Cardiac Remodeling in Cardiomyocyte-Specific PIEZO2 Knock-Out Mice

Objectives: Mechanosensation and mechanotransduction belong to the most fundamental processes in biology. Especially in the cardiovascular system a mechanosensitive feedback mechanism is essential to adapt to different physiological demands. Piezo2 is a mechanosensitive ion channel and has a role in rapidly adapting mechanically activated currents in somatosensory neurons. Its expression in cardiac tissue is low but stable detectable and we found a significant increase of Piezo2 expression in heart tissue of mice 2 weeks after transverse aortic constriction (TAC) and 3 weeks after continuous angiotensin II infusion in comparison with the control groups. Also in engineered heart tissue model of cardiac hypertrophy we found a rise of Piezo2 expression.