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Troponin I isoform expression in human heart
N M Hunkeler1, J Kullman, A M Murphy
1Edward Mallinckrodt Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo.
Circulation Research
|November 1, 1991
Summary
Human hearts show developmental regulation of troponin I isoforms, similar to rats. Infant hearts express slow skeletal troponin I, which is absent in adult hearts.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Cardiovascular Science
- Muscle Physiology
Background:
- Troponin I is a key regulatory protein in striated muscle contraction.
- Cardiac and skeletal muscle isoforms of troponin I are encoded by distinct genes.
- Previous studies indicated gene switching of troponin I in developing rat hearts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the expression patterns of different troponin I isoforms in the human heart.
- To compare human troponin I isoform expression with findings in rat heart development.
- To understand the developmental regulation of troponin I in the human cardiovascular system.
Main Methods:
- Acquisition of human cardiac and slow skeletal troponin I cDNA probes.
- Screening of an adult cardiac cDNA library and Taq polymerase amplification of infant heart RNA.
- RNA blot analysis of human cardiac ventricular RNA from infants and adults.
Main Results:
- Cardiac troponin I isoform exhibits tissue-specific expression in normal adult human tissues.
- Human cardiac troponin I was detected in all analyzed infant and adult heart specimens.
- Slow skeletal troponin I mRNA and protein were found in infant hearts, but not in adult hearts.
Conclusions:
- Troponin I isoform expression is developmentally regulated in the human heart.
- This developmental regulation mechanism in humans resembles that observed in rats.
- Findings contribute to understanding cardiac muscle development and gene expression.