PUBLICATION

Novel approaches to determine contractile function of the isolated adult zebrafish ventricular cardiac myocyte

Authors
Dvornikov, A.V., Dewan, S., Alekhina, O.V., Pickett, F.B., de Tombe, P.P.
ID
ZDB-PUB-140513-426
Date
2014
Source
The Journal of physiology   592: 1949-56 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Pickett, F. Bryan
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Age Factors
  • Animals
  • Calcium/metabolism
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Extracellular Fluid/metabolism
  • Heart Ventricles/cytology
  • Heart Ventricles/metabolism
  • Myocardial Contraction/physiology*
  • Myocytes, Cardiac/physiology*
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
24591576 Full text @ J. Physiol.
Abstract
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has been used extensively in cardiovascular biology, but mainly in the study of heart development. The relative ease of its genetic manipulation may indicate the suitability of this species as a cost-effective model system for the study of cardiac contractile biology. However, whether the zebrafish heart is an appropriate model system for investigations pertaining to mammalian cardiac contractile structure-function relationships remains to be resolved. Myocytes were isolated from adult zebrafish hearts by enzymatic digestion, attached to carbon rods, and twitch force and intracellular Ca(2+) were measured. We observed the modulation of twitch force, but not of intracellular Ca(2+), by both extracellular [Ca(2+)] and sarcomere length. In permeabilized cells/myofibrils, we found robust myofilament length-dependent activation. Moreover, modulation of myofilament activation-relaxation and force redevelopment kinetics by varied Ca(2+) activation levels resembled that found previously in mammalian myofilaments. We conclude that the zebrafish is a valid model system for the study of cardiac contractile structure-function relationships.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping