Summary HIF1-alpha expression defines metabolic compartments in the developing heart, promoting glycolytic program in the compact myocardium and mitochondrial enrichment in the trabeculae. Nonetheless, its role in cardiogenesis is debated. To assess the importance of HIF1-alpha during heart development and the influence of glycolysis in ventricular chamber formation, herein we generated conditional knockout models of Hif1a in Nkx2.5 cardiac progenitors and cardiomyocytes. Deletion of Hif1a impairs embryonic glycolysis without influencing cardiomyocyte proliferation and results in increased mitochondrial number and transient activation of amino acid catabolism together with HIF2α and ATF4 upregulation by E12.5. Hif1a mutants display normal fatty acid oxidation program and do not show cardiac dysfunction in the adulthood. Our results demonstrate that cardiac HIF1 signaling and glycolysis are dispensable for mouse heart development and reveal the metabolic flexibility of the embryonic myocardium to consume amino acids, raising the potential use of alternative metabolic substrates as therapeutic interventions during ischemic events.
Glycolytic activity of five brain areas in the rat was studied under two hypothyroid states; (1) induced by low-iodine diet from weaning, and (2) induced by propylthiouracil. The areas studied were the anterior cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, septum and hippocampus. A low-iodine diet induced a decrease of pyruvate kinase activity in three regions and of phosphofructokinase in the hippocampus, while hexokinase increased in both the amygdala and septum. Propylthiouracil treatment produced an increase in hexokinase activity in the hypothalamus and septum, and a decrease in the anterior cortex, while phosphofructokinase decreased significantly in the hippocampus. No significant changes of lactate dehydrogenase activity were observed. The correlation between the results and type of hypothyroidism is discussed.
Introduction: Hypoxia is an important environmental cue implicated in several physiopathological processes, including cardiac development. Several gain of function models described before indicate that HIF1 signaling needs to be tightly regulated to ensure proper heart formation. However, there is lack of consensus about the functional outcomes of cardiac HIF1 elimination. We have previously reported that HIF1alpha expression is spatiotemporally regulated along cardiogenesis, establishing metabolic territories in the embryonic myocardium and controlling a switch from glycolysis to fatty acid oxidation (FAO) essential for chamber formation and cardiomyocyte maturation. Objectives and Hypothesis: We aim to assess the consequences of cardiac deletion of HIF1alpha during heart development and identify the adaptations to HIF1 signaling loss. Based on the tight regulation of HIF1alpha expression during cardiogenesis, we anticipated significant alterations of cardiac metabolism as well as functional and structural defects in HIF1alpha mutants. Methods and Results: A new conditional Hif1alpha knock out was generated in NKX2.5 cardiac progenitors. By means of histology, electron microscopy and high-throughput genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, we found that deletion of Hif1alpha leads to impaired embryonic glycolysis without influencing cardiomyocyte size or proliferation and results in increased mitochondrial number, transient activation of amino acid response and upregulation of HIF2alpha and ATF4. HIF1alpha mutants display normal FAO metabolic profile and do not show cardiac dysfunction in the adulthood. Conclusions: We demonstrated that HIF1 signaling is dispensable for heart development and uncovered the metabolic flexibility of the mammalian embryonic myocardium, able to utilize alternative fuels to carbohydrates in contrast to other vertebrates like zebrafish. This data highlights the importance of HIF in cardiac metabolic programing and could explain the distinct proliferative and regenerative capacity of cardiomyocytes from different species in response to cardiac injury.
Hypoxia is an important environmental cue in heart development. Despite of extensive characterization of gain and loss of function models, there is disagreement about the impact of HIF1α elimination in cardiac tissue. Here, we used a new conditional knock out of Hif1a in NKX2.5 cardiac progenitors to assess the morphological and functional consequences of HIF1α loss in the developing heart. By combining histology, electron microscopy and high-throughout genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, we found that deletion of Hif1a leads to impaired embryonic glycolysis without influencing cardiomyocyte proliferation and results in an increased mitochondrial number, activation of a transient amino acid response and upregulation of HIF2 and ATF4 by E12.5. Hif1a mutants display normal fatty acid oxidation metabolic profile and do not show any sign of cardiac dysfunction in the adulthood. Our results demonstrate that HIF1 signaling is dispensable for heart development and reveal the metabolic flexibility of the embryonic myocardium, opening the potential application of alternative energy sources as therapeutic interventions during ischemic events.
Rationale.Hypoxia is an important environmental cue implicated in several physiopathological processes, including heart development. Several mouse models of activation or inhibition of hypoxia have been previously described. While gain of function models have been extensively characterized and indicate that HIF1 signaling needs to be tightly regulated to ensure a proper cardiac development, there is lack of consensus in the field about the functional outcomes of HIF1α loss.Objective. In this study, we aim to assess the consequences of cardiac deletion of HIF1α during heart development and identify the cardiac adaptations to HIF1 loss. Methods and Results.Here, we used a conditional deletion model of Hif1a in NKX2.5 + cardiac progenitors. By a combination of histology, electron microscopy, massive gene expression studies, proteomics, metabolomics and cardiac imaging, we found that HIF1α is dispensable for cardiac development. Hif1a loss results in glycolytic inhibition in the embryonic heart without affecting normal cardiac growth. However, together with a premature increase in mitochondrial number by E12.5, we found global upregulation of amino acid transport and catabolic processes. Interestingly, this amino acid catabolism activation is transient and does not preclude the normal cardiac metabolic switch towards fatty acid oxidation (FAO) after E14.5. Moreover, Hif1a loss is accompanied by an increase in ATF4, described as an important regulator of several amino acid transporters. Conclusions.Our data indicate that HIF1α is not required for normal cardiac development and suggest that additional mechanisms can compensate Hif1a loss. Moreover, our results reveal the metabolic flexibility of the embryonic heart at early stages of development, showing the capacity of the myocardium to adapt its energy source to satisfy the energetic and building blocks demands to achieve normal cardiac growth and function. This metabolic reprograming might be relevant in the setting of adult cardiac failure.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.