SMURF2 predisposes cancer cell toward ferroptosis in GPX4-independent manners by promoting GSTP1 degradation.

Ferroptosis is a non-apoptotic form of regulated cell death. Glutathione (GSH) peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and GSH-independent ferroptosis suppressor protein 1 (FSP1) have been identified as major defenses. Here, we uncover a protective mechanism mediated by GSH S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) by monitoring proteinomic dynamics during ferroptosis. Dramatic downregulation of GSTP1 is caused by SMURF2-mediated GSTP1 ubiquitination and degradation at early stages of ferroptosis. Intriguingly, GSTP1 acts in GPX4- and FSP1-independent manners by catalyzing GSH conjugation of 4-hydroxynonenal and detoxifying lipid hydroperoxides via selenium-independent GSH peroxidase activity. Genetic modulation of the SMURF2/GSTP1 axis or the pharmacological inhibition of GSTP1's catalytic activity sensitized tumor responses to Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved ferroptosis-inducing drugs both in vitro and in vivo. GSTP1 expression also confers resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors by blunting ferroptosis. Collectively, these findings demonstrate a GPX4/FSP1-independent cellular defense mechanism against ferroptosis and suggest that targeting SMURF2/GSTP1 to sensitize cancer cells to ferroptosis has potential as an anticancer therapy.

LncRNA 0003250 accelerates heart autophagy and binds to miR-17-5p as a competitive endogenous RNA in chicken induced by selenium deficiency.

Long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been demonstrated to be associated with a variety of myocardial diseases, but how LncRNAs regulate autophagy in selenium (Se)-deficient myocardial injury is infrequently reported. Here, we screened out a novel long noncoding RNA, microRNA, and ATG7 through transcriptomic results. We employed a Se-deficient chicken model in vivo, and primary cultured cardiomyocytes treated by correlation in vitro. The results showed that Se deficiency upregulated the expression of ATG7, and miR-17-5p inhibited cardiomyocyte autophagy by targeting ATG7. Furthermore, we found that LncRNA 0003250 regulated miR-17-5p, and thus affected the expression of ATG7 and autophagic cell death. Our present study proposed a novel model for the regulation of cardiomyocytes autophagy, which includes LncRNA 0003250, miR-17-5p and ATG7 in the chicken heart. Our conclusions may provide a feasible diagnostic tool for Se-deficient cardiomyocyte injury.

Selenoprotein Gpx3 knockdown induces myocardial damage through Ca2+ leaks in chickens.

Glutathione peroxidase 3 (Gpx3) is a pivotal selenoprotein that acts as an antioxidant. However, the role of Gpx3 in maintaining the normal metabolism of cardiomyocytes remains to be elucidated in more detail. Herein, we employed a model of Gpx3 interference in chicken embryos in vivo and Gpx3 knockdown chicken cardiomyocytes in vitro. Real-time PCR, western blotting and fluorescent staining were performed to detect reactive oxygen species (ROS), the calcium (Ca2+) concentration, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, myocardial contraction, inflammation and heat shock proteins (HSPs). Our results revealed that Gpx3 suppression increased the level of ROS, which induced Ca2+ leakage in the cytoplasm by blocking the expression of Ca2+ channels. The imbalance of Ca2+ homeostasis triggered ER stress and blocked myocardial contraction. Furthermore, we found that Ca2+ imbalance in the cytoplasm induced severe inflammation, and HSPs might play a protective role throughout these processes. In conclusion, Gpx3 suppression induces myocardial damage through the activation of Ca2+-dependent ER stress.

Chlorpyrifos induces apoptosis and autophagy in common carp lymphocytes by influencing the TCR γ-dependent PI3K/AKT/JNK pathway.

