title: In vitro reestablishment of cell-cell contacts in adult rat cardiomyocytes. Functional role of transmembrane components in the formation of new intercalated disk-like cell contacts.
abstract: Primary adult rat cardiomyocytes (ARC)in culture are shown to be a model system for cardiac cell hypertrophy in vitro. ARC undergo a process of morphological transformation and grow only by increase in cell size, however, without loss of the cardiac phenotype. The isolated cells spread and establish new cell-cell contacts, eventually forming a two-dimensional heart tissue-like synchronously beating cell sheet. The reformation of specific cell contacts (intercalated disks) is shown also between ventricular and atrial cardiomyocytes by using antibodies against the gap junction protein connexin-43 and after microinjection into ARC of N-cadherin cDNA fused to reporter green fluorescent protein (GFP) cDNA. The expressed fusion protein allowed the study of live cell cultures and of the dynamics of the adherens junction protein N-cadherin during the formation of new cell-cell contacts. The possible use of the formed ARC cell-sheet cells under microgravity conditions as a test system for the reformation of the cytoskeleton of heart muscle cells is proposed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Institute of Cell Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland. hme@cell.biol.ethz.ch
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Eppenberger
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zuppinger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics; D002450:Cell Communication; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005260:Female; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008954:Models, Biological; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins