Early mechanisms of aortic failure in a zebrafish model for thoracic aortic dissection and rupture
biorxiv(2024)
摘要
Thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection (TAAD) associates with a high mortality rate. Despite the existence of different mouse models for TAAD, the underlying disease mechanisms remain elusive. Treatment options are limited and mainly consist of surgical repair at critical aortic diameters as current pharmacological interventions are unable to stop disease progression.
In humans, loss of function (LOF) of SMAD3 and SMAD6 impairs vascular homeostasis, increasing the risk for TAAD. We developed a zebrafish model for thoracic aortic dissection/rupture by targeting both ohnologs of smad3 and smad6 . At 10 days post fertilization, we found an increased diameter of the ventral aorta in smad3a −/−; smad3b −/− double knockout zebrafish, while smad6a −/−; smad6b −/− double knockout zebrafish have a reduced aortic diameter associated with early mortality. We discovered that a smad3a −/−; smad3b −/−; smad6a −/−; smad6b −/− quadruple knockout (qKO) zebrafish model is viable and survives to adulthood, although exposure to stress leads to sudden death. Histological analysis of the adult ventral aorta shows medial elastolysis, aortic dissections and ruptures at sites exposed to high biomechanical stress. RNA-sequencing of 5 days post fertilization qKO zebrafish indicates a profile of reduced negative regulation of proteolysis and upregulation of melanogenesis, a previously unaddressed pathway in this pathology. We confirm that pharmacological modulation of tyrosinase, the enzyme responsible for the production of melanin, influences aortic morphology.
Overall, the qKO mutant, thus far the only known zebrafish model of thoracic aortic dissection and rupture, reveals novel SMAD3/6-dependent pathways that impact thoracic aortic homeostasis, in this way opening avenues for the development of novel treatments in TAAD.
### Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
* AA3
: aortic arch 3
AA4
: aortic arch 4
BMPs
: bone morphogenetic proteins
Co-SMAD
: common mediator SMAD
CPM
: counts per million
DEG
: differentially expressed genes
DKO
: double knockout
dpf
: days post fertilization
ECM
: extracellular matrix
FDR
: false discovery rate
GDFs
: differentiation factors
GO
: gene ontology
GRCz11
: Genome Reference Consortium Zebrafish Build 11
GSEA
: gene set enrichment analysis
ID
: intellectual disability
I-SMAD
: inhibitory SMAD
KEGG
: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes
LDS3
: Loeys-Diets syndrome type 3
LOF
: loss of function
mpf
: months post fertilization
MR
: magnetic resonance
PSI
: Paul Scherrer Institut
PTU
: 1-phenyl-2-thiourea treatment
qKO
: smad3a−/−;smad3b−/−;smad6a−/−;smad6b−/− quadruple knockout
RO
: reverse osmosis
R-SMAD
: receptor-regulated SMAD
SKO
: single knockout
smad3a/b DKO
: smad3a−/−;smad3b−/− double knockout
smad6a/b DKO
: smad6a−/−;smad6b−/− double knockout
TAA
: thoracic aortic aneurysm
TAAD
: thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection
TAD
: thoracic aortic dissection
TEM
: transmission electron microscopy
TGF-β
: transforming growth factor β
ZIRC
: Zebrafish International Research Center
更多查看译文
AI 理解论文
溯源树
样例
生成溯源树,研究论文发展脉络
Chat Paper
正在生成论文摘要