Chlorpyrifos is an insecticide that is widely used in agricultural production. However, little is known about how chlorpyrifos disrupts lymphocyte homeostasis in common carp. Herein, we identified TCRγ through the results of transcriptome analysis. Subsequently, we established TCR γ knockdown and overexpression models in carp head kidney lymphocyte respectively using RNA interference and the pcDNA3.1 plasmid, respectively. Real-time PCR, fluorescent staining, ultrastructure observation and flow cytometry were used to detect the levels of the PI3K/AKT pathway, autophagy and apoptosis. Our results demonstrated that chlorpyrifos significantly decreased the expression of TCR γ, TCR γ suppression thereby induced increased mRNA expression of TNF-α, Bax, caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase-9 and significantly inhibited the expression of Bcl-2, which indicated that apoptosis was triggered. This conclusion was supported by our flow cytometry and ultrastructure observation results. In addition, the control and TCR γ overexpression groups had normal cell morphology. Moreover, TCR γ suppression activated the expression of Becline-1, ATG5, ATG10, ATG12, ATG16 and reduced the expression of mTOR, with the opposite results observed in the TCR γ overexpression group. Together, these results suggested that TCR γ imbalance triggers apoptosis and autophagy in lymphocyte. Moreover, we found that TCR γ knockdown significantly increased the mRNA expression of JNK and decreased the expression of PI3K and AKT, which indicated that the PI3K/AKT/JNK pathway was activated. Our results reported here indicated that chlorpyrifos induces apoptosis and autophagy in head kidney lymphocyte through the inhibition of TCR γ.

Chlorpyrifos induces redox imbalance-dependent inflammation in common carp lymphocyte through dysfunction of T-cell receptor γ.

Chlorpyrifos is a poisonous pesticide that is highly toxic to fish and aquatic organisms. However, there are fewer reports about how chlorpyrifos influences the redox balance of immune cells. Herein, the head kidney tissue treated with chlorpyrifos to do transcriptome analysis and TCR γ was screened out. Subsequently, we established TCR γ knockdown and overexpression carp head kidney lymphocyte models, respectively, by using RNA interference and pcDNA3.1. Real-time PCR, fluorescent staining, oxidation and antioxidant kit were used to detect the related factors. We found that TCR γ knockdown significantly increased the mRNA expression of HSP70 and HSP90 and decreased the mRNA expression of SOD and CAT. Meanwhile, TCR γ knockdown reduced the activities of GSH, GSG-PX, T-AOC, CAT and SOD and increased the content of MDA and H2 O2 and activities of iNOS. Adverse results were obtained in TCR γ overexpression group. Additionally, TCR γ knockdown significantly increased the mRNA expression of IFN-γ, IL-1ß, IL-8, IL-10, Nrf2 and NF-κB, but relieved TCR γ overexpression, in which the process of inflammation was activated. Our results reported here indicated that chlorpyrifos induces redox imbalance-dependent inflammation in common carp lymphocyte through dysfunction of T-cell receptor γ, and HSPs play potential protective role in entire process.

Dysfunction of thioredoxin triggers inflammation through activation of autophagy in chicken cardiomyocytes.

Thioredoxin (Txn) is a hydrogen carrier protein and exists widely in organism. Txn deficiency implicates cardiomyocytes injury has been proven. However, the exact mechanism remains unclear. To understand the mechanistic response of cardiomyocytes subsequent to Txn suppression, we established the model of Txn dysfunction by employing gene interference technology (siRNA) and Txn inhibitor (PX-12) in cardiomyocytes. We detected the ROS levels, inflammation factors, and key proteins in the autophagy and apoptosis. In addition, heat map was used for further analysis. Our results revealed that Txn dysfunction increased the release of ROS and induced activation of autophagy via upregulation of Becline-1, LC3-1, 2, which further regulated the inflammatory response, meanwhile, Txn silence inhibited apoptosis in chicken cardiomyocytes through Caspase-3 inhibition. Altogether we concluded that Txn-deficient chicken cardiomyocytes experienced autophagy, which caused severe inflammatory reactions and resulting in damage to cardiomyocytes.

MicroRNA profiling identifies biomarkers in head kidneys of common carp exposed to cadmium.

