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Reduced function and disassembled microtubules of cultured cardiomyocytes in spaceflight

  • Articles
  • Cell Biology
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Lack of gravity during spaceflight has profound effects on cardiovascular system, but little is known about how the cardiomyocytes respond to microgravity. In the present study, the effects of spaceflight on the structure and function of cultured cardiomyocytes were reported. The primary cultures of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were carried on Shenzhou-6 spacecraft and activated at 4 h in orbit. 8 samples were fixed respectively at 4, 48 and 96 h after launching for immunofluorescence of cytoskeleton, and 2 samples remained unfixed to analyze contractile and secretory functions of the cultures. Ground samples were treated in our laboratory in parallel. After 115 h spaceflight, video recordings displayed that the number of spontaneous beating sites in flown samples decreased significantly, and the cells in the beating aggregate contracted in fast frequency without synchrony. Radioimmunoassay of the medium showed that the atrial natriuretic peptide secreted from flown cells reduced by 59.6%. Confocal images demonstrated the time-dependant disassembly of mirotubules versus unchanged distribution and organization of microfilaments. In conclusion, above results indicate reduced function and disorganized cytoskeleton of cardiomyocytes in spaceflight, which might provide some cellular basis for further investigations to probe into the mechanisms underlying space cardiovascular dysfunction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Space Cell and Molecular Biology, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, 100094, China

    Fen Yang, YingHui Li, Bai Ding, JieLin Nie, HongHui Wang, XiaoYou Zhang, ChunYan Wang, ShuKuan Ling, ChengZhi Ni, ZhongQuan Dai, YingJun Tan & YuMin Wan

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  1. Fen Yang
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  2. YingHui Li
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  3. Bai Ding
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  4. JieLin Nie
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  5. HongHui Wang
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Correspondence to YingHui Li.

Additional information

Supported by China Manned Space Engineering Project, National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2006CB705F04), National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2002AA743051), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30370365), and Advanced Space Medico-Engineering Research Project of China (Grant No. SJ200508)

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Yang, F., Li, Y., Ding, B. et al. Reduced function and disassembled microtubules of cultured cardiomyocytes in spaceflight. Chin. Sci. Bull. 53, 1185–1192 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0167-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0167-y

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