MicroRNA-33 (miR-33) targeted inhibition increases plasma HDL cholesterol and promotes atherosclerosis regression by enhancing reverse cholesterol transport and dampening plaque inflammation. This study showed how miR-33 inhibition alters the dynamic balance and transcriptional landscape of immune cells in atherosclerotic plaques. They used single cell RNA sequencing of aortic CD45+ cells, combined...

Previous studies showed an abundance of functional Connexin43 (Cx43) hemichannels consequent to loss of plakophilin-2 (PKP2) expression in adult murine hearts. This study combined pre-embedding immunolabeling with serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) to visualize and examine the gap junction plaque morphology. They used a murine model of cardiomyocyte-specific Tamoxifen (TAM) activated...

This dataset includes microscopy images from paraffin embedding hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) as well as immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining for cleaved caspase-3, CD3 and CD11b. For these experiments, 6-8 week-old male and female mice from WT, Mavs+/- and Mavs-/- background were infected with 1E5 PFU of chikungunya virus (CHIKV), or mock-infected with heat-inactivated inoculum or PBS. Cardiac tissue...

The Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) Study examines risk factors for heart disease among South Asians of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, and Sri Lankan descent in the United States to guide preventative measures and future treatments. Beginning in 2010, eligible South Asian participants between the ages of 40 and 80 were recruited from the San Francisco...

The Purkinje cells (PCs) within the ventricular conduction system (VCS) has been widely investigated, because they are necessary for synchronous activation of the ventricular myocardium. This study identified genes that might influence PC development and VCS function. The differential transcriptional profiling revealed several highly enriched cell adhesion molecules in PCs. They uncovered two additional...

This study combined multiple techniques (e.g., RNAscope in-situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, single-cell RNA sequencing, bulk RNA sequencing, and functional assays) to investigate the inflammatory response associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in human vascular tissues. Single cell RNA-sequencing data obtained from samples collected for this study is available via the Gene...

Previous studies in murine cardiomyocytes and ex vivo knockdown in zebrafish embryonic hearts have demonstrated that NOS1AP expression levels can alter cellular electrophysiology. Therefore, this study generated constitutive and heart muscle-restricted Nos1ap knockout mice to explore the role of NOS1AP in cardiac electrophysiology and QT interval regulation in vivo. To assess the impact of Nos1ap loss...

The RAS family of small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) control a diverse network of signaling pathways essential for human development and adult tissue homeostasis. RAS-related GTPase RIT1 proteins promote mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) hyperactivation, but this mechanism remains poorly understood. This study examined whether MEK1/2 inhibition attenuates MAPK signaling in RIT1 M90I mice...