Cadmium (Cd) is an increasingly important environmental pollutant due to its high toxicity to fish and aquatic animals. In the present study, we cultured common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) in two groups, a control group and a Cd group, with the Cd group being exposed to Cd for 30 d. The antioxidant enzyme activities of T-AOC and CAT and the GSH content were differentially decreased during Cd exposure. miRNAome profiling indicated that 23 differentially expressed miRNAs were potential biomarkers for Cd exposure; 7 miRNAs were up-regulated, and 16 miRNAs were down-regulated. The expression levels of miR-122, novel-miR6, miR-193a-3p and miR-27a-5p in the Cd group were 0.43-fold, 0.47-fold, 0.49-fold and 2.4-fold greater than in the control group, respectively. qRT-PCR further detected that the expression levels of apoptosis-related genes, including BAX, BAD, BAK, CASPASE9 and PIDD, were differentially increased, while BCL2 was decreased. Western blot analysis showed that the protein expression levels of BAX and BAD were increased and that of BCL2 was differentially decreased during Cd exposure. Alterations in the levels of miR-122, novel-miR6, miR-193a-3p and miR-27a-5p expression may play an important role in diagnosing oxidative stress-induced apoptosis during Cd exposure in the head kidney. These markers may contribute to diagnosing the early stage of Cd exposure in common carp.

Di-(2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate induces necroptosis in chicken cardiomyocytes by triggering calcium overload.

Di-(2-ethyl hexyl)phthalate (DEHP) is a kind of plasticizer that can cause cardiovascular disorders in animals, but its specific mechanism of action has not been determined. We aimed to investigate whether taxifolin (TAX) can antagonize the cytotoxicity of DEHP on cardiomyocytes. Chicken cardiomyocytes were treated with DEHP (500 µM) and/or TAX (0.5 µM) for 24 h. Ca2+ staining showed that the concentration of Ca2+ in the cytoplasm of cardiomyocytes was significantly increased under DEHP stimulation. However, in the DEHP + TAX group, the Ca2+ concentration was largely restored. In addition, the results of necroptosis--fluorescent and flow cytometry analysis showed that the DEHP group had severe necroptosis compared with the control group. The necrotic rate in the DEHP + TAX group was significantly lower than that in the DEHP group. At the mRNA and protein levels, the expression of the necrotic-calcium pathway genes RIPK1, RIPK3, MLKL, FAS, Caspase-8, CAMKII, and SERCA in the DEHP group increased to varying degrees relative to the control group. However, TAX improved this injury. Compared with the DEHP group, the expression of these genes was significantly decreased in the DEHP + TAX group. The present study indicate that DEHP could trigger cardiomyocyte necroptosis through Ca2+ overload, which could be alleviated by TAX.

Impact of Selenium Deficiency on Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, and Phagocytosis in Mouse Macrophages.

Although it has been reported that selenium (Se) deficiency can trigger inflammation, however, there are few reports on the effect of Se on the function of mouse peritoneal macrophages. Herein, we examined the expression of inflammatory factors, oxidative stress levels, and phagocytosis for primary-cultured peritoneal macrophages using control and Se-deficient groups. Our results revealed that Se deficiency induced the accumulation of oxygen free radicals and weakened antioxidant capacity. Se deficiency also significantly increased the expression of inflammation factors including iNOS, IL-1ß, IL-12, IL-10, PTGe, and NF-κB. Meanwhile, Se suppression restrained macrophage production of TNF-α. The results of the phagocytosis assay demonstrated that Se deficiency inhibited the phagocytosis of macrophages. In conclusion, Se-deficient macrophages undergo severe inflammation through the NF-κB pathway due to the accumulation of oxygen free radicals and are hindered in their phagocytic capacity.

Taxifolin ameliorates DEHP-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy via attenuating mitochondrial dysfunction and glycometabolism disorder in chicken.

Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a prevalent environmental contaminant that severely impacts the health of human and animals. Taxifolin (TAX), a plant flavonoid isolated from yew, exerts protective effects on cardiac diseases. Nevertheless, whether DEHP could induce cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and its mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to highlight the specific molecular mechanisms of DEHP-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and the protective potential of TAX against it. Chicken primary cardiomyocytes were treated with DEHP (500 µM) and/or TAX (0.5 µM) for 24 h. The levels of glucose and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) were detected, and cardiac hypertrophy-related genes were validated by real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot (WB) in vitro. The results showed that DEHP-induced cardiac hypertrophy was ameliorated by TAX, as indicated by the increased cardiomyocyte area and expression of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), natriuretic peptides A-like (BNP) and ß-myosin heavy cardiac muscle (ß-MHC). Furthermore, DEHP induced cardiac hypertrophy via the interleukin 6 (IL-6)/Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway in vitro. In addition, DEHP disrupted mitochondrial function and glycometabolism by activating the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1)/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway and the peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs)/PPARG coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) pathway to induce cardiac hypertrophy in vitro. Intriguingly, those DEHP-induced changes were obviously alleviated by TAX treatment. Taken together, cardiac hypertrophy was induced by DEHP via activating the IL-6/JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway, triggering glycometabolism disorder and mitochondrial dysfunction in vitro, can be ameliorated by TAX. Our findings may provide a feasible molecular mechanism for the treatment of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy induced by DEHP.

Role of miR-731 and miR-2188-3p in mediating chlorpyrifos induced head kidney injury in common carp via targeting TLR and apoptosis pathways.

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is an environmental pollutant with increasing importance due to its high toxicity to fish and aquatic animals. In the present study, we divided 120 common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) into two groups including control group and CPF group, CPF group was exposed to 14.5 µg/L CPF for 30 d. 17 miRNAs were differentially expressed in CPF group head kidney tissues according to the results of miRNAome analysis. In addition, histopathological examination and electron microscopy proved that CPF exposure could lead to damage of head kidney and obvious apoptosis characteristics. The possible target genes of miRNA were predicted using online target gene prediction websites, miRNAome sequencing, GO and KEGG enrichment. miRNAome results showed that expression of miR-731 and miR-2188-3p in CPF group was 0.48 time and 0.45 time as control group, respectively. qRT-PCR results proved the reality of miRNAome. During CPF exposure, mRNA expression of TLR pathway genes and its downstream genes involved in autophagy and apoptosis pathway including TLR1, TLR2, TLR7, TLR9, MyD88, IRAK1, IRAK4, IRF7, PI3K, AKT, mTOR, Caspase3, Caspase8 and Bax were differentially increased under CPF exposure, along with ATG13 and Bcl2 decreased at the same time. Western blot results indicated that apoptosis related protein Caspase3 and Caspase8 were differentially up-regulated in the CPF group. In summary, CPF exposure could induce apoptosis while inhibited autophagy in head kidney of common carp via the regulation of miR-2188-3p and miR-731 by targeting TLR pathway. These results provide new insights for unveiling the biological effects of CPF and miRNAs in common carp.

lnc-3215 Suppression Leads to Calcium Overload in Selenium Deficiency-Induced Chicken Heart Lesion via the lnc-3215-miR-1594-TNN2 Pathway.

