Tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 is critical in zebrafish cardiogenesis
Yanli Zhang1, Huijun Wang2, Danping Wen3
1Key Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Ministry of Education, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institutes of Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China.
Abstract:
Human tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (Tfpi-2) is an extracellular matrix-associated Kunitz-type serine proteinase inhibitor and plays an important role in various cellular processes. We have previously shown that zebrafish Tfpi-2 (zTfpi-2) mainly expressed in the brain and heart of zebrafish, and it is involved in the development of central nervous system. Here, we identified zTfpi-2 as an evolutionarily conserved protein essential for zebrafish heart development, as embryos depleted of zTfpi-2 failed to undergo cardiogenesis. Changes of cardiogenic markers, vmhc, amhc and bmp4, confirmed zTfpi-2 knockdown caused cardiac defects, including retrenched ventricle, enlarged atrium and malformation of atrioventricular boundary. The sarcomeric organization was also disrupted by embryonic depletion of zTfpi-2, thus establishing the functional role of zTfpi-2 in cardiac contractility. In addition, hematopoietic defects were detected in the zTfpi-2-deficiency embryos. Importantly, injection of ztfpi-2 mRNA attenuated those cardiac and hematopoietic defects. Taken together, this study demonstrated a critical role of zTfpi-2 during embryonic cardiac development, as well as an important regulator of hematopoiesis.
