Early calcium and cardiac contraction defects in a model of phospholamban R9C mutation in zebrafish

The phospholamban mutation Arg 9 to Cys (R9C) has been found to cause a dilated cardiomyopathy in humans and in transgenic mice, with ventricular dilation and premature death. Emerging evidence suggests that phospholamban R9C is a loss-of-function mutation with dominant negative effect on SERCA2a activity. We imaged calcium and cardiac contraction simultaneously in 3 and 9  days-post-fertilization (dpf) zebrafish larvae expressing plnbR9C in the heart to unveil the early pathological pathway that triggers the disease.
Source: Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology - Category: Cytology Authors: Source Type: research