Molecular Basis of GATA-4 Expression During the Early Commitment Stage of Cardiomyogenesis

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death in North America. Currently, there are no effective treatment options for directly repairing the damaged myocardial tissue. Therefore, cell-based therapies utilizing cardiomyocytes generated from stem cells to replace necrotic tissue will be a promising approach. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating stem cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes are not fully understood. Since GATA-4 is one of the primary regulators of cradiomyogenesis, we investigated the molecular basis of GATA-4 expression during the early stages of stem cell differentiation. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we have observed the direct involvement of p300 in GATA-4 gene expression. We have also examined the importance ofhHistone acetylation and acetyltransferase activity on GATA-4 expression during the early stage of cardiomyogensis using the histone deactylase inhibitor Valproic Acid and the acetyltransferase inhibitor Curcumin respectively.