Ventricular septum defects (VSDs) are common types of congenital heart diseases caused by developmental defect; they contribute to 25%-30% of all adult congenital heart diseases. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) is widely expressed in mammalian tissues and in the immune system, regulating cell differentiation and immune and inflammatory responses. The PPAR-γ gene has recently been found crucial for heart development, but the mechanism of action is not clear. This study aims to investigate the effects of the PPAR-γ gene in the myocardium on the development of ventricular septation. In this study, we applied Cre-loxP recombination enzyme (CRE) technology to downregulate the expression of the PPAR-γ gene in different cardiac tissues, RT-PCR to examine the expression of the c-fos and TGF-β1 genes, and histology staining to check the defect of embryonic heart at embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5). We found that the downregulation of the PPAR-γ gene resulted in a ventricular membranous septation defect of the embryonic heart at E14.5. Furthermore, only conversion of a Tnt:Cre, but not Mef2c:Cre, Tie2:Cre, or Wnt:Cre PPAR-γ floxed allele to a null allele resulted in VSD. PPAR-γTnt-Cre/+ embryos showed increases in atrioventricular (AV)-cushion cells and the expression of c-fos gene but no change in the expression of TGF-β1 at E10.5. Our study demonstrates PPAR-γ in the myocardium is required for ventricular septation through regulation of AV-cushion cell proliferation by a Tnt/c-fos signal.
Keywords: c-fos; myocardium; peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ2; ventricular septum defect.