Cardiac compartment-specific overexpression of a modified retinoic acid receptor produces dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure in transgenic mice
Retinoids play a critical role in cardiac morphogenesis. To examine the effects of excessive retinoid signaling on myocardial development, transgenic mice that overexpress a constitutively active retinoic acid receptor (RAR) controlled by either the alpha- or beta-myosin heavy chain (MyHC) promoter...
Saved in:
Published in | The Journal of clinical investigation Vol. 100; no. 8; pp. 1958 - 1968 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
15.10.1997
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | Retinoids play a critical role in cardiac morphogenesis. To examine the effects of excessive retinoid signaling on myocardial development, transgenic mice that overexpress a constitutively active retinoic acid receptor (RAR) controlled by either the alpha- or beta-myosin heavy chain (MyHC) promoter were generated. Animals carrying the alpha-MyHC-RAR transgene expressed RARs in embryonic atria and in adult atria and ventricles, but developed no signs of either malformations or disease. In contrast, beta-MyHC-RAR animals, where expression was activated in fetal ventricles, developed a dilated cardiomyopathy that varied in severity with transgene copy number. Characteristic postmortem lesions included biventricular chamber dilation and left atrial thrombosis; the incidence and severity of these lesions increased with increasing copy number. Transcript analyses showed that molecular markers of hypertrophy, alpha-skeletal actin, atrial natriuretic factor and beta-MyHC, were upregulated. Cardiac performance of transgenic hearts was evaluated using the isolated perfused working heart model as well as in vivo, by transthoracic M-mode echocardiography. Both analyses showed moderate to severe impairment of left ventricular function and reduced cardiac contractility. Thus, expression of a constitutively active RAR in developing atria and/ or in postnatal ventricles is relatively benign, while ventricular expression during gestation can lead to significant cardiac dysfunction. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0021-9738 |
DOI: | 10.1172/JCI119727 |