Premium
Ventricular Growth and Coronary Vessel Development in the Giant Danio ( Devario Aequipinnatus ) Heart
Author(s) -
Shifatu Olubusola,
Glasshagel Sarah,
Patel Purva,
Nelson Hannah,
Tomamichel Wendy,
Higginbotham Clay,
Lafontant Pascal J
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.586.13
Subject(s) - danio , medicine , zebrafish , anatomy , larva , biology , cardiology , ecology , gene , biochemistry
The adult giant danio (GD) heart displays robust regenerative response to cardiac injury, similar to that observed in the closely related species, the zebrafish (ZF). However, unlike the ZF, little is known about cardiovascular growth and ventricular maturation of the GD. We studied over 300 GD larva, juveniles and adults using light and electron microscopy. We have documented the dynamic changes in specific anatomical and physiological growth parameters from 7 days to 32 weeks post‐fertilization (wpf) adults. While we found that the GD displayed marked variations in sizes/standard lengths (SL) and ventricular sizes/ventricular lengths (VL) in their respective age groups, GD VL were closely correlated with their SL. GD SL increased by an average of 1.2 mm from 1 to10 wpf, and VL increasing by 50 um/week from 5 to 10 wpf. We also found that GD raised at low densities (1–2/liter) experienced greater cardiac growth, and lesser SL and VL variance than fish grown at higher densities (5–10/liter). Like the ZF, the coronary vasculature emerged in the late larval stage, and both the initiation and expansion of the vasculature was dependent upon SL. The switch from an a vascular to vascularized myocardium was concomitant with the appearance and increase in thickness of the compact heart, and the formation of a junctional region occupied by a spatially organized fibroblasts network. This is the first comprehensive study of the cardiac growth and maturation in the GD heart from larval stage to adulthood. Our new findings may serve as an important baseline for comparative cardiac biology studies in fish species including the ZF. Support or Funding Information P.J.L. is supported by NIH 1 R15 HD084262‐01, the Donald E. Town Faculty Fellowship, and Faculty Development Funds at DePauw University