Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Leibniz Institute on Aging-Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI), 07745 Jena, Germany.
Core Facility Imaging, 07745 Jena, Germany.
Cells. 2022 Jan 20;11(3):345. doi: 10.3390/cells11030345.
Age-associated organ failure and degenerative diseases have a major impact on human health. Cardiovascular dysfunction has an increasing prevalence with age and is one of the leading causes of death. In contrast to humans, zebrafish have extraordinary regeneration capacities of complex organs including the heart. In addition, zebrafish has recently become a model organism in research on aging. Here, we have compared the ventricular transcriptome as well as the regenerative capacity after cryoinjury of old and young zebrafish hearts. We identified the immune system as activated in old ventricles and found muscle organization to deteriorate upon aging. Our data show an accumulation of immune cells, mostly macrophages, in the old zebrafish ventricle. Those immune cells not only increased in numbers but also showed morphological and behavioral changes with age. Our data further suggest that the regenerative response to cardiac injury is generally impaired and much more variable in old fish. Collagen in the wound area was already significantly enriched in old fish at 7 days post injury. Taken together, these data indicate an 'inflammaging'-like process in the zebrafish heart and suggest a change in regenerative response in the old.
年龄相关的器官衰竭和退行性疾病对人类健康有重大影响。心血管功能障碍的发病率随年龄增长而增加，是导致死亡的主要原因之一。与人类不同，斑马鱼具有非凡的复杂器官再生能力，包括心脏。此外，斑马鱼最近已成为衰老研究的模式生物。在这里，我们比较了老龄和幼龄斑马鱼心脏的心室转录组以及冷冻损伤后的再生能力。我们发现，老龄心室中免疫系统被激活，并发现随着年龄的增长，肌肉组织恶化。我们的数据显示，老龄斑马鱼心脏中积累了大量的免疫细胞，主要是巨噬细胞。这些免疫细胞不仅数量增加，而且随着年龄的增长还表现出形态和行为上的变化。我们的数据进一步表明，老龄鱼对心脏损伤的再生反应通常受损，而且变化更大。受伤后 7 天，老龄鱼伤口区域的胶原蛋白已经明显富集。总之，这些数据表明斑马鱼心脏存在类似“炎症衰老”的过程，并提示老龄鱼的再生反应发生了变化。
