Characterization of diploid cardiomyocytes in adult mammalian hearts

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19545
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 53:Organ-based internal medicine and related fields
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Fujio Yasushi 大阪大学, 薬学研究科, 教授 (20359839)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 心筋細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Heart is composed of various kinds of cells, including cardiomyocytes, vascular endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and cardiac fibroblasts. Interestingly, mammalian cardiomyocytes are mainly diploid cells at birth; however, the frequency of tetraploid cardiomyocytes increases afterwards. Therefore, adult mammalian cardiomyocytes are not homogenous. Though it was reported that the adult hearts that are abundant in diploid cardiomyocytes exhibit remarkable reparative/regenerative capacity, the difference between diploid and tetraploid cardiomyocytes remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we characterized adult murine cardiomyocytes by using single cell analysis. And we found that diploid cardiomyocytes have tendency to show juvenile nature, compared with tetraploid cells, though there are no clear differences between them.

Free Research Field

循環薬理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

社会の高齢化と食生活の過栄養化に伴い、循環器疾患が増加し、その結果、心不全患者も増加している。心不全は、心臓の機能が低下し、息切れや浮腫が生じる予後不良の病態である。心臓の筋肉は、骨格筋と異なり修復再生能が低いため、循環器疾患により傷害を受けても回復しないことが、心不全の原因であると考えられている。本研究の成果は、成体の心筋細胞の中にも幼若な細胞集団が含まれていることを示すものであり、特に、そのような幼若な細胞集団を標的として介入を加えることによる、新たな心不全治療が開発される可能性があることを示唆する。