. Thus, targeting TRPM4 in the context of MI should be pondered carefully and approaches that nuance the timing of the inhibition or cellular target may be required.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Distinct molecular signatures of fission predict mitochondrial degradation or proliferation

Mitochondrial fission is a highly regulated process which, when disrupted, can alter metabolism, proliferation and apoptosis1-3. The downstream effects have implications for many diseases, from neurodegeneration4-6 to cardiovascular disease7,8 and cancer9,10. Key components of the fission machinery have been identified: constriction sites are initiated by the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)11 and actin12 before dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1)13 is recruited to the outer mitochondrial membrane via adaptor proteins14-17, where it drives constriction and scission of the membrane18. In the life cycle of mitochondria, fission is important for the biogenesis of new mitochondria as well as the clearance of dysfunctional mitochondria via mitophagy3,19. Global regulation of fission on the cellular level is insufficient to explain how fate decisions are made at the single organelle level, so it is unknown how those dual functions arise, blocking progress in developing therapies that target mitochondrial activity. However, systematically studying mitochondrial division to uncover fate determinants is challenging, since fission is unpredictable, and mitochondrial morphology is extremely heterogeneous. Furthermore, because their ultrastructure lies below the diffraction limit, the dynamic organization of mitochondria and their interaction partners are hard to study at the single organelle level. We used live-cell structured illumination microscopy (SIM) and instant SIM20 for fast multi-colour acquisition of mitochondrial dynamics in Cos-7 cells and mouse cardiomyocytes. We analysed hundreds of fission events, and discovered two functionally and mechanistically distinct types of fission. Mitochondria divide peripherally to shed damaged material into smaller daughter mitochondria that subsequently undergo mitophagy, whereas healthy mitochondria proliferate via midzone division. Both types are Drp1-mediated, but they rely on different membrane adaptors to recruit Drp1, and ER and actin mediated pre-constriction is only involved in midzone fission.

cell biology↗