Konstantinos Lekkos, Zhilian Hu, Phong D Nguyen, Hessel Honkoop, Esra Sengul, Rita Alonaizan, Jana Koth, Jun Ying, Madeleine E Lemieux, Alisha Kenward, Sean Keeley, Bastiaan Spanjaard, Brett W C Kennedy, Xin Sun, Katherine Banecki, Helen G Potts, Gennaro Ruggiero, James Montgomery, Daniela Panáková, Jan Philipp Junker, Lisa C Heather, Xiaonan Wang, Juan Manuel Gonzalez-Rosa, Jeroen Bakkers, Mathilda T M Mommersteeg
{"title":"Oxidative phosphorylation is required for cardiomyocyte re-differentiation and long-term fish heart regeneration.","authors":"Konstantinos Lekkos, Zhilian Hu, Phong D Nguyen, Hessel Honkoop, Esra Sengul, Rita Alonaizan, Jana Koth, Jun Ying, Madeleine E Lemieux, Alisha Kenward, Sean Keeley, Bastiaan Spanjaard, Brett W C Kennedy, Xin Sun, Katherine Banecki, Helen G Potts, Gennaro Ruggiero, James Montgomery, Daniela Panáková, Jan Philipp Junker, Lisa C Heather, Xiaonan Wang, Juan Manuel Gonzalez-Rosa, Jeroen Bakkers, Mathilda T M Mommersteeg","doi":"10.1038/s44161-025-00718-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In contrast to humans, fish can fully regenerate their hearts after cardiac injury. However, not all fish have the same regenerative potential, allowing comparative inter-species and intra-species analysis to identify the mechanisms controlling successful heart regeneration. Here we report a differential regenerative response to cardiac cryo-injury among different wild-type zebrafish strains. Correlating these data with single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing data, we identify oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) as a positive regulator of long-term regenerative outcome. OXPHOS levels, driven by glycolysis through the malate-aspartate shuttle, increase as soon as cardiomyocyte proliferation decreases, and this increase is required for cardiomyocyte re-differentiation and successful long-term regeneration. Reduced upregulation of OXPHOS in Astyanax mexicanus cavefish results in the absence of a dynamic temporal sarcomere gene expression program during cardiomyocyte re-differentiation. These findings challenge the assumption that OXPHOS inhibits regeneration and reveal targetable pathways to enhance heart repair in humans after myocardial infarction.</p>","PeriodicalId":74245,"journal":{"name":"Nature cardiovascular research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature cardiovascular research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-025-00718-x","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CARDIAC & CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEMS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In contrast to humans, fish can fully regenerate their hearts after cardiac injury. However, not all fish have the same regenerative potential, allowing comparative inter-species and intra-species analysis to identify the mechanisms controlling successful heart regeneration. Here we report a differential regenerative response to cardiac cryo-injury among different wild-type zebrafish strains. Correlating these data with single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing data, we identify oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) as a positive regulator of long-term regenerative outcome. OXPHOS levels, driven by glycolysis through the malate-aspartate shuttle, increase as soon as cardiomyocyte proliferation decreases, and this increase is required for cardiomyocyte re-differentiation and successful long-term regeneration. Reduced upregulation of OXPHOS in Astyanax mexicanus cavefish results in the absence of a dynamic temporal sarcomere gene expression program during cardiomyocyte re-differentiation. These findings challenge the assumption that OXPHOS inhibits regeneration and reveal targetable pathways to enhance heart repair in humans after myocardial infarction.