Myofibrillogenesis in the developing chicken heart: role of actin isoforms and of the pointed end actin capping protein tropomodulin during thin filament assembly.

Recently, important differences between myofibrillogenesis in cultured cardiomyocytes vs. the three-dimensional setting in situ could be determined. We investigated thin filament assembly in situ by confocal microscopy of whole-mount preparations of immunostained embryonic chicken hearts. Of interest, a distinct localisation of different actin isoforms was observed in immature thin filaments. Cardiac alpha-actin is restricted to filaments with a length comparable to mature thin filaments as soon as the first contractions occur, while vascular alpha-actin makes up filaments that extend toward the M-band. The pointed-end actin filament capping protein tropomodulin can be found initially in close association with the plasma membrane, but attains its mature localisation pattern at the ends of the thin filaments only comparatively late during myofibrillogenesis. Thus tropomodulin acts as a length stabilising element of actin filaments also in developing cardiomyocytes in situ, but plays an additional role together with membrane-associated actin filaments in the earliest steps of myofibril assembly. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.