Aging of the cardiovascular system is characterized by a reduction in cardiac function, and cardiovascular disease frequently strikes in the latter half of life. Many experimental findings suggest that adult mammalian myocardium has a population of resident cardiac stem cells with differentiation potential for cardiomyocytes and other cell types like endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells. Like other stem cells, cardiac stem cells may be subject to senescent changes with increasing age, possibly reducing their regenerative potential. Our laboratory has developed a genetic cell fate-mapping approach to quantify cardiomyocyte turnover, and we have used this system to demonstrate that in the first half of life, cardiomyocytes are not replaced by stem/precursor cells in the absence of injury;however, after myocardial infarction, there is activation of a stem/precursor pool. Genetic fate-mapping is a powerful approach for cell tracking, but it cannot simultaneously quantify cell division rates of the identified cell populations. Until recently, methods for tracking cell division relied mainly on BrdU incorporation or tritium (3H) labeling;these techniques have limitations because they do not always have sufficient resolution to track cell divisions quantitatively, and they can be toxic under certain circumstances. A new technology called Multi-Isotope Imaging Mass Spectrometry (MIMS) has the potential to overcome these drawbacks, permitting quantitative assessment of cell division history. The sensitivity of MIMS allows changes to be monitored over a wide range of times because a labeling pulse is generated using stable, nonradioactive isotopes that are non-toxic for animals and humans. MIMS can monitor cell division in vitro and in vivo with time scales potentially ranging from minutes to years, since stable isotopes do not decay or emit radiation. In this proposal, we describe experiments to study myocardial progenitor recruitment in aging mice using the complementary techniques of genetic cell fate-mapping and MIMS, which in combination will facilitate quantitative tracking of different cell populations and their relative rates of cell division.
Our specific aims are:
Aim 1. To test the hypothesis that in the absence of injury, cardiomyocytes are not significantly refreshed by precursor cells in the aging mouse.
Aim 2. To test the hypothesis that aging reduces the capacity of mammalian myocardium to refresh cardiomyocytes by the stem/precursor cell pool following injuries representative of human diseases.
Aim 3 : To test the hypothesis that stable isotope MIMS quantification combined with genetic fate mapping reveals a low rate of basal cardiomyocyte cell division with no measurable contribution of cell division from a precursor pool in adult mammalian myocardium during aging.
Aim 4 : To test the hypothesis that, following injury, cardiomyocytes are replenished primarily by stem cells and not by cell division of pre-existing cardiomyocytes irrespective of age.

Public Health Relevance

Heart disease frequently strikes in the latter half of life, and healing and regeneration of heart tissue may be impaired by the aging process. This project uses new sophisticated methods to determine if the healing process of the heart changes as mice age. These experiments will provide new insight into the aging process and the most common causes of death in the United States.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AG032977-02
Application #
7777337
Study Section
Cardiac Contractility, Hypertrophy, and Failure Study Section (CCHF)
Program Officer
Kohanski, Ronald A
Project Start
2009-03-01
Project End
2014-02-28
Budget Start
2010-03-01
Budget End
2011-02-28
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$431,605
Indirect Cost
Name
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
030811269
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Natarajan, Niranjana; Abbas, Yamen; Bryant, Donald M et al. (2018) Complement Receptor C5aR1 Plays an Evolutionarily Conserved Role in Successful Cardiac Regeneration. Circulation 137:2152-2165
Uygur, Aysu; Lee, Richard T (2016) Mechanisms of Cardiac Regeneration. Dev Cell 36:362-74
Walker, Ryan G; Poggioli, Tommaso; Katsimpardi, Lida et al. (2016) Biochemistry and Biology of GDF11 and Myostatin: Similarities, Differences, and Questions for Future Investigation. Circ Res 118:1125-41; discussion 1142
Poggioli, Tommaso; Vujic, Ana; Yang, Peiguo et al. (2016) Circulating Growth Differentiation Factor 11/8 Levels Decline With Age. Circ Res 118:29-37
Mahmoud, Ahmed I; O'Meara, Caitlin C; Gemberling, Matthew et al. (2015) Nerves Regulate Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Heart Regeneration. Dev Cell 34:387-99
O'Meara, Caitlin C; Lee, Richard T (2015) Peering Into the Cardiomyocyte Nuclear Epigenetic State. Circ Res 117:392-4
O'Meara, Caitlin C; Wamstad, Joseph A; Gladstone, Rachel A et al. (2015) Transcriptional reversion of cardiac myocyte fate during mammalian cardiac regeneration. Circ Res 116:804-15
Loffredo, Francesco S; Nikolova, Andriana P; Pancoast, James R et al. (2014) Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: molecular pathways of the aging myocardium. Circ Res 115:97-107
Senyo, Samuel E; Lee, Richard T; Kühn, Bernhard (2014) Cardiac regeneration based on mechanisms of cardiomyocyte proliferation and differentiation. Stem Cell Res 13:532-41
Sinha, Manisha; Jang, Young C; Oh, Juhyun et al. (2014) Restoring systemic GDF11 levels reverses age-related dysfunction in mouse skeletal muscle. Science 344:649-52

Showing the most recent 10 out of 26 publications