Selenium deficiency has been proven to induce calcium disorders in the chicken heart. However, detailed regulatory mechanisms, e.g., the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)-microRNA (miRNA)-mRNA regulatory axis, have not yet been described. Here, we point out lnc-2315, miR-1594, and Troponin T (TNNT2) based on the results of lncRNA and miRNA comparative genomics group analysis of Se-deficient chicken hearts compared with control hearts. We employed lnc-3215 and TNNT2 knockdown, miR-1594 knockdown, and overexpression models in the chicken embryos in vivo, and lnc-3215, miR-1594, and TNNT2 knockdown and overexpression models in cardiomyocytes in vitro. The dual-luciferase reporter assay and quantitative real-time PCR were used to confirm the relationships between miR-1594 and TNNT2, lnc-3215, and miR-1594 in cardiomyocytes. Our results revealed that TNNT2 suppression induced cardiac calcium overload in vivo and in vitro. miR-1594 activates cardiac calcium overload by targeting TNNT2. Moreover, we found that lnc-3215 regulates miR-1594, and thus influences the TNNT2 expression in vivo and in vitro; these conclusions were verified by gene knockdown in chicken embryos. Our present study revealed a novel regulatory model of a calcium program, which comprises lnc-3215, miR-1594, and TNNT2 in the chicken heart. Our conclusions may provide a feasible diagnostic tool for Se-deficient cardiomyocytes injury.

Taxifolin alleviates apoptotic injury induced by DEHP exposure through cytochrome P450 homeostasis in chicken cardiomyocytes.

Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), widely used as a plasticizer, is a ubiquitous artificial pollutant. DEHP can induce biological toxicity in various organs, with an especially high potential for toxicity to the cardiovascular system. Taxifolin (TAX) is used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases due to its antioxidative capacities. However, it is not clear whether TAX can alleviate apoptosis induced by DEHP exposure through the cytochrome P450 (CYP) pathway in cardiomyocytes. To understand the role of TAX in attenuating cardiomyocyte toxicity induced by DEHP, primary cardiomyocytes were divided into 4 groups (control group, DEHP group, TAX group and DEHP + TAX group). The results showed that in the cardiomyocytes, DEHP initiated apoptosis by increasing the expression of caspase-3, caspase-9, cyt c, and Bax at both the mRNA and protein levels and by decreasing the Bcl-2 levels compared with that of the control group. In addition, the activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total antioxidative capacity (T-AOC) were clearly decreased (P < 0.05), while in the DEHP group, the malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels were observably increased (P < 0.05), compared with those in control group. Furthermore, compared with the control group, the DEHP group demonstrated a clear partial decrease in the expression of the mRNA levels of CYP1B1 and CYP2C18 (P < 0.05), and DEHP/TAX cotreatment partially prevented apoptosis and oxidative stress damage (P < 0.05). These results showed that exposure to DEHP induced apoptosis in chicken cardiomyocytes, while TAX could antagonize the toxicity of DEHP on cardiomyocytes by attenuating oxidative stress responses and modulating CYPs.

Fingerprint Database Reconstruction Based on Robust PCA for Indoor Localization.

The indoor localization method based on the Received Signal Strength (RSS) fingerprint is widely used for its high positioning accuracy and low cost. However, the propagation behavior of radio signals in an indoor environment is complicated and always leads to the existence of outliers and noises that deviate from a normal RSS value in the database. The fingerprint database containing outliers and noises will severely degrade the performance of an indoor localization system. In this paper, an approach to reconstruct the fingerprint database is proposed with the purpose of mitigating the influences of outliers. More specifically, by exploiting the spatial and temporal correlations of RSS data, the database can be transformed into a low-rank matrix. Therefore, the RPCA (Robust Principle Component Analysis) technique can be applied to recover the low-rank matrix from a noisy matrix. In addition, we propose an improved RPCA model which takes advantage of the prior knowledge of a singular value and could remove outliers and structured noise simultaneously. The experimental results show that the proposed method can eliminate outliers and structured noise efficiently.

Mir-215-5p induces autophagy by targeting PI3K and activating ROS-mediated MAPK pathways in cardiomyocytes of chicken.

