Diastolic spontaneous calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum increases beat-to-beat variability of repolarization in canine ventricular myocytes after β-adrenergic stimulation

OptoDyCE as an automated system for high-throughput all-optical dynamic cardiac electrophysiology

The improvement of preclinical cardiotoxicity testing, discovery of new ion-channel-targeted drugs, and phenotyping and use of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and other biologics all necessitate high-throughput (HT), cellular-level electrophysiological interrogation tools. Optical techniques for actuation and sensing provide instant parallelism, enabling contactless dynamic HT testing of cells and small-tissue constructs, not affordable by other means. Here we show, computationally and experimentally, the limits of all-optical electrophysiology when applied to drug testing, then implement and validate OptoDyCE, a fully automated system for all-optical cardiac electrophysiology. We validate optical actuation by virally introducing optogenetic drivers in rat and human cardiomyocytes or through the modular use of dedicated light-sensitive somatic ‘spark' cells. We show that this automated all-optical approach provides HT means of cellular interrogation, that is, allows for dynamic testing of >600 multicellular samples or compounds per hour, and yields high-content information about the action of a drug over time, space and doses.

The efficiency of preclinical drug testing and characterization of cellular function can be improved through the use of optogenetic tools. Here Klimas et al. present and validate OptoDyCE, a fully automated system for all-optical high-throughput cardiac electrophysiology.

Experimentally-Based Computational Investigation into Beat-To-Beat Variability in Ventricular Repolarization and Its Response to Ionic Current Inhibition

Beat-to-beat variability in repolarization (BVR) has been proposed as an arrhythmic risk marker for disease and pharmacological action. The mechanisms are unclear but BVR is thought to be a cell level manifestation of ion channel stochasticity, modulated by cell-to-cell differences in ionic conductances. In this study, we describe the construction of an experimentally-calibrated set of stochastic cardiac cell models that captures both BVR and cell-to-cell differences in BVR displayed in isolated canine action potential measurements using pharmacological agents. Simulated and experimental ranges of BVR are compared in control and under pharmacological inhibition, and the key ionic currents determining BVR under physiological and pharmacological conditions are identified. Results show that the 4-aminopyridine-sensitive transient outward potassium current, I_to1, is a fundamental driver of BVR in control and upon complete inhibition of the slow delayed rectifier potassium current, I_Ks. In contrast, I_Ks and the L-type calcium current, I_CaL, become the major contributors to BVR upon inhibition of the fast delayed rectifier potassium current, I_Kr. This highlights both I_Ks and I_to1 as key contributors to repolarization reserve. Partial correlation analysis identifies the distribution of I_to1 channel numbers as an important independent determinant of the magnitude of BVR and drug-induced change in BVR in control and under pharmacological inhibition of ionic currents. Distributions in the number of I_Ks and I_CaL channels only become independent determinants of the magnitude of BVR upon complete inhibition of I_Kr. These findings provide quantitative insights into the ionic causes of BVR as a marker for repolarization reserve, both under control condition and pharmacological inhibition.

Pulmonary vein sleeve cell excitation-contraction-coupling becomes dysynchronized by spontaneous calcium transients

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of sustained cardiac arrhythmia. Substantial evidence indicates that cardiomyocytes located in the pulmonary veins [pulmonary vein sleeve cells (PVCs)] cause AF by generating ectopic electrical activity. Electrical ablation, isolating PVCs from their left atrial junctions, is a major treatment for AF. In small rodents, the sleeve of PVCs extends deep inside the lungs and is present in lung slices. Here we present data, using the lung slice preparation, characterizing how spontaneous Ca2+ transients in PVCs affect their capability to respond to electrical pacing. Immediately after a spontaneous Ca2+ transient the cell is in a refractory period and it cannot respond to electrical stimulation. Consequently, we observe that the higher the level of spontaneous activity in an individual PVC, the less likely it is that this PVC responds to electrical field stimulation. The spontaneous activity of neighbouring PVCs can be different from each other. Heterogeneity in the Ca2+ signalling of cells and in their responsiveness to electrical stimuli are known pro-arrhythmic events. The tendency of PVCs to show spontaneous Ca2+ transients and spontaneous action potentials (APs) underlies their potential to cause AF.

Reduction in Kv Current Enhances the Temporal Dispersion of the Action Potential in Diabetic Myocytes: Insights From a Novel Repolarization Algorithm

BACKGROUND

Diabetes is associated with prolongation of the QT interval of the electrocardiogram and enhanced dispersion of ventricular repolarization, factors that, together with atherosclerosis and myocardial ischemia, may promote the occurrence of electrical disorders. Thus, we tested the possibility that alterations in transmembrane ionic currents reduce the repolarization reserve of myocytes, leading to action potential (AP) prolongation and enhanced beat-to-beat variability of repolarization.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Diabetes was induced in mice with streptozotocin (STZ), and effects of hyperglycemia on electrical properties of whole heart and myocytes were studied with respect to an untreated control group (Ctrl) using electrocardiographic recordings in vivo, ex vivo perfused hearts, and single-cell patch-clamp analysis. Additionally, a newly developed algorithm was introduced to obtain detailed information of the impact of high glucose on AP profile. Compared to Ctrl, hyperglycemia in STZ-treated animals was coupled with prolongation of the QT interval, enhanced temporal dispersion of electrical recovery, and susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias, defects observed, in part, in the Akita mutant mouse model of type I diabetes. AP was prolonged and beat-to-beat variability of repolarization was enhanced in diabetic myocytes, with respect to Ctrl cells. Density of Kv K(+) and L-type Ca(2+) currents were decreased in STZ myocytes, in comparison to cells from normoglycemic mice. Pharmacological reduction of Kv currents in Ctrl cells lengthened AP duration and increased temporal dispersion of repolarization, reiterating features identified in diabetic myocytes.

