Chalcone-Supported Cardiac Mesoderm Induction in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells for Heart Muscle Engineering.

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) hold great promise for applications in cell therapy and drug screening in the cardiovascular field. Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) is key for early cardiac mesoderm induction in hPSC and subsequent cardiomyocyte derivation. Small-molecular BMP4 mimetics may help to standardize cardiomyocyte derivation from hPSCs. Based on observations that chalcones can stimulate BMP4 signaling pathways, we hypothesized their utility in cardiac mesoderm induction. To test this, we set up a two-tiered screening strategy, (1) for directed differentiation of hPSCs with commercially available chalcones (4'-hydroxychalcone [4'HC] and Isoliquiritigen) and 24 newly synthesized chalcone derivatives, and (2) a functional screen to assess the propensity of the obtained cardiomyocytes to self-organize into contractile engineered human myocardium (EHM). We identified 4'HC, 4-fluoro-4'-methoxychalcone, and 4-fluoro-4'-hydroxychalcone as similarly effective in cardiac mesoderm induction, but only 4'HC as an effective replacement for BMP4 in the derivation of contractile EHM-forming cardiomyocytes.

Muscarinic receptors promote pacemaker fate at the expense of secondary conduction system tissue in zebrafish.

Deterioration or inborn malformations of the cardiac conduction system (CCS) interfere with proper impulse propagation in the heart and may lead to sudden cardiac death or heart failure. Patients afflicted with arrhythmia depend on antiarrhythmic medication or invasive therapy, such as pacemaker implantation. An ideal way to treat these patients would be CCS tissue restoration. This, however, requires precise knowledge regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying CCS development. Here, we aimed to identify regulators of CCS development. We performed a compound screen in zebrafish embryos and identified tolterodine, a muscarinic receptor antagonist, as a modifier of CCS development. Tolterodine provoked a lower heart rate, pericardiac edema, and arrhythmia. Blockade of muscarinic M3, but not M2, receptors induced transcriptional changes leading to amplification of sinoatrial cells and loss of atrioventricular identity. Transcriptome data from an engineered human heart muscle model provided additional evidence for the contribution of muscarinic M3 receptors during cardiac progenitor specification and differentiation. Taken together, we found that muscarinic M3 receptors control the CCS already before the heart becomes innervated. Our data indicate that muscarinic receptors maintain a delicate balance between the developing sinoatrial node and the atrioventricular canal, which is probably required to prevent the development of arrhythmia.

Defined Engineered Human Myocardium With Advanced Maturation for Applications in Heart Failure Modeling and Repair.

BACKGROUND: Advancing structural and functional maturation of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes remains a key challenge for applications in disease modeling, drug screening, and heart repair. Here, we sought to advance cardiomyocyte maturation in engineered human myocardium (EHM) toward an adult phenotype under defined conditions. METHODS: We systematically investigated cell composition, matrix, and media conditions to generate EHM from embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts with organotypic functionality under serum-free conditions. We used morphological, functional, and transcriptome analyses to benchmark maturation of EHM. RESULTS: EHM demonstrated important structural and functional properties of postnatal myocardium, including: (1) rod-shaped cardiomyocytes with M bands assembled as a functional syncytium; (2) systolic twitch forces at a similar level as observed in bona fide postnatal myocardium; (3) a positive force-frequency response; (4) inotropic responses to ß-adrenergic stimulation mediated via canonical ß1- and ß2-adrenoceptor signaling pathways; and (5) evidence for advanced molecular maturation by transcriptome profiling. EHM responded to chronic catecholamine toxicity with contractile dysfunction, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, cardiomyocyte death, and N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide release; all are classical hallmarks of heart failure. In addition, we demonstrate the scalability of EHM according to anticipated clinical demands for cardiac repair. CONCLUSIONS: We provide proof-of-concept for a universally applicable technology for the engineering of macroscale human myocardium for disease modeling and heart repair from embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes under defined, serum-free conditions.

Computational Detection of Stage-Specific Transcription Factor Clusters during Heart Development.

