Muscle Cell News Volume 3.12 | Apr 9 2018

TOP STORY

Adult-Like Human Heart Muscle Grown from Patient-Specific Stem Cells

Growing human cardiac tissue that behaves like native heart muscle would be transformative for biomedical research, enabling researchers to study human physiology and model heart diseases under fully controlled conditions. [Press release from Columbia Engineering discussing online prepublication in Nature] Press Release 1 | Press Release 2 | Abstract

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

CARDIAC MUSCLE CELLS

Transient Fibrosis Resolves via Fibroblast Inactivation in the Regenerating Zebrafish Heart

Using novel genetic tools to mark periostin b- and collagen 1alpha2-expressing cells in combination with transcriptome analysis, investigators explored the sources of activated fibroblasts and traced their fate. They describe that during fibrosis regression, fibroblasts are not fully eliminated but become inactivated. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Full Article

S-Nitrosylation of Transglutaminase 2 Impairs Fatty Acid-Stimulated Contraction in Hypertensive Cardiomyocytes

The authors investigated the involvement of transglutaminase 2 (TG2) in cardiomyocyte contraction under fatty acid supplementation. Using TG2 inhibitor and TG2-deficient mice, they demonstrated that fatty acid supplementation activated TG2 and increased ATP level and contractility of cardiac myocyte from the normal heart. [Exp Mol Med] Full Article

Manipulation-Free Cultures of Human iPSC-Derived Cardiomyocytes Offer a Novel Screening Method for Cardiotoxicity

Scientists characterized the chronotropic responses of human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes to a panel of ion channel modulators and also to doxorubicin, a chemotherapy agent with known cardiotoxic side effects. [Acta Pharmacol Sin] Abstract

SKELETAL MUSCLE CELLS

The Factor Inhibiting HIF Asparaginyl Hydroxylase Regulates Oxidative Metabolism and Accelerates Metabolic Adaptation to Hypoxia

Researchers showed that the factor inhibiting HIF (FIH) loss increases oxidative metabolism, while also increasing glycolytic capacity, and that this gave rise to an increase in oxygen consumption. They further showed that the loss of FIH acts to accelerate the cellular metabolic response to hypoxia. [Cell Metab] Full Article | Press Release | Graphical Abstract

High-Density ZnO Nanowires as a Reversible Myogenic-Differentiation-Switch

Reversible myogenic-differentiation-switching during proliferation was achieved by functionalizing the glass substrate with high-density ZnO nanowires. Specifically, mesoangioblasts grown on ZnO nanowires presented a spherical viable undifferentiated cell state without lamellopodia formation during all the observation time. [ACS Appl Mater Interfaces] Abstract

SMAD6 Overexpression Leads to Accelerated Myogenic Differentiation of LMNA Mutated Cells

To identify potential alterations in signaling pathways regulating muscle differentiation in LMNA-mutated myoblasts, researchers used a previously described model of conditionally immortalized murine myoblasts: H-2K cell lines. [Sci Rep] Full Article

In Vivo 3D Histomorphometry Quantifies Bone Apposition and Skeletal Progenitor Cell Differentiation

Investigators utilized two-photon, multicolor fluorescence intravital microscopy (IVM) together with a lineage tracing reporter mouse model to image skeletal stem cells in their calvarial suture niche and analyze their differentiation fate after stimulation with an agonist of the canonical Wnt pathway. [Sci Rep] Full Article

SMOOTH MUSCLE CELLS

Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Direct Extracellular Dysregulation in Aortic Stiffening of Hypertensive Rats

Aortic stiffening was confirmed in spontaneously hypertensive rats vs. Wistar-Kyoto rats in vivo by echocardiography and ex vivo by isometric force measurements in isolated de-endothelized aortic vessel segments. Vascular smooth muscle cells were isolated from thoracic aorta and embedded in a collagen I matrix in an in vitro 3D model to form reconstituted vessels. [Aging Cell] Full Article

Quantification of Alignment of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Scientists developed a new framework of image processing using the Sobel operator, associated with statistical analysis, to determine the degree of local alignment of actin filaments, which they found to be directly related with the distensibility of the arterial wall. They also compared these results with the rigidity of the cytoskeleton of vascular smooth muscle cells. [Cytometry A] Abstract

Cardiac Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells and Implications for Modeling the Heart in Health and Disease

The authors discuss transcriptional differences that define cellular identity in the heart, current methods for generating different cardiomyocyte subtypes, and implications for disease modeling, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. [Sci Transl Med] Abstract

Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the muscle cell research field.

Santhera Announces Successful Completion of First Clinical Trial with Omigapil in Patients with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy

Santhera Pharmaceuticals reports the successful completion of the first clinical trial with omigapil in patients with two forms of congenital muscular dystrophy conducted in the US at the National Institutes of Health. [Santhera Pharmaceuticals] Press Release

MyoKardia Begins Dosing in Phase II MAVERICK-HCM Clinical Trial of Mavacamten in Symptomatic Non-Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients

MyoKardia, Inc. announced that the first patient has been dosed in the company’s Phase II MAVERICK-HCM clinical trial. [MyoKardia, Inc.] Press Release

French Say ‘No Deal’ to Springer as Journal Fight Spreads

Research institutions, first in Germany and now in France, are finding that publishers do not cut off access to journals – even when they stop paying. [Times Higher Education] Editorial

Cutting-Edge Cancer Drug Hobbled by Diagnostic Test Confusion

A landmark cancer drug approved last year seemed to herald a long-anticipated change in the treatment of some tumors: with medicines selected on the basis of molecular markers, rather than the tissue in which the cancer first took root. But clinicians and researchers are struggling to put that theory into practice. [Nature News] Editorial

China Asserts Firm Grip on Research Data

In a move few scientists anticipated, the Chinese government has decreed that all scientific data generated in China must be submitted to government-sanctioned data centers before appearing in publications. At the same time, the regulations, posted last week, call for open access and data sharing. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

UK Survey Reveals Widespread Sexual Misconduct by Academic Staff

A survey of current and former UK students has found that 41% experienced sexual misconduct – such as inappropriate comments, unwanted touching or assault – by staff at university. [Nature News] Editorial

NEW International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 2018 Annual Meeting
June 20-23, 2018
Melbourne, Australia

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the community.

NEW Postdoctoral Fellow – Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering (Stanford University)

NEW Postdoctoral Research Scientist – Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine (University of Oxford)

NEW Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Musculoskeletal Tissue Regeneration (University of South Dakota)

NEW Postdoctoral Research Positions – Musculoskeletal Diseases and Arthritis (NUI Galway)

NEW Postdoctoral Fellowship – Differentiation and Applications of Cardiomyocytes (Emory University)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Smooth Muscle Cells (University of Colorado)

Postdoctoral Research Scientist – Regenerative Medicine (University of Oxford)

Research Associate – Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells (University of Bristol)

Postdoctoral Researcher – Molecular Cardiology (National Center for Cardiovascular Research)

Postdoctoral Position – Cancer, Immunotherapy, and Fibrosis (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

Director – Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute (Boston University)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Cardiovascular and Immunology Research (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)

Postdoctoral Fellowship – Basic and Translational Heart Failure (University of South Florida)

Fellowship – Cardio-Biology (Johns Hopkins University)

Postdoctoral Associate – Bioengineering (University of Pittsburgh)

Postdoctoral Fellow & Assistant Research Scientist Positions – Cardiovascular Physiology (University of Arizona College of Medicine)

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