title: Mimicking Cardiac Fibrosis in a Dish: Fibroblast Density Rather than Collagen Density Weakens Cardiomyocyte Function.
abstract: Cardiac fibrosis is one of the most devastating effects of cardiac disease. Current in vitro models of cardiac fibrosis do not sufficiently mimic the complex in vivo environment of the cardiomyocyte. We determined the local composition and mechanical properties of the myocardium in established mouse models of genetic and acquired fibrosis and tested the effect of myocardial composition on cardiomyocyte contractility in vitro by systematically manipulating the number of fibroblasts and collagen concentration in a platform of engineered cardiac microtissues. The in vitro results showed that while increasing collagen content had little effect on microtissue contraction, increasing fibroblast density caused a significant reduction in contraction force. In addition, the beating frequency dropped significantly in tissues consisting of 50% cardiac fibroblasts or higher. Despite apparent dissimilarities between native and in vitro fibrosis, the latter allows for the independent analysis of local determinants of fibrosis, which is not possible in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands.|Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ariane C C
authors.initials: ACC
authors.lastname: van Spreeuwel
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands. n.a.m.bax@tue.nl.|Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands. n.a.m.bax@tue.nl.
authors.forename: Noortje A M
authors.initials: NAM
authors.lastname: Bax
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bastiaan J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: van Nierop
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Annemieke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aartsma-Rus
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marie-José T H
authors.initials: MTH
authors.lastname: Goumans
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, the Netherlands.|Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Carlijn V C
authors.initials: CVC
authors.lastname: Bouten
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002450:Cell Communication; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005355:Fibrosis; D006339:Heart Rate; D008297:Male; D018101:Mice, Inbred mdx; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen
keywords: Cardiac fibroblast proliferation; Cardiac fibrosis; Cardiomyocyte functionality; ECM accumulation; Engineered cardiac tissue