The mechanosensitive Piezo1 channel mediates heart mechano-chemo transduction

Fan Jiang, Kunlun Yin, Kun Wu, Mingmin Zhang, Shiqiang Wang, Heping Cheng, Zhou Zhou and Bailong Xiao ()
Additional contact information
Fan Jiang: Tsinghua University
Kunlun Yin: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College
Kun Wu: Tsinghua University
Mingmin Zhang: Tsinghua University
Shiqiang Wang: Peking University
Heping Cheng: Peking University
Zhou Zhou: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College
Bailong Xiao: Tsinghua University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract The beating heart possesses the intrinsic ability to adapt cardiac output to changes in mechanical load. The century-old Frank–Starling law and Anrep effect have documented that stretching the heart during diastolic filling increases its contractile force. However, the molecular mechanotransduction mechanism and its impact on cardiac health and disease remain elusive. Here we show that the mechanically activated Piezo1 channel converts mechanical stretch of cardiomyocytes into Ca2+ and reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling, which critically determines the mechanical activity of the heart. Either cardiac-specific knockout or overexpression of Piezo1 in mice results in defective Ca2+ and ROS signaling and the development of cardiomyopathy, demonstrating a homeostatic role of Piezo1. Piezo1 is pathologically upregulated in both mouse and human diseased hearts via an autonomic response of cardiomyocytes. Thus, Piezo1 serves as a key cardiac mechanotransducer for initiating mechano-chemo transduction and consequently maintaining normal heart function, and might represent a novel therapeutic target for treating human heart diseases.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21178-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-21178-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21178-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().