Transcription factors (TFs) regulate gene expression in living organisms. In higher organisms, TFs often interact in non-random combinations with each other to control gene transcription. Understanding the interactions is key to decipher mechanisms underlying tissue development. The aim of this study was to analyze co-occurring transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) in a time series dataset from a new cell-culture model of human heart muscle development in order to identify common as well as specific co-occurring TFBS pairs in the promoter regions of regulated genes which can be essential to enhance cardiac tissue developmental processes. To this end, we separated available RNAseq dataset into five temporally defined groups: (i) mesoderm induction stage; (ii) early cardiac specification stage; (iii) late cardiac specification stage; (iv) early cardiac maturation stage; (v) late cardiac maturation stage, where each of these stages is characterized by unique differentially expressed genes (DEGs). To identify TFBS pairs for each stage, we applied the MatrixCatch algorithm, which is a successful method to deduce experimentally described TFBS pairs in the promoters of the DEGs. Although DEGs in each stage are distinct, our results show that the TFBS pair networks predicted by MatrixCatch for all stages are quite similar. Thus, we extend the results of MatrixCatch utilizing a Markov clustering algorithm (MCL) to perform network analysis. Using our extended approach, we are able to separate the TFBS pair networks in several clusters to highlight stage-specific co-occurences between TFBSs. Our approach has revealed clusters that are either common (NFAT or HMGIY clusters) or specific (SMAD or AP-1 clusters) for the individual stages. Several of these clusters are likely to play an important role during the cardiomyogenesis. Further, we have shown that the related TFs of TFBSs in the clusters indicate potential synergistic or antagonistic interactions to switch between different stages. Additionally, our results suggest that cardiomyogenesis follows the hourglass model which was already proven for Arabidopsis and some vertebrates. This investigation helps us to get a better understanding of how each stage of cardiomyogenesis is affected by different combination of TFs. Such knowledge may help to understand basic principles of stem cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes.

Columnar mesomorphism of fluorescent board-shaped quinoxalinophenanthrophenazine derivatives with donor-acceptor structure.

Quinoxalino[2',3':9,10]phenanthro[4,5-abc]phenazine (QPP) dyes have been studied as electron acceptor materials, fluorophores, and building blocks for self-organizing organic semiconductors. Condensation of tetraketopyrene with electron-rich diamino-terphenylene and -triphenylene derivatives generates new donor-acceptor QPP derivatives that display columnar mesomorphism over wide ranges of temperature; are fluorescent in solution, liquid crystal, and solid phases; and have electron acceptor properties. Also reported are the synthesis and properties of the first diamino-(tetraalkoxy)triphenylene as a valuable new synthon.

Polyoxomolybdodiphosphonates: examples incorporating ethylidenepyridines.

We have synthesized and structurally characterized three pyridylethylidene-functionalized diphosphonate-containing polyoxomolybdates, [{Mo(VI)O(3)}(2){Mo(V)(2)O(4)}{HO(3)PC(O)(CH(2)-3-C(5)NH(4))PO(3)}(2)](6-) (1), [{Mo(VI)(2)O(6)}(2){Mo(V)(2)O(4)}{O(3)PC(O)(CH(2)-3-C(5)NH(4))PO(3)}(2)](8-) (2), and [{Mo(V)(2)O(4)(H(2)O)}(4){O(3)PC(O)(CH(2)-3-C(5)NH(4))PO(3)}(4)](12-) (3). Polyanions 1-3 were prepared in a one-pot reaction of the dinuclear, dicationic {Mo(V)(2)O(4)(H(2)O)(6)}(2+) with 1-hydroxo-2-(3-pyridyl)ethylidenediphosphonate (Risedronic acid) in aqueous solution. Polyanions 1 and 2 are mixed-valent Mo(VI/V) species with open tetranuclear and hexanuclear structures, respectively, containing two diphosphonate groups. Polyanion 3 is a cyclic octanuclear structure based on four {Mo(V)(2)O(4)(H(2)O)} units and four diphosphonates. Polyanions 1 and 2 crystallized as guanidinium salts [C(NH(2))(3)](5)H[{Mo(VI)O(3)}(2){Mo(V)(2)O(4)}{HO(3)PC(O)(CH(2)-3-C(5)NH(4))PO(3)}(2)]·13H(2)O (1a) and [C(NH(2))(3)](6)H(2)[{Mo(VI)(2)O(6)}(2){Mo(V)(2)O(4)}{O(3)PC(O)(CH(2)-3-C(5)NH(4))PO(3)}(2)]·10H(2)O (2a), whereas polyanion 3 crystallized as a mixed sodium-guanidinium salt, Na(8)[C(NH(2))(3)](4)[{Mo(V)(2)O(4)(H(2)O)}(4){O(3)PC(O)(CH(2)-3-C(5)NH(4))PO(3)}(4)]·8H(2)O (3a). The compounds were characterized in the solid state by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric and elemental analyses. The formation of polyanions 1 and 3 is very sensitive to the pH value of the reaction solution, with exclusive formation of 1 above pH 7.4 and 3 below pH 6.6. Detailed solution studies by multinuclear NMR spectrometry were performed to study the equilibrium between these two compounds. Polyanion 2 was insoluble in all common solvents. Detailed computational studies on the solution phases of 1 and 3 indicated the stability of these polyanions in solution, in complete agreement with the experimental findings.