Journal Article Preprint Epublish 2 citations
PubMed: 39975374 DOI: 10.1101/2025.02.05.636757
Swimming motions evoke Ca events in vascular endothelial cells of larval zebrafish via mechanical activation of Piezo1.
bioRxiv
Authors: Bill Z Jia, Xin Tang, Marlies P Rossmann, Leonard I Zon, Florian Engert, Adam E Cohen
Affiliations
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
- Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
- Stem Cell Program and Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Abstract
Calcium signaling in blood vessels regulates their growth, immune response, and vascular tone. Vascular endothelial cells are known to be mechanosensitive, and it has been assumed that this mechanosensation mediates calcium responses to pulsatile blood flow. Here we show that in larval zebrafish, the dominant trigger for vascular endothelial Ca events comes from body motion, not heartbeat-driven blood flow. Through a series of pharmacological and mechanical perturbations, we showed that body motion is necessary and sufficient to induce endothelial Ca events, while neither neural activity nor blood circulation is either necessary or sufficient. Knockout and temporally restricted knockdown of eliminated the motion-induced Ca events. Our results demonstrate that swimming-induced tissue motion is an important driver of endothelial Ca dynamics in larval zebrafish.
MeSH
Cells, Blood, Swimming, Endothelial Cells, Blood Circulation