Knockdown of FABP3 Impairs Cardiac Development in Zebrafish through the Retinoic Acid Signaling Pathway

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Xuejie Wang²  Lijuan Zhou¹  Jin Jin¹  Yang Yang¹  Guixian Song¹  Yahui Shen³  Hailang Liu¹  Ming Liu¹  Chunmei Shi³ 

[1] Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China; E-Mails:;Department of Emergency, Subei People Hospital, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, China; E-Mail:;State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China; E-Mail:

关键词: FABP3;    zebrafish;    cardiac development;    RA;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms140713826

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Fatty acid-binding protein 3 (FABP3) is a member of the intracellular lipid-binding protein family, and is primarily expressed in cardiac muscle tissue. Previously, we found that FABP3 is highly expressed in patients with ventricular-septal defects and is often used as a plasma biomarker in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, and may play a significant role in the development of these defects in humans. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of FABP3 in the embryonic development of the zebrafish heart, and specifically how morpholino (MO) mediated knockdown of FABP3 would affect heart development in this species. Our results revealed that knockdown of FABP3 caused significant impairment of cardiac development observed, including developmental delay, pericardial edema, a linear heart tube phenotype, incomplete cardiac loop formation, abnormal positioning of the ventricles and atria, downregulated expression of cardiac-specific markers and decreased heart rate. Mechanistically, our data showed that the retinoic acid (RA) catabolizing enzyme Cyp26a1 was upregulated in FABP3-MO zebrafish, as indicated by in situ hybridization and real-time PCR. On the other hand, the expression level of the RA synthesizing enzyme Raldh2 did not significantly change in FABP3-MO injected zebrafish. Collectively, our results indicated that FABP3 knockdown had significant effects on cardiac development, and that dysregulated RA signaling was one of the mechanisms underlying this effect. As a result, these studies identify FABP3 as a candidate gene underlying the etiology of congenital heart defects.

【 授权许可】

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