Cardiac telocytes exist in the adult Xenopus tropicalis heart

Luocheng Lv; Zhaofu Liao; Jiali Luo; Hongyi Chen; Hongyan Guo; Jifeng Yang; Ruijin Huang; Qin Pu; Hui Zhao; Ziqiang Yuan; Shanshan Feng; Xufeng Qi; Dongqing Cai

doi:10.1111/jcmm.14947

Cardiac telocytes exist in the adult Xenopus tropicalis heart

J Cell Mol Med. 2020 Feb;24(4):2531-2541. doi: 10.1111/jcmm.14947. Epub 2020 Jan 12.

Authors

Luocheng Lv^{1

2

3

4}, Zhaofu Liao^{1

2

3

4}, Jiali Luo^{1

2

3

4}, Hongyi Chen^{1

2

3

4}, Hongyan Guo^{1

2

3

4}, Jifeng Yang^{1

2

3

4}, Ruijin Huang^{5

6}, Qin Pu⁵, Hui Zhao⁷, Ziqiang Yuan⁸, Shanshan Feng^{1

2

3

4}, Xufeng Qi^{1

2

3

4}, Dongqing Cai^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine, Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
² Joint Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong-Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
³ International Base of Collaboration for Science and Technology (JNU), Ministry of Science and Technology, Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Neuroanatomy, Institute of Anatomy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
⁶ Department of Anatomy and Molecular Embryology, Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
⁷ Stem Cell and Regeneration TRP, School of Biomedical Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁸ Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson of Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.

Abstract

Recent research has revealed that cardiac telocytes (CTs) play an important role in cardiac physiopathology and the regeneration of injured myocardium. Recently, we reported that the adult Xenopus tropicalis heart can regenerate perfectly in a nearly scar-free manner after injury via apical resection. However, whether telocytes exist in the X tropicalis heart and are affected in the regeneration of injured X tropicalis myocardium is still unknown. The present ultrastructural and immunofluorescent double staining results clearly showed that CTs exist in the X tropicalis myocardium. CTs in the X tropicalis myocardium were mainly twined around the surface of cardiomyocyte trabeculae and linked via nanocontacts between the ends of the telopodes, forming a three-dimensional network. CTs might play a role in the regeneration of injured myocardium.

Keywords: Xenopus tropicalis; cardiac telocytes; regeneration of cardiomyocytes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Heart / physiology*
Heart Diseases / pathology*
Myocytes, Cardiac / pathology
Regeneration / physiology
Telocytes / pathology*
Telopodes / pathology
Xenopus / physiology*