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Novel approaches to study coronary vasculature development in mice
Author(s) -
Kolesová Hana,
Bartoš Martin,
Hsieh Wan Chin,
Olejníčková Veronika,
Sedmera David
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.24637
Subject(s) - coronary arteries , artery , plexus , biology , heart development , right coronary artery , great arteries , anatomy , medicine , cardiology , embryonic stem cell , coronary angiography , myocardial infarction , gene , heart disease , biochemistry
Background : Coronary artery development is an intensely studied field. Mice are a popular genetic model for developmental studies, but there is no widely accepted protocol for high‐throughput, high‐resolution imaging of their developmental and adult coronary artery anatomy. Results : Using tissue‐clearing protocols and confocal microscopy, we have analyzed embryonic and juvenile mouse hearts in Cx40:GFP knock‐in models with a special focus on septal artery development. We found that the septal artery, which supplies the interventricular septum, was initially formed as an arterial plexus that connected to both the left and right coronary arteries. During development, the plexus was remodeled into a single tube, which then remained connected only to the right coronary artery. Since optical imaging became limited at postnatal stages, it was supplemented with injection techniques using India ink and Microfil; the latter was subsequently analyzed with micro‐CT to visualize the anatomy of coronary vessels in 3D. Conclusions : The techniques described here enable us to study the finer details of coronary artery development in mice and can, therefore, be implemented to study the pathogenesis of coronary malformations in various mouse models. Developmental Dynamics 247:1018‐1027, 2018 . © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.