6 - Macrophages and Cardiac Physiology Flashcards
How many times will a heart beat in a lifetime?
During 80-yr. lifespan, heart will beat ca. 3 billion times
Common causes of heart failure
- Myocardial infarction, leading to ischaemic injury
- Myocarditis, e.g.viral infection
- Endocarditis
- Arrhythmia
Layers of the heart wall
The wall of the heart separates into the following layers: epicardium, myocardium, and endocardium
What surrounds the heart?
- A double-layer, fluid-filled sac known as the pericardium surrounds the heart
- The two layers of the pericardium are called the outer fibrous/parietal pericardium and the inner serous/visceral pericardium
What is the epicardium?
The epicardium constitutes the visceral pericardium, underlying fibro-elastic connective tissue, and adipose tissue
What runs below the epicardium?
Coronary arteries and veins, lymphatic vessels, and nerves run below the epicardium
What is the endocardium composed of?
- The endocardium is composed of the endothelium and the subendothelial connective tissue layer.
- The subendocardium is found between the endocardium and myocardium and contains the impulse-conducting system
What did mice studies show that the heart contains?
Studies from mice showed that healthy, adult heart contains all major leukocyte classes, i.e. mononuclear phagocytes, neutrophils, B cells and T cells (12x greater frequency than skeletal muscle)
What is found to be interspersed throughout the heart?
Resident macrophages interspersed throughout heart and lodged between cardiomyocytes. Mφ shown to be numerous, heterogeneous and ontogenically diverse
What did surface marker profiling show?
Surface marker profiling confirmed 4 subsets, differing in expression of
MHC class II molecules, CC- chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) and
lymphocyte antigen 6C (Ly6C)
What subsets were found through surface marker profiling?
(1) CCR2 neg. macrophages: comprise 2 numerically dominant MHC
class II subsets
(a) MHC II high and (b) MHC class II low subsets
(2) CCR2 pos. macrophages (minor population)
(3) Ly6C-pos. Lowest frequency subset
When do some macrophages arise?
Some cardiac macrophages arise before birth, e.g. from foetal liver
precursors, while others arise from monocytes post-birth
What have detailed studies shown about the subsets?
Detailed studies showed the CCR2– and Ly6C+ subsets populate
the heart during embryogenesis (from embryonic progenitors) prior to definitive haematopoiesis.
Which subsets require monocytes and which don’t?
Post-birth, CCR2- and Ly6C+ subsets self- renew without input from monocytes
In contrast, the minor CCR2+ subset comes from circulating monocytes
What happens when cells lose/gain expression of surface markers?
As cells lose/gain expression of surface markers, the subsets mix, making ontogenic lines harder to distinguish
What is believed about cardiac macrophages?
Generally believed that circulating monocytes make only a small contribution to cardiac macrophages in healthy heart tissue in mice and humans
Immune cell heart locations
- cardiac valve
- conduction system (atrioventricular node)
- coronary artery
- pericardium