TY  - JOUR
A1  - Biermann, Daniel
A1  - Heilmann, Andreas
A1  - Didié, Michael
A1  - Schlossarek, Saskia
A1  - Wahab, Azadeh
A1  - Grimm, Michael
A1  - Römer, Maria
A1  - Reichenspurner, Hermann
A1  - Sultan, Karim R.
A1  - Steenpass, Anna
A1  - Ergün, Süleyman
A1  - Donzelli, Sonia
A1  - Carrier, Lucie
A1  - Ehmke, Heimo
A1  - Zimmermann, Wolfram H.
A1  - Hein, Lutz
A1  - Böger, Rainer H.
A1  - Benndorf, Ralf A.
T1  - Impact of AT2 Receptor Deficiency on Postnatal Cardiovascular Development
JF  - PLoS One
N2  - Background: The angiotensin II receptor subtype 2 (AT2 receptor) is ubiquitously and highly expressed in early postnatal life. However, its role in postnatal cardiac development remained unclear. 
Methodology/Principal Findings: Hearts from 1, 7, 14 and 56 days old wild-type (WT) and AT2 receptor-deficient (KO) mice were extracted for histomorphometrical analysis as well as analysis of cardiac signaling and gene expression. Furthermore, heart and body weights of examined animals were recorded and echocardiographic analysis of cardiac function as well as telemetric blood pressure measurements were performed. Moreover, gene expression, sarcomere shortening and calcium transients were examined in ventricular cardiomyocytes isolated from both genotypes. KO mice exhibited an accelerated body weight gain and a reduced heart to body weight ratio as compared to WT mice in the postnatal period. However, in adult KO mice the heart to body weight ratio was significantly increased most likely due to elevated systemic blood pressure. At postnatal day 7 ventricular capillarization index and the density of \(\alpha\)-smooth muscle cell actin-positive blood vessels were higher in KO mice as compared to WT mice but normalized during adolescence. Echocardiographic assessment of cardiac systolic function at postnatal day 7 revealed decreased contractility of KO hearts in response to beta-adrenergic stimulation. Moreover, cardiomyocytes from KO mice showed a decreased sarcomere shortening and an increased peak Ca\(^{2+}\) transient in response to isoprenaline when stimulated concomitantly with angiotensin II. 
Conclusion: The AT2 receptor affects postnatal cardiac growth possibly via reducing body weight gain and systemic blood pressure. Moreover, it moderately attenuates postnatal vascularization of the heart and modulates the beta adrenergic response of the neonatal heart. These AT2 receptor-mediated effects may be implicated in the physiological maturation process of the heart.
KW  - mice
KW  - II type-2 receptor
KW  - human endothelial cells
KW  - chronic kidney disease
KW  - angiotensin II
KW  - blood pressure
KW  - in vitro
KW  - cardiac hyperthrophy
KW  - tube formation
KW  - rat heart
Y1  - 2012
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-134902
VL  - 7
IS  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kühnisch, Jirko
A1  - Herbst, Christopher
A1  - Al‐Wakeel‐Marquard, Nadya
A1  - Dartsch, Josephine
A1  - Holtgrewe, Manuel
A1  - Baban, Anwar
A1  - Mearini, Giulia
A1  - Hardt, Juliane
A1  - Kolokotronis, Konstantinos
A1  - Gerull, Brenda
A1  - Carrier, Lucie
A1  - Beule, Dieter
A1  - Schubert, Stephan
A1  - Messroghli, Daniel
A1  - Degener, Franziska
A1  - Berger, Felix
A1  - Klaassen, Sabine
T1  - Targeted panel sequencing in pediatric primary cardiomyopathy supports a critical role of TNNI3
JF  - Clinical Genetics
N2  - The underlying genetic mechanisms and early pathological events of children with primary cardiomyopathy (CMP) are insufficiently characterized. In this study, we aimed to characterize the mutational spectrum of primary CMP in a large cohort of patients ≤18 years referred to a tertiary center. Eighty unrelated index patients with pediatric primary CMP underwent genetic testing with a panel‐based next‐generation sequencing approach of 89 genes. At least one pathogenic or probably pathogenic variant was identified in 30/80 (38%) index patients. In all CMP subgroups, patients carried most frequently variants of interest in sarcomere genes suggesting them as a major contributor in pediatric primary CMP. In MYH7, MYBPC3, and TNNI3, we identified 18 pathogenic/probably pathogenic variants (MYH7 n = 7, MYBPC3 n = 6, TNNI3 n = 5, including one homozygous (TNNI3 c.24+2T>A) truncating variant. Protein and transcript level analysis on heart biopsies from individuals with homozygous mutation of TNNI3 revealed that the TNNI3 protein is absent and associated with upregulation of the fetal isoform TNNI1. The present study further supports the clinical importance of sarcomeric mutation—not only in adult—but also in pediatric primary CMP. TNNI3 is the third most important disease gene in this cohort and complete loss of TNNI3 leads to severe pediatric CMP.
KW  - cardiomyopathy
KW  - genetics
KW  - pediatrics
KW  - sarcomere
KW  - TNNI3
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-213958
VL  - 96
IS  - 6
SP  - 549
EP  - 559
ER  -