Wnt/β-catenin signaling acts cell-autonomously to promote cardiomyocyte regeneration in the zebrafish heart

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Zebrafish can achieve scar-free healing of heart injuries, and robustly replace all cardiomyocytes lost to injury via dedifferentiation and proliferation of mature cardiomyocytes. Previous studies suggested that Wnt/β-catenin signaling is active in the injured zebrafish heart, where it induces fibrosis and prevents cardiomyocyte cell cycling. Here, via targeting the destruction complex of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway with pharmacological and genetic tools, we demonstrate that Wnt/β-catenin activity is required for cardiomyocyte proliferation and dedifferentiation, as well as for maturation of the scar during regeneration. Using cardiomyocyte-specific conditional inhibition of the pathway, we show that Wnt/β-catenin signaling acts cell-autonomously to promote cardiomyocyte proliferation. Our results stand in contrast to previous reports and rather support a model in which Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays a positive role during heart regeneration in zebrafish.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)226-237
Number of pages12
JournalDevelopmental biology
Volume481
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85119266983
Mendeley a5e47c0d-75af-3652-b0bf-1aa50706d864
unpaywall 10.1016/j.ydbio.2021.11.001

Keywords

Keywords

  • Axin1, Cardiomyocyte, Cryoinjury, Fibrosis, Heart, Proliferation, Regeneration, Scar, Wnt signaling, Wnt/β-catenin, Zebrafish