Conclusions
Results indicate that altered regulation of the cell cycling pathway and elevated proliferation precedes hypertrophy in the cMyBP-C-/- HCM model, and suggests that increased cardiomyocyte number contributes to increased heart size in cMyBP-C-/- mice. This pre-hypertrophic period may reflect a unique time during which the commitment to HCM is determined and disease severity is influenced.
Results
We performed microarray analysis, echocardiography, qPCR, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and isolated cardiomyocyte measurements to characterize the perinatal cMyBP-C-/- phenotype before and after overt hypertrophy. cMyBP-C-/- hearts showed elevated cell cycling at PND1 that transitioned to hypertrophy by PND9. An expanded time course revealed that increased cardiomyocyte cycling was associated with elevated heart weight to body weight ratios prior to cellular hypertrophy, suggesting that cell cycling resulted in cardiomyocyte proliferation. Animals heterozygous for the cMyBP-C deletion trended in the direction of the homozygous null, yet did not show increased heart size by PND9. Conclusions: Results indicate that altered regulation of the cell cycling pathway and elevated proliferation precedes hypertrophy in the cMyBP-C-/- HCM model, and suggests that increased cardiomyocyte number contributes to increased heart size in cMyBP-C-/- mice. This pre-hypertrophic period may reflect a unique time during which the commitment to HCM is determined and disease severity is influenced.