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Stretch-Induced Upregulation of Connective Tissue Growth Factor in Rabbit Cardiomyocytes

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Abstract

Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF, CCN2) is considered to play an important role in cardiac remodelling. We studied whether stretch is a primary stimulus to induce CTGF expression in vivo in rabbit heart, and in vitro in isolated cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts. Twenty weeks of combined volume and pressure overload resulted in eccentric left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, with increased LV internal diameter (+36 %) and LV weight (+53 %). Myocardial CTGF mRNA and protein levels were substantially increased in the overloaded animals. In isolated adult rabbit cardiomyocytes, cyclic stretch strongly induced CTGF mRNA expression (2.9-fold at 48 h), whereas in cardiac fibroblasts CTGF-induction was transient and modest (1.4-fold after 4 h). Conditioned medium from stretched fibroblasts induced CTGF mRNA expression in non-stretched cardiomyocytes (2.3-fold at 48 h). Our findings indicate that stretch is an important primary trigger for CTGF-induction in the overloaded heart.

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Conflict of Interest

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Erik Blaauw, Ilka Lorenzen-Schmidt, Fawzi A. Babiker, Chantal Munts, Frits W. Prinzen, Luc H. Snoeckx, Marc van Bilsen, Ger J. van der Vusse & Frans A. van Nieuwenhoven

  2. Department of Physiology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200, MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Frans A. van Nieuwenhoven

Authors
  1. Erik Blaauw
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  2. Ilka Lorenzen-Schmidt
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  3. Fawzi A. Babiker
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  4. Chantal Munts
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  5. Frits W. Prinzen
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  6. Luc H. Snoeckx
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  7. Marc van Bilsen
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  8. Ger J. van der Vusse
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  9. Frans A. van Nieuwenhoven
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Correspondence to Frans A. van Nieuwenhoven.

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Associate Editor Jennifer L. Hall oversaw the review of this article

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Blaauw, E., Lorenzen-Schmidt, I., Babiker, F.A. et al. Stretch-Induced Upregulation of Connective Tissue Growth Factor in Rabbit Cardiomyocytes. J. of Cardiovasc. Trans. Res. 6, 861–869 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12265-013-9489-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12265-013-9489-5

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