Our previous study revealed that selenium (Se) deficiency can cause myocardial injury through triggering autophagy. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in autophagic cell death. However, the relationship between miRNAs and myocardial autophagy injury caused by Se deficiency remains unclear. We selected differential microRNA-215-5p (miR-215-5p) in Se-deficient myocardial tissue using high-throughput miRNA-sequencing. To further explore the role of miR-215-5p in myocardial injury, overexpression/knockdown of miR-215-5p in primary cardiomyocyte model was established by miRNAs interference technology. In this study, we report that miR-215-5p can promote myocardial autophagy by directly binding to the 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) of phosphatidylinositol-4, 5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K). Its target gene PI3K was confirmed by dual luciferase reporter assay, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot in cardiomyocytes. Our results showed that overexpression of miR-215-5p could trigger myocardial autophagy through PI3K-threonine-protein kinase (AKT)-target of rapamycin (TOR) pathway. Further studies revealed that autophagic cell death was dependent on the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38 kinase (p38) and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in overexpression of miR-215-5p in cardiomyocytes. On the contrary, miR-215-5p inhibitor can enhance cell survival capacity against autophagy by inhibiting ROS-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways and activating the PI3K/AKT/TOR pathway in cardiomyocytes. Together, our findings support that miR-215-5p may modulate cell survival programs by regulating autophagy, and miR-215-5p acts as an autophagic regulator in the regulatory feedback loop that regulates cardiomyocyte survival by modulating the PI3K/AKT/TOR pathway and ROS-dependent MAPK pathways.

IGF1 Knockdown Hinders Myocardial Development through Energy Metabolism Dysfunction Caused by ROS-Dependent FOXO Activation in the Chicken Heart.

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) is a multifunctional cellular regulatory factor that can regulate cell growth and development by mediating growth hormone stimulation. However, the mechanism of IGF1 dysfunction in cardiomyocyte development is seldom reported. To study this, we employed the models of IGF1 knockdown in chicken embryo in vivo and in cardiomyocytes in vitro. We detected the antioxidant capacity, PI3K/Akt pathway, energy metabolism-related genes, and myocardial development-related genes. Our results revealed that the low expression of IGF1 can significantly suppress the antioxidant capacity and increase the ROS (P < 0.05) levels, activating the AMPK and PI3K pathway by inhibiting the expression of IRS1. We also found that myocardial energy metabolism is blocked through IGF1, GLUT, and IGFBP inhibition, further inducing myocardial developmental disorder by inhibiting Mesp1, GATA, Nkx2.5, and MyoD expression. Altogether, we conclude that low IGF1 expression can hinder myocardial development through the dysfunction of energy metabolism caused by ROS-dependent FOXO activation.

Effect of Gpx3 gene silencing by siRNA on apoptosis and autophagy in chicken cardiomyocytes.

Glutathione peroxidase 3 (Gpx3), as an important selenoprotein, is the most crucial antioxidant defense in cardiomyocytes. However, the role of Gpx3 in Se-deficient cardiomyocyte damage still less reported. Here, we developed Gpx3 silence cardiomyocytes culture model (small interfering RNA; siRNA) for research the crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis. Quantitative real-time PCR and western blot analysis are performed to detect the expression of apoptosis and autophagy-related genes. MDC stain, flow cytometry, AO/EB stain, and electron microscope were performed to observe the changes of cell morphology. Our results reveal that Gpx3 suppression can significant increases in ROS (p < 0.05) levels, which further induced apoptosis through upregulated the expression of Caspase-3 in cardiomyocytes. Meanwhile, we also found that the whole process is accompanied by the occurrence of autophagy, which are promoted by inhibiting the mTOR, and increasing the expression of ATG-7, ATG-10, and ATG-12. Altogether, we conclude that the apoptotic and autophagic response machineries share antagonistic function in Gpx3 knockdown cardiomyocytes.

Selenium deficiency inhibits myocardial development and differentiation by targeting the mir-215-5p/CTCF axis in chicken.

