Zebrafish possess a unique yet poorly understood capacity for cardiac regeneration. Here, we show that regeneration proceeds through two coordinated stages following resection of the ventricular apex. First a blastema is formed, comprised of progenitor cells that express precardiac markers, undergo differentiation, and proliferate. Second, epicardial tissue surrounding both cardiac chambers induces developmental markers and rapidly expands, creating a new epithelial cover for the exposed myocardium. A subpopulation of these epicardial cells undergoes epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invades the wound, and provides new vasculature to regenerating muscle. During regeneration, the ligand fgf17b is induced in myocardium, while receptors fgfr2 and fgfr4 are induced in adjacent epicardial-derived cells. When fibroblast growth factors (Fgf) signaling is experimentally blocked by expression of a dominant-negative Fgf receptor, epicardial EMT and coronary neovascularization fail, prematurely arresting regeneration. Our findings reveal injury responses by myocardial and epicardial tissues that collaborate in an Fgf-dependent manner to achieve cardiac regeneration.

The four-chambered mammalian heart develops from two fields of cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) distinguished by their spatiotemporal patterns of differentiation and contributions to the definitive heart [1–3]. The first heart field differentiates earlier in lateral plate mesoderm, generates the linear heart tube and ultimately gives rise to the left ventricle. The second heart field (SHF) differentiates later in pharyngeal mesoderm, elongates the heart tube, and gives rise to the outflow tract (OFT) and much of the right ventricle. Because hearts in lower vertebrates contain a rudimentary OFT but not a right ventricle [4], the existence and function of SHF-like cells in these species has remained a topic of speculation [4–10]. Here we provide direct evidence from Cre/Lox-mediated lineage tracing and loss of function studies in zebrafish, a lower vertebrate with a single ventricle, that latent-TGFβ binding protein 3 (ltbp3) transcripts mark a field of CPCs with defining characteristics of the anterior SHF in mammals. Specifically, ltbp3+ cells differentiate in pharyngeal mesoderm after formation of the heart tube, elongate the heart tube at the outflow pole, and give rise to three cardiovascular lineages in the OFT and myocardium in the distal ventricle. In addition to expressing Ltbp3, a protein that regulates the bioavailability of TGFβ ligands [11], zebrafish SHF cells co-express nkx2.5, an evolutionarily conserved marker of CPCs in both fields [4]. Embryos devoid of ltbp3 lack the same cardiac structures derived from ltbp3+ cells due to compromised progenitor proliferation. Additionally, small-molecule inhibition of TGFβ signaling phenocopies the ltbp3-morphant phenotype whereas expression of a constitutively active TGFβ type I receptor rescues it. Taken together, our findings uncover a requirement for ltbp3-TGFβ signaling during zebrafish SHF development, a process that serves to enlarge the single ventricular chamber in this species.

To increase the facility and throughput of scoring phenotypic traits in embryonic zebrafish, we developed an automated micro-well assay for heart rate using automated fluorescence microscopy of transgenic embryos expressing green fluorescent protein in myocardium. The assay measures heart rates efficiently and accurately over a large linear dynamic range, and it rapidly characterizes dose dependence and kinetics of small molecule-induced changes in heart rate. This is the first high-throughput micro-well assay for organ function in an intact vertebrate.

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become an attractive vertebrate model for studying developmental processes, and is emerging as a model system for studying the mechanisms by which toxic compounds perturb normal development. When exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) shortly after fertilization, zebrafish embryos exhibit pericardial edema and reduced blood flow by 72 h post fertilization (hpf). To better understand the progression of dioxin toxicity in zebrafish, we have examined the effects of TCDD on heart development. At 72 hpf, TCDD-treated embryos exhibited altered looping, with the atria positioned distinctly posterior to the ventricles, contrary to the looping of control hearts, where the two chambers lied side by side. Moreover, the ventricles in dioxin-exposed hearts became more compact, and the atria elongated in comparison to controls. These defects are not secondary to pericardial edema because they were observed when edema formation was suppressed with osmotic support. In addition to morphological changes, TCDD produced functional deficits in the developing hearts, including blood regurgitation and a striking ventricular standstill that became prevalent by 120 hpf. We also assessed the effect of TCDD on the heart size using stereological measurements, which demonstrated significant reduction in heart tissue volume at 72 hpf. Perhaps our most significant finding was a decrease in the total number of cardiomyocytes in TCDD-exposed embryos by 48 hpf, one day prior to observable effects on peripheral blood flow. We conclude that the developing heart is an important target for TCDD in zebrafish.

Significance Heart failure is a term used to describe the heart’s inability to pump sufficient oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. This condition is commonly caused by the loss of heart muscle cells termed cardiomyocytes that results from a heart attack. As one of the least regenerative organs in the human body, the heart fails to regenerate damaged cardiomyocytes, forms a noncontractile scar instead, and progressively fails. Unlike mammals, adult zebrafish robustly regenerate their hearts following injury through division of uninjured cardiomyocytes, thus providing an opportunity to dissect innate cardiac regenerative mechanisms. Here, we provide evidence that Notch signaling is required for cardiomyocyte division and heart regeneration in zebrafish and, therefore, highlight a genetic determinant of natural heart renewal.