Ah receptor expression in cardiomyocytes protects adult female mice from heart dysfunction induced by TCDD exposure.

Epidemiological studies in humans and experimental work in rodents suggest that exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), a persistent environmental toxicant, is associated with incidence of heart disease. Although TCDD toxicity depends by and large on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), the role of the cardiac AHR in TCDD induced cardiovascular disease is not well defined. To determine whether the Ahr gene mediates disruption of heart function by TCDD, we generated a cardiomyocyte-specific Ahr knockout mouse by crossing Ahr(fx/fx) mice with βMhc:cre/+ mice, in which expression of Cre recombinase is driven by the promoter of the βMhc (myosin heavy chain-beta) gene.

Disruption of Ah Receptor Signaling during Mouse Development Leads to Abnormal Cardiac Structure and Function in the Adult.

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) Theory proposes that the environment encountered during fetal life and infancy permanently shapes tissue physiology and homeostasis such that damage resulting from maternal stress, poor nutrition or exposure to environmental agents may be at the heart of adult onset disease. Interference with endogenous developmental functions of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), either by gene ablation or by exposure in utero to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), a potent AHR ligand, causes structural, molecular and functional cardiac abnormalities and altered heart physiology in mouse embryos. To test if embryonic effects progress into an adult phenotype, we investigated whether Ahr ablation or TCDD exposure in utero resulted in cardiac abnormalities in adult mice long after removal of the agent.

Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 2 Regulates Myocardial Response to Exercise.

The myocardial response to exercise is an adaptive mechanism that permits the heart to maintain cardiac output via improved cardiac function and development of hypertrophy. There are many overlapping mechanisms via which this occurs with calcium handling being a crucial component of this process. Our laboratory has previously found that the stretch sensitive TRPV2 channels are active regulators of calcium handling and cardiac function under baseline conditions based on our observations that TRPV2-KO mice have impaired cardiac function at baseline.

Ah Receptor Signaling Controls the Expression of Cardiac Development and Homeostasis Genes.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital abnormality and one of the leading causes of newborn death throughout the world. Despite much emerging scientific information, the precise etiology of this disease remains elusive. Here, we show that the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) regulates the expression of crucial cardiogenesis genes and that interference with endogenous AHR functions, either by gene ablation or by agonist exposure during early development, causes overlapping structural and functional cardiac abnormalities that lead to altered fetal heart physiology, including higher heart rates, right and left ventricle dilation, higher stroke volume, and reduced ejection fraction.