Selenium (Se) is imperative for normal myocardial differentiation and development, and these basic cellular functions can be regulated by miRNA during cardiogenesis. Here, we show that Se deficiency can cause defects in myocardial development and abnormalities of cardiomyocyte differentiation. In previous work using microRNAome analysis, we found that miR-215-5p was differentially expressed in Se-deficient myocardial tissues. However, the relationship between miR-215-5p and Se deficiency in myocardial development remains unknown. In this study, CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) was confirmed as the target gene of miR-215-5p by dual luciferase reporter assay, western blot and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in cardiomyocytes. Based on in vivo and in vitro results, we found that the increased expression of miR-215-5p induced by Se deficiency may cause transcriptional disorders of myocardial genes, mitochondrial biosynthesis imbalance, and a reduction of myocardial development and differentiation-related factors. Moreover, miR-215-5p may target CTCF to regulate myocardial development and differentiation via the noncanonical Wnt signaling pathway and induce mitochondrial dysfunction via the PGC-1α-TFAM-NRF1/2 pathway in the heart. Our results not only demonstrated that Se deficiency affected myocardial development and differentiation by directly targeting the miR-215-5p/CTCF axis but also found that miR-215-5p inhibitor promoted normal differentiation of cardiomyocytes and myocardial development and ameliorated myocardium structural abnormalities via the noncanonical Wnt signaling pathway in chicken. Our findings support the potential of applying miRNAs during the process of cardiogenesis and indicate that miR-215-5p could be a novel candidate for treatment of cardiac hypoevolutism.

miR-2954 Inhibits PI3K Signaling and Induces Autophagy and Apoptosis in Myocardium Selenium Deficiency.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Selenium (Se) deficiency can lead to several cardiac diseases, including Keshan disease in humans, mulberry heart disease in pigs and cardiac injury in chickens. MicroRNAs have been a research focus in recent years and have been shown to participate in a new avenue of cell death-autophagy, which can play a significant role in several types of heart disease. METHODS: MicroRNAome analysis showed that the expression of miR-2954 was increased in the myocardium of selenium-deficient chickens, and PI3K was predicted to be the target gene. The target relationship between miR-2954 and PI3K was verified with a double fluorescence enzyme assay and RNA Protein Interaction Prediction and molecular docking software. qRT-PCR and western blotting were used to detect the expression of PI3K and related pathway components in selenium-deficient chickens and miR-2954 knockout/overexpression cardiomyocytes. RESULTS: In this study, we observed that miR-2954 overexpression led to inhibition of PI3K pathway in vivo and in vitroled to inhibition of the PI3K pathway in vivo and in vitro. CONCLUSION: The expression of miR-2954 was increased in selenium-deficient myocardium, whereas overexpression of miR-2954 led to autophagy and apoptosis of myocardial cells during cardiac injury through regulation of the PI3K pathway; whether this phenomenon is a self-protection mechanism of the organism or damage caused by miR-2954 requires further study. Our findings provides new insight apoptosis in cardiomyocytes; additionally, we aim to provide a new direction for the diagnosis and targeted treatment of myocardial diseases.

Thioredoxin silencing-induced cardiac supercontraction occurs through endoplasmic reticulum stress and calcium overload in chicken.

The thioredoxin (Txn) system is the most crucial antioxidant defense mechanism in the myocardium, and hampering the Txn system may compromise cell survival. Calcium (Ca) imbalance is associated with a variety of cardiomyopathies, and dysregulation of Ca2+ homeostasis is often considered a critical starting point for heart disease. However, the roles of Txn and the Txn system in maintaining Ca2+ homeostasis in cardiomyocytes have been infrequently reported. Here, we examined the expression of genes associated with Ca2+ channels using a model of Txn suppression in cardiomyocyte cultures (siRNA and Txn inhibitor) and report that Txn knockdown can cause Ca2+ overload in the myocardial cytoplasm and release of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+, which induces ER stress. Our results showed that Txn knockdown could lead to cytosolic Ca2+ overload through upregulated gene expression of Ca2+ channel-related genes in the cytoplasmic and ER membranes. Furthermore, we find that excessive Ca2+ concentrations in the cytoplasm may increase myocardial contraction, and heat shock proteins may play a protective role throughout the process. Our present study reveals a novel model of regulation for low Txn expression in myocardial injury.