Heart Development and Regeneration in Non-mammalian Model Organisms.

Jianhong Xia,Wenguang Yin,Zhongxuan Meng,Yiming Xu,Hongyue Ruan,Tiejun Zhang

doi:10.3389/fcell.2020.595488

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is a serious threat to human health and a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Recent years have witnessed exciting progress in the understanding of heart formation and development, enabling cardiac biologists to make significant advance in the field of therapeutic heart regeneration. Most of our understanding of heart development and regeneration, including the genes and signaling pathways, are driven by pioneering works in non-mammalian model organisms, such as fruit fly, fish, frog, and chicken. Compared to mammalian animal models, non-mammalian model organisms have special advantages in high-throughput applications such as disease modeling, drug discovery, and cardiotoxicity screening. Genetically engineered animals of cardiovascular diseases provide valuable tools to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms of pathogenesis and to evaluate therapeutic strategies. A large number of congenital heart diseases (CHDs) non-mammalian models have been established and tested for the genes and signaling pathways involved in the diseases. Here, we reviewed the mechanisms of heart development and regeneration revealed by these models, highlighting the advantages of non-mammalian models as tools for cardiac research. The knowledge from these animal models will facilitate therapeutic discoveries and ultimately serve to accelerate translational medicine.

Highlights

Cardiovascular disease is a common disease that is a serious threat to human health (Waardenberg et al, 2014)
Research of cardiac regeneration focuses on the development of a wide spectrum of model organisms to decipher the mechanisms and factors involved in heart repair
Over the past few decades, there is a growing understanding of heart development and regeneration in the non-mammalian model organisms, which has provided a valuable reference for related research in mammalians

Summary

Introduction

Cardiovascular disease is a common disease that is a serious threat to human health (Waardenberg et al, 2014). We introduced four popular non-mammalian animal models (fruit fly, zebrafish, frog, and chicken), focusing on their cardiac development, and recent progress in heart regeneration. The heart development in animal models can be effectively studied at the genetic level to reveal genes that control the fate of cardiac cells and determine the response of cardiac cells to signals from neighboring micro-environment.

Results

Conclusion