ニシイ アキコ   Nishii Akiko
  西井 明子
   所属   医学部 医学科
   職種   教授
論文種別 総説
言語種別 英語
査読の有無 査読あり
表題 Connexin45 contributes to global cardiovascular development by establishing myocardial impulse propagation.
掲載誌名 正式名:Mechanisms of development
略  称:Mech Dev
ISSNコード:(1872-6356)0925-4773(Linking)
掲載区分国外
巻・号・頁 140,pp.41-52
著者・共著者 NISHII Kiyomasa†, SEKI Akiko, KUMAI Madoka, MORIMOTO Sachio, MIWA Takeshi, HAGIWARA Nobuhisa, SHIBATA Yosaburo, KOBAYASHI Yasushi
発行年月 2016/05
概要 Among gap junction-encoding genes, the loss of connexin (Cx) 45 most profoundly obstructs embryogenesis through an endocardial cushion defect and conduction block. However, the interdependence of these defects is not known, and the details of conduction block have not been elucidated. Here, we examined mouse embryos with a region-specific deletion of Cx45 in the myocardium (CA-Cre; Cx45(flox/flox)) or endothelium (Tie2-Cre; Cx45(flox/flox)). Although the deletion of Cx45 in the myocardium was heterogeneous, the CA-Cre; Cx45(flox/flox) embryos were lethal at the same stage as the constitutive Cx45-deficient (Cx45(-/-)) embryos. We determined the onset and patterns of their conduction block through point-tracking in video recordings of embryonic heart contractions. An incomplete conduction block at the atrioventricular canal appeared at embryonic day (E) 8.5 and was predominant around the lethal E9.5 stage in both the Cx45(-/-) and CA-Cre; Cx45(flox/flox) embryos. Although the Cx45(-/-) hearts showed a consistently severe reduction in atrioventricular conduction velocity, the CA-Cre; Cx45(flox/flox) hearts had delay times within the normal range and showed frequent retrograde conduction. As previously reported, the Cx45(-/-) endocardial cushion was consistently defective, and nuclear factor of activated T-cells cytoplasmic (NFATc)1 within the endocardium showed inactive cytoplasmic distribution. In CA-Cre; Cx45(flox/flox), however, the endocardial cushion was partially formed, with active NFATc1 within the endocardium. There was no developmental abnormality in the Tie2-Cre; Cx45(flox/flox) embryos. These results indicate that myocardial dysfunction is responsible for most of the reported defects in Cx45(-/-), which are alleviated by sporadic Cx45 expression in the CA-Cre; Cx45(flox/flox) myocardium.
DOI 10.1016/j.mod.2016.02.003
PMID 26916723