Functional alterations and transcriptomic changes during zebrafish cardiac aging

• Published in: Biogerontology (Dordrecht) Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 637 - 652
• Main Authors: Shao, Xuelian, Fu, Yu, Ma, Jinmin, Li, Xueyu, Lu, Chenqi, Zhang, Ruilin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.10.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aging; Animal models; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cardiovascular diseases; Cell Biology; Danio rerio; Developmental Biology; DNA damage; Geriatrics/Gerontology; Inflammation; Life Sciences; Mitochondria; Research Article; Functional alterations; Transcriptomic changes; Aging-related markers; Cardiac aging
• ISSN: 1389-5729; 1573-6768; 1573-6768
• DOI: 10.1007/s10522-020-09881-z

Aging dramatically increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases in human. Animal models are of great value to study cardiac aging, and zebrafish have become a popular model for aging study recently. However, there is limited knowledge about the progression and regulation of cardiac aging in zebrafish. In this study we first validated the effectiveness of a panel of aging-related markers and revealed their spatial-temporal specificity. Using these markers, we discovered that cardiac aging in zebrafish initiated at mid-age around 24 months, followed by a gradual progression marked with increased DNA damage, inflammatory response and reduced mitochondrial function. Furthermore, we showed aging-related expression profile change in zebrafish hearts was similar to that in rat hearts. Overall, our results provide a deeper insight into the cardiac aging process in zebrafish, which will set up foundation for generating novel cardiac aging models suitable for large scale screening of pharmaceutical targets.