Mapping of regional myocardial strain and work during ventricular pacing: experimental study using magnetic resonance imaging tagging.
(17/1851)
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the spatial distribution of myocardial function (myofiber shortening and work) within the left ventricular (LV) wall during ventricular pacing. BACKGROUND: Asynchronous electrical activation, as induced by ventricular pacing, causes various abnormalities in LV function, perfusion and structure. These derangements may be caused by abnormalities in regional contraction patterns. However, insight into these patterns during pacing is as yet limited. METHODS: In seven anesthetized dogs, high spatial and temporal resolution magnetic resonance-tagged images were acquired in three orthogonal planes. Three-dimensional deformation data and LV cavity pressure and volume were used to determine midwall circumferential strain and external and total mechanical work at 192 sites around the left ventricle. RESULTS: During ventricular pacing, systolic fiber strain and external work were approximately zero in regions near the pacing site, and gradually increased to more than twice the normal value in the most remote regions. Total mechanical work, normalized to the value during right atrial pacing, was 38 +/- 13% (right ventricular apex [RVapex] pacing) and 61 +/- 23% (left ventricular base [LVbase] pacing) close to the pacing site, and 125 +/- 48% and 171 +/- 60% in remote regions, respectively (p < 0.05 between RVapex and LVbase pacing). The number of regions with reduced work was significantly larger during RVapex than during LVbase pacing. This was associated with a reduction of global LV pump function during RVapex pacing. CONCLUSIONS: Ventricular pacing causes a threefold difference in myofiber work within the LV wall. This difference appears large enough to regard local myocardial function as an important determinant for abnormalities in perfusion, metabolism, structure and pump function during asynchronous electrical activation. Pacing at sites that cause more synchronous activation may limit the occurrence of such derangements. (+info)
Cardiac myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic reticulum function are not depressed in insulin-resistant JCR:LA-cp rats.
(18/1851)
Depressed myofibrillar Ca2+-ATPase activity and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ uptake are important mechanisms that are responsible for the cardiac dysfunction exhibited by insulin-deficient (type I) diabetic animals. The JCR:LA-cp rat is a model for type II non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). This rat is insulin resistant, obese, and has high levels of circulating glucose, cholesterol, insulin, and triglycerides. The purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in cardiac myofibrillar, SR, and cardiomyocyte function exist in this model of type II diabetes. Myofibrils and SR were isolated from hearts by differential centrifugation. Surprisingly, we found that myofibrillar Ca2+-ATPase activities were unaltered in these animals. Ca2+ uptake in isolated SR fractions was increased in diabetic cp/cp rats, whereas Ca2+-ATPase activity and ryanodine binding were unchanged. Cardiomyocytes isolated from hearts of control and experimental animals had similar active cell shortening and intracellular Ca2+ concentration under basal conditions and in response to caffeine. Our data argue against the presence of a cardiomyopathy in this diabetic model and suggest that insulin may be an important factor in the cardiomyopathy observed in type I diabetic models. (+info)
Mechanical activity in heart regulates translation of alpha-myosin heavy chain mRNA but not its localization.
(19/1851)
Mechanical inactivity depresses protein expression in cardiac muscle tissue and results in atrophy. We explore the mechanical transduction mechanism in spontaneously beating neonatal rat cardiomyocytes expressing the alpha-myosin heavy chain (alpha-MyHC) isoform by interfering with cross-bridge function [2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM), 7.5 mM] without affecting cell calcium. The polysome content and alpha-MyHC mRNA levels in fractions from a sucrose gradient were analyzed. BDM treatment blocked translation at initiation (162 +/- 12% in the nonpolysomal RNA fraction and 43 +/- 6% in the polysomal fraction, relative to control as 100%; P < 0.05). There was an increase in alpha-MyHC mRNA from the nonpolysomal fraction (120.5 +/- 7.7%; P < 0.05 compared with control) with no significant change in the heavy polysomes. In situ hybridization of alpha-MyHC mRNA was used to estimate message abundance as a function of the distance from the nucleus. The mRNA was dispersed through the cytoplasm in spontaneously beating cells as well as in BDM-treated cells (no significant difference). We conclude that direct inhibition of contractile machinery, but not calcium, regulates initiation of alpha-MyHC mRNA translation. However, calcium, not pure mechanical signals, appears to be important for message localization. (+info)
Microvascular endothelial cells remodel cultured adult cardiomyocytes and increase their survival.
(20/1851)
We investigated the paracrine effect of cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (MVEC) on cultured adult rat cardiomyocytes (ARC). ARC were exposed for 8 days to serum-free medium (CM) conditioned by MVEC. Controls were grown in FCS or FCS-free medium. Protein synthesis of CM-stimulated ARC increased twofold versus 5% FCS-stimulated cells until day 8. Seventy-nine percent of CM-treated myocytes survived, whereas only twenty-four percent of FCS-free ARC retained viability. The phenotype of myocytes exposed to CM was different from control. Analysis by confocal laser microscopy of CM-stimulated myocytes showed actin staining throughout the whole cell body up to the peripheral extensions, with concomitant appearance of myomesin in a cross-striated pattern. The reexpression of fetal alpha-smooth muscle actin determined immunohistochemically and by Western blot increased from day 6 in CM-treated cells, whereas ARC grown in up to 20% serum were negative. These effects could not be mimicked by any of the other cardioactive substances tested here, indicating a novel trophic factor in CM. (+info)
Subcellular creatine kinase alterations. Implications in heart failure.
