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Updated: Jul 26, 2025
Imaging Cleared Embryonic and Postnatal Hearts at Single-cell Resolution
Published on: October 7, 2016
Intercellular genetic tracing of cardiac endothelium in the developing heart
Kuo Liu1, Hengwei Jin2, Shaohua Zhang2
1Key Laboratory of Systems Health Science of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Science, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310024, China; New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
Abstract:
Cardiac resident macrophages play vital roles in heart development, homeostasis, repair, and regeneration. Recent studies documented the hematopoietic potential of cardiac endothelium that supports the generation of cardiac macrophages and peripheral blood cells in mice. However, the conclusion was not strongly supported by previous genetic tracing studies, given the non-specific nature of conventional Cre-loxP tracing tools. Here, we develop an intercellular genetic labeling system that can permanently trace heart-specific endothelial cells based on cell-cell interaction in mice. Results from cell-cell contact-mediated genetic fate mapping demonstrate that cardiac endothelial cells do not exhibit hemogenic potential and do not contribute to cardiac macrophages or other circulating blood cells. This Matters Arising paper is in response to Shigeta et al. (2019), published in Developmental Cell. See also the response by Liu and Nakano (2023), published in this issue.
