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Undifferentiated Cells in the Snail Myocardium Are Capable of DNA Synthesis and Myodifferentiation

Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 194064 St. Petersburg, Russia

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: heartdev{at}mail.cytspb.rssi.ru

Cellular mechanisms of heart-muscle growth in the snail Achatina fulica have been studied using cytophotometry and electron microscopic autoradiography. Cytophotometric DNA measurements showed that the snail cardiomyocytes are mononucleated cells with diploid nuclei. Ultrastructural analysis of the snail myocardium revealed that, in addition to mature myocytes, it contains small roundish undifferentiated cells (UCs) and poorly differentiated muscle cells. EM autoradiography detected silver grains over the nuclei of UCs 2 h after injection of tritiated thymidine ([³H]Tdr), while the nuclei of both mature and poorly differentiated myocytes remained unlabeled. In EM autographs of the myocardial tissue fixed 14 days after [³H]Tdr administration, labeled myonuclei were evident, which may suggest some myodifferentiation of prelabeled UCs. Many labeled UCs persist for 14 days after a single [³H]Tdr injection, suggesting that not all UCs undergo myodifferentiation after passing through the cell cycle, and that those that do not can enter the next cycle. UCs in the snail myocardium presumably provide not only reserve but also stem cells for myocytes. Thus, the heart muscle of the adult snail consists of mononucleated diploid myocytes with blocked proliferative activity and a renewable population of precursor myogenic cells. The results obtained suggest that the growth of this muscle involves a myoblastic mechanism of myogenesis; this mechanism differs from that of vertebrate cardiac muscle growth, which is non-myoblastic—that is, based on proliferation or polyploidization of cardiomyocytes. Evolutionary aspects of cellular mechanisms of the heart-muscle growth are discussed.