ArticleDevelopmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists2025
Squamate ventricular cardiomyocytes: Ploidy, proliferation, and heart muscle cell size in the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius).
Article in Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dynamic cardiac hyperplasia and hypertrophy in Burmese pythons.American journal of physiology. Cell physiology · 2026Article
- Regeneration of the lizard heart after cryoinjury.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Heart ventricle regeneration in the lizard Eublepharis macularius, the leopard gecko.NPJ Regenerative medicine · 2026Article
- Squamate ventricular cardiomyocytes: Ploidy, proliferation, and heart muscle cell size in the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius).Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWhile heart function is broadly conserved across vertebrates, the cellular phenotype of muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) varies across taxa and throughout ontogeny. Emerging evidence suggests that some attributes may correlate with the capacity for spontaneous cardiomyocyte replacement following injury. For example, among non-regenerating taxa like adult mammals and birds, cardiomyocytes are polyploid, rarely proliferate, and are large in size. In contrast, in regeneration-competent zebrafish and amphibians, cardiomyocytes are diploid, spontaneously proliferate, and are comparatively small. For other species, less is known.
resultsHere, we investigate these attributes in the squamate Eublepharis macularius, the leopard gecko. Using the nuclear counterstain DAPI to measure fluorescence intensity as a proxy for DNA content, we found that >90% of adult cardiomyocytes are diploid. Using serial histology and immunostaining for markers of DNA synthesis and mitosis, we determined that adult gecko cardiomyocytes spontaneously proliferate, albeit at significantly lower levels than previously reported in subadults. Furthermore, using wheat germ agglutinin, we found that the cross-sectional area is maintained across ontogeny and that gecko cardiomyocytes are 10× smaller than those of mice.
conclusionsTaken together, our data show that gecko cardiomyocytes share several key cellular attributes with regeneration-competent species and that postnatal ventricular growth occurs via cardiomyocyte hyperplasia.
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