The heart has its own blood supply. The coronary arteries provide oxygen-rich blood to the heart, while the heart veins take away the oxygen-poor blood. This vascular system nourishes the heart, allowing it to pump blood to all other organs and tissues of the body. However, despite their vital importance, the process of coronary vessel development and the molecules needed have not been fully ascertained.
Researchers engaged in zebrafish research at The Saban Research Institute and Heart Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles have discovered a new source of cells that can develop into coronary blood vessels and confirmed The signal transduction protein that directs this process-a chemokine called CXCL12. The results of this study were published on the Internet on May 26 in the journal Developmental Cell.
Zebrafish has become an important vertebrate model for cardiovascular research for several reasons. These reasons include its ability to regenerate when the heart is injured, and because it has a transparent embryo that allows people to observe the internal development of blood vessels. process. Using confocal and time-lapse imaging, researchers can visualize the process of the endocardium (especially from the atrioventricular channel) developing into the coronary blood vessels; the endocardium is the lining tissue of the heart; the atrioventricular channel divides the heart It is the structure of different compartments.
Ching-Ling (Ellen) Lien, PhD is the principal investigator of The Saban Research Institute of CHLA and the senior author of this article; she said: "This promotes our research on heart regeneration to repair damaged human hearts. We have now discovered that A new source of cells that can differentiate into coronary blood vessels and confirmed the required factors."
Lien and her team observed that zebrafish with mutations in the CXCR4 receptor survived, but they could not form coronary blood vessels or could not regenerate after heart damage. Because zebrafish without the mutation have the above two abilities, the researchers concluded that the interaction between the CXCR4 receptor on endothelial cells and the CXCL12b protein expressed in the heart muscle regulates this process. In addition to providing basic information about the developing heart, this finding may have relevant clinical implications.
Lien is also an assistant professor at the School of Medicine and a researcher at the Cardiovascular Thoracic Institute, both of which are located at the University of Southern California; she explained: “Children or Young people may not know that they have abnormal coronary blood vessels before the heart load increases (such as during strenuous exercise) because their heart blood circulation is sufficient. But then a healthy young man suddenly died. Another kind The situation is that a person with abnormal coronary blood vessels may have a higher risk of myocardial infarction in the future. Our findings will guide future research to understand these terrible diseases, and the purpose is to better diagnose them and Develop intervention strategies."