(21/1851)
We have tested the hypothesis that decreased functioning of creatine kinase (CK) at sites of energy production and utilization may contribute to alterations in energy fluxes and calcium homeostasis in congestive heart failure (CHF). Heart failure was induced by aortic banding in 3-week-old rats. Myofilaments, sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), mitochondrial functions, and CK compartmentation were studied in situ using selective membrane permeabilization of left ventricular fibers with detergents (saponin for mitochondria and SR and Triton X-100 for myofibrils). Seven months after surgery, animals were in CHF. A decrease in total CK activity could be accounted for by a 4-fold decrease in activity and content (Western blots) of mitochondrial CK and a 30% decrease in M isoform of CK (MM-CK) activity. In myofibrils, maximal force, crossbridge kinetics, and alpha-myosin heavy-chain expression decreased, whereas calcium sensitivity of tension development remained unaltered. Myofibrillar CK efficacy was unchanged. Calcium uptake capacities of SR were estimated from the surface of caffeine-induced tension transient (SCa) after loading with different substrates. In CHF, SCa decreased by 23%, and phosphocreatine was 2 times less efficient in enhancing calcium uptake. Oxidative capacities of the failing myocardium measured as oxygen consumption per gram of fiber dry weight decreased by 28%. Moreover, the control of respiration by creatine, ADP, and AMP was severely impaired. Our observations provide evidence that alterations in CK compartmentation may contribute to alterations of energy fluxes and calcium homeostasis in CHF. (+info)
Calcineurin is required for skeletal muscle hypertrophy.
(22/1851)
Molecular signaling pathways linking increases in skeletal muscle usage to alterations in muscle size have not been identified. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that calcineurin, a calcium-regulated phosphatase recently implicated in the signaling of some forms of cardiomyopathic growth, is required to induce skeletal muscle hypertrophy and muscle fiber type conversions associated with functional overload in vivo. Administration of the specific calcineurin inhibitors cyclosporin (CsA) or FK506 to mice, for which the fast plantaris muscle was overloaded for 1-4 weeks, prevented the rapid doubling of mass and individual fiber size and the 4-20-fold increase in the number of slow fibers that characterize this condition. CsA treatment influenced the expression of muscle myofibrillar protein genes in a way reflective of fiber phenotype transformations but only in the long term of the overload condition, suggesting that the control of this growth response by calcineurin is not limited to the transcriptional activation of these muscle-specific genes. Clinically, these results provide insight to the post-surgical muscle wasting and weakness observed in recovering transplant recipients administered therapeutic dosages of these immunosuppressants. (+info)
Influence of inorganic phosphate and pH on sarcoplasmic reticular ATPase in skinned muscle fibres of Xenopus laevis.
(23/1851)
1. The influence of 30 mM inorganic phosphate (Pi) and pH (6.2-7.4) on the rate of ATP utilization was determined in mechanically skinned bundles of myofibrils from the iliofibularis muscle of Xenopus laevis at approximately 5 C. 2. BDM (2,3-butanedione monoxime; 10 mM) depressed isometric force production and actomyosin (AM) ATPase activity equally. Therefore sarcoplasmic reticular (SR) ATPase activity could be determined by extrapolation of the total ATPase activity to zero force. 3. The SR ATPase activity without added Pi at pH 7.1 was 42 +/- 2 % of the total ATPase activity. Addition of 30 mM Pi reduced SR ATPase activity slightly, by 9 +/- 5 %, and depressed force by 62 +/- 2 % and AM ATPase activity by 21 +/- 6 %. 4. At pH 6.2, force, SR ATPase activity and AM ATPase activity were reduced by 21 +/- 5, 61 +/- 5 and 10 +/- 4 % of their respective values at pH 7.1. 5. The SR ATPase activity at 30 mM Pi and pH 6.2 was reduced markedly to 20 +/- 6 % of the value under control conditions, suggesting that the maximum rate of Ca2+ uptake during muscle fatigue was strongly depressed. This reduction was larger than expected on the basis of the effects of Pi and pH alone. (+info)
Characterization of muscle sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar protein hydrolysis caused by Lactobacillus plantarum.
(24/1851)
Strains of Lactobacillus plantarum originally isolated from sausages were screened for proteinase and aminopeptidase activities toward synthetic substrates; on the basis of that screening, L. plantarum CRL 681 was selected for further assays on muscle proteins. The activities of whole cells, cell extracts (CE), and a combination of both on sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar protein extracts were determined by protein, peptide, and free-amino-acid analyses. Proteinase from whole cells initiated the hydrolysis of sarcoplasmic proteins. The addition of CE intensified the proteolysis. Whole cells generated hydrophilic peptides from both sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins. Other peptides of a hydrophobic nature resulted from the combination of whole cells and CE. The action of both enzymatic sources on myofibrillar proteins caused maximal increases in lysine, arginine, and leucine, while the action of those on sarcoplasmic proteins mainly released alanine. In general, pronounced hydrolysis of muscle proteins required enzyme activities from whole cells in addition to those supplied by CE. (+info)