英国伦敦帝国理工学院Julien Vermot研究组发现生物电信号与机械力对心肌细胞特性的控制。2021年10月15日出版的《科学》发表了这项成果。

通过在体内操纵机械力，他们表明剪切应力对于促进瓣膜发生是必要和充分的。他们发现瓣膜形成与细胞外三磷酸腺苷 (ATP) 依赖性嘌呤能受体通路的激活有关，特别是触发钙离子 (Ca2+) 脉冲和活化 T 细胞核因子 1 (Nfatc1) 的激活。因此，机械力通过 ATP-Ca2+-Nfatc1-机械敏感途径转化为离散的生物电信号，以产生位置信息和控制阀门的形成。

据介绍，发展中的心血管系统使用机械力来形成，但无处不在的血流力如何指示局部心肌细胞的特性仍不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Bioelectric signaling and the control of cardiac cell identity in response to mechanical forces

Author: Hajime Fukui, Renee Wei-Yan Chow, Jing Xie, Yoke Yin Foo, Choon Hwai Yap, Nicolas Minc, Naoki Mochizuki, Julien Vermot

Issue&Volume: 2021-10-15

Abstract: Developing cardiovascular systems use mechanical forces to take shape, but how ubiquitous blood flow forces instruct local cardiac cell identity is still unclear. By manipulating mechanical forces in vivo, we show here that shear stress is necessary and sufficient to promote valvulogenesis. We found that valve formation is associated with the activation of an extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP)–dependent purinergic receptor pathway, specifically triggering calcium ion (Ca2+) pulses and nuclear factor of activated T cells 1 (Nfatc1) activation. Thus, mechanical forces are converted into discrete bioelectric signals by an ATP-Ca2+-Nfatc1–mechanosensitive pathway to generate positional information and control valve formation.

DOI: abc6229

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc6229