Assessment of human bioengineered cardiac tissue function in hypoxic and re-oxygenized environments to understand functional recovery in heart failure

Introduction

Myocardial recovery is one of the targets for heart failure treatment. A non-negligible number of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (EF) patients experience myocardial recovery through treatment. Although myocardial hypoxia has been reported to contribute to the progression of heart failure even in non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, the relationship between contractile recovery and re-oxygenation and its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The present study investigated the effects of hypoxia/re-oxygenation on bioengineered cardiac cell sheets-tissue function and the underlying mechanisms.

Methods

Bioengineered cardiac cell sheets-tissue was fabricated with human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) using temperature-responsive culture dishes. Cardiac tissue functions in the following conditions were evaluated with a contractile force measurement system: continuous normoxia (20% O₂) for 12 days; hypoxia (1% O₂) for 4 days followed by normoxia (20% O₂) for 8 days; or continuous hypoxia (1% O₂) for 8 days. Cell number, sarcomere structure, ATP levels, mRNA expressions and Ca²⁺ transients of hiPSC-CM in those conditions were also assessed.

Results

Hypoxia (4 days) elicited progressive decreases in contractile force, maximum contraction velocity, maximum relaxation velocity, Ca²⁺ transient amplitude and ATP level, but sarcomere structure and cell number were not affected. Re-oxygenation (8 days) after hypoxia (4 days) was associated with progressive increases in contractile force, maximum contraction velocity and relaxation time to the similar extent levels of continuous normoxia group, while maximum relaxation velocity was still significantly low even after re-oxygenation. Ca²⁺ transient magnitude, cell number, sarcomere structure and ATP level after re-oxygenation were similar to those in the continuous normoxia group. Hypoxia/re-oxygenation up-regulated mRNA expression of PLN.

Conclusions

Hypoxia and re-oxygenation condition directly affected human bioengineered cardiac tissue function. Further understanding the molecular mechanisms of functional recovery of cardiac tissue after re-oxygenation might provide us the new insight on heart failure with recovered ejection fraction and preserved ejection fraction.