Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
Pt 15
pubmed:dateCreated
2004-6-30
pubmed:abstractText
The contractile tissue of the heart is composed of individual cardiomyocytes. During mammalian embryonic development, heart growth is achieved by cell division while at the same time the heart is already exerting its essential pumping activity. There is still some debate whether the proliferative activity is carried out by a less differentiated, stem cell-like type of cardiomyocytes or whether embryonic cardiomyocytes are able to perform both of these completely different dynamic tasks, contraction and cell division. Our analysis of triple-stained specimen of cultured embryonic cardiomyocytes and of whole mount preparations of embryonic mouse hearts by confocal microscopy revealed that differentiated cardiomyocytes are indeed able to proliferate. However, to go through cell division, a disassembly of the contractile elements, the myofibrils, has to take place. This disassembly occurs in two steps with Z-disk and thin (actin)-filament-associated proteins getting disassembled before disassembly of the M-bands and the thick (myosin) filaments happens. After cytokinesis reassembly of the myofibrillar proteins to their mature cross-striated pattern can be seen. Another interesting observation was that the cell-cell contacts remain seemingly intact during division, probably reflecting the requirement of intact integration sites of the individual cells in the contractile tissue. Our results suggest that embryonic cardiomyocytes have developed an interesting strategy to deal with their major cytoskeletal elements, the myofibrils, during mitosis. The complex disassembly-reassembly process might also provide a mechanistic explanation, why cardiomyocytes cede to divide postnatally.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jul
pubmed:issn
0021-9533
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
1
pubmed:volume
117
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
3295-306
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2004
pubmed:articleTitle
Sequential myofibrillar breakdown accompanies mitotic division of mammalian cardiomyocytes.
pubmed:affiliation
Institute of Cell Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Hönggerberg, 8093 Zurich.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't