Mouse HSA+ immature cardiomyocytes persist in the adult heart and expand after ischemic injury.

The assessment of the regenerative capacity of the heart has been compromised by the lack of surface signatures to characterize cardiomyocytes (CMs). Here, combined multiparametric surface marker analysis with single-cell transcriptional profiling and in vivo transplantation identify the main mouse fetal cardiac populations and their progenitors (PRGs). We found that CMs at different stages of differentiation coexist during development. We identified a population of immature heat stable antigen (HSA)/ cluster of differentiation 24 (CD24)+ CMs that persists throughout life and that, unlike other CM subsets, actively proliferates up to 1 week of age and engrafts cardiac tissue upon transplantation. In the adult heart, a discrete population of HSA/CD24+ CMs appears as mononucleated cells that increase in frequency after infarction. Our work identified cell surface signatures that allow the prospective isolation of CMs at all developmental stages and the detection of a subset of immature CMs throughout life that, although at reduced frequencies, are poised for activation in response to ischemic stimuli. This work opens new perspectives in the understanding and treatment of heart pathologies.

Generation of a Close-to-Native In Vitro System to Study Lung Cells-Extracellular Matrix Crosstalk.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) is an essential component of the tissue microenvironment, actively shaping cellular behavior. In vitro culture systems are often poor in ECM constituents, thus not allowing for naturally occurring cell-ECM interactions. This study reports on a straightforward and efficient method for the generation of ECM scaffolds from lung tissue and its subsequent in vitro application using primary lung cells. Mouse lung tissue was subjected to decellularization with 0.2% sodium dodecyl sulfate, hypotonic solutions, and DNase. Resultant ECM scaffolds were devoid of cells and DNA, whereas lung ECM architecture of alveolar region and blood and airway networks were preserved. Scaffolds were predominantly composed of core ECM and ECM-associated proteins such as collagens I-IV, nephronectin, heparan sulfate proteoglycan core protein, and lysyl oxidase homolog 1, among others. When homogenized and applied as coating substrate, ECM supported the attachment of lung fibroblasts (LFs) in a dose-dependent manner. After ECM characterization and biocompatibility tests, a novel in vitro platform for three-dimensional (3D) matrix repopulation that permits live imaging of cell-ECM interactions was established. Using this system, LFs colonized the ECM scaffolds, displaying a close-to-native morphology in intimate interaction with the ECM fibers, and showed nuclear translocation of the mechanosensor yes-associated protein (YAP), when compared with cells cultured in two dimensions. In conclusion, we developed a 3D-like culture system, by combining an efficient decellularization method with a live-imaging culture platform, to replicate in vitro native lung cell-ECM crosstalk. This is a valuable system that can be easily applied to other organs for ECM-related drug screening, disease modeling, and basic mechanistic studies.

Restoring heart function and electrical integrity: closing the circuit.

Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in the world and are often associated with the occurrence of arrhythmias due to disruption of myocardial electrical integrity. Pathologies involving dysfunction of the specialized cardiac excitatory/conductive tissue are also common and constitute an added source of morbidity and mortality since current standard therapies withstand a great number of limitations. As electrical integrity is essential for a well-functioning heart, innovative strategies have been bioengineered to improve heart conduction and/or promote myocardial repair, based on: (1) gene and/or cell delivery; or (2) conductive biomaterials as tools for cardiac tissue engineering. Herein we aim to review the state-of-art in the area, while briefly describing the biological principles underlying the heart electrical/conduction system and how this system can be disrupted in heart disease. Suggestions regarding targets for future studies are also presented.

Erratum: Restoring heart function and electrical integrity: Closing the circuit.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/s41536-017-0015-2.].

Sca-1+ cardiac progenitor cells and heart-making: a critical synopsis.

The identification, in the adult, of cardiomyocyte turnover events and of cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) has revolutionized the field of cardiovascular medicine. However, the low rate of CPCs differentiation events reported both in vitro and in vivo, even after injury, raised concerns on the biological significance of these subsets. In this Comprehensive Review, we discuss the current understanding of cardiac Lin(-)Sca-1(+) cells in light of what is also known for cellular compartments with similar phenotypes in other organs. The Lin(-)Sca-1(+) heart subset is heterogeneous and displays a mesenchymal profile, characterized by a limited ability to generate cardiomyocytes in vitro and in vivo, even after injury. There is no evidence for Sca-1 expression in embryonic cardiovascular progenitors. In other organs, Sca-1 expression is mainly observed on mesoderm-derived cells, although it is not restricted to stem/progenitor cell populations. It is urgent to determine, at a single cell level, to which extent cardiac Lin(-)Sca-1(+) cells overlap with the fibroblast compartment.