CONCLUSIONS

Reductions in the repolarizing K(+) currents may contribute to electrical disturbances of the diabetic heart.

Heart rate-guided, but not dose-guided titration of beta blockers stabilizes ventricular repolarization in patients with chronic heart failure

AIMS

We compared the effects of heart rate-guided and dose-guided beta-blocker titration strategies on QT variability in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

METHODS

In a prospective study we recorded 5-minute resting high-resolution ECGs (HRECG) in 100 patients with CHF and measured heart rate (HR) and ventricular repolarization by QT variability index (QTVI). In a subgroup of patients not reaching target HR (<70bpm) we uptitrated beta blockers and repeated HRECG measurements 3months thereafter.

RESULTS

Target HR was present in 46 patients (group A), and in 54 patients HR was above target (group B). The groups did not differ in age, gender, NYHA class, NT pro-BNP, creatinine, or beta blocker dose. Patients in group A displayed significantly lower QTVI than patients in group B (-1.25±0.55 vs. -1.52±0.42, P=0.013). When uptitrating beta-blockers we found a decrease in HR (from 91±15bpm to 71±15bpm, P<0.001), NTpro BNP levels (from 4474±3878pg/ml to 3042±2566pg/ml, P=0.024), and NYHA class (from 3.0±0.8 to 2.5±0.7, P=0.006). With beta-blocker uptitration QTVI decreased in 10 of 24 patients (42%). In these patients HR decreased more than in the remaining cohort (-25±20bpm vs. -15±17bpm, P=0.017). On multivariate analysis, the presence of target HR was a predictor of QTVI decrease (P=0.017), but beta-blocker dose was not.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with CHF treated by beta-blockers, changes in QT variability appear to occur in parallel with changes of heart rate. This suggests that heart rate-guided titration of beta-blockers may be associated with decreased risk of sudden cardiac death.

Slowed depolarization and irregular repolarization in catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia: a study from cellular Ca2+ transients and action potentials to clinical monophasic action potentials and electrocardiography

AIMS

Spontaneous Ca²⁺ release leads to afterdepolarizations and triggered arrhythmia in catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT). Irregular Ca²⁺ release is hypothesized to manifest as slowed depolarization and irregular repolarization. Our goal was to study depolarization and repolarization abnormalities in CPVT, as they remain largely uninvestigated.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We studied intracellular Ca²⁺ handling and action potentials (APs) in an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) model of CPVT. Induced pluripotent stem cell cardiomyocytes from a RyR2-P2328S patient showed increased non-alternating variability of Ca²⁺ transients in response to isoproterenol. β-Agonists decreased AP upslope velocity in CPVT cells and in monophasic AP recordings of CPVT patients. We compared 24 h electrocardiograms (ECGs) of 19 CPVT patients carrying RyR2 mutations and 19 healthy controls. Short-term variability (STV) of the QT interval was 6.9 ± 0.5 ms in CPVT patients vs. 5.5 ± 0.4 ms in controls (P < 0.05) and associated with a history of arrhythmic events. Mean T-wave alternans (TWA) was 25 ± 1.4 µV in CPVT patients vs. 31 ± 2.0 µV in controls (P < 0.05). Older CPVT patients showed lower maximal upslope velocity of the ECG R-spike than control patients.

CONCLUSION

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia patients show higher STV of repolarization but lower TWA on the 24 h ECG than control patients, which is likely to reflect increased non-alternating variability of Ca²⁺ release by mutant RyR2s as observed in vitro. β-Agonists slow depolarization in RyR2-mutant cells and in CPVT patients. These findings may constitute a marker of arrhythmogenicity.

Calcium release near L-type calcium channels promotes beat-to-beat variability in ventricular myocytes from the chronic AV block dog

Beat-to-beat variability of ventricular repolarization (BVR) has been proposed as a strong predictor of Torsades de Pointes (TdP). BVR is also observed at the myocyte level, and a number of studies have shown the importance of calcium handling in influencing this parameter. The chronic AV block (CAVB) dog is a model of TdP arrhythmia in cardiac hypertrophy, and myocytes from these animals show extensive remodeling, including of Ca(2+) handling. This remodeling process also leads to increased BVR. We aimed to determine the role that (local) Ca(2+) handling plays in BVR. In isolated LV myocytes an exponential relationship was observed between BVR magnitude and action potential duration (APD) at baseline. Inhibition of Ca(2+) release from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) with thapsigargin resulted in a reduction of [Ca(2+)]i, and of both BVR and APD. Increasing ICaL in the presence of thapsigargin restored APD but BVR remained low. In contrast, increasing ICaL with preserved Ca(2+) release increased both APD and BVR. Inhibition of Ca(2+) release with caffeine, as with thapsigargin, reduced BVR despite maintained APD. Simultaneous inhibition of Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchange and ICaL decreased APD and BVR to similar degrees, whilst increasing diastolic Ca(2+). Buffering of Ca(2+) transients with BAPTA reduced BVR for a given APD to a greater extent than buffering with EGTA, suggesting subsarcolemmal Ca(2+) transients modulated BVR to a larger extent than the cytosolic Ca(2+) transient. In conclusion, BVR in hypertrophied dog myocytes, at any APD, is strongly dependent on SR Ca(2+) release, which may act through modulation of the l-type Ca(2+) current in a subsarcolemmal microdomain.

Slow [Na]i Changes and Positive Feedback Between Membrane Potential and [Ca]i Underlie Intermittent Early Afterdepolarizations and Arrhythmias

BACKGROUND

Most cardiac arrhythmias occur intermittently. As a cellular precursor of lethal cardiac arrhythmias, early afterdepolarizations (EADs) during action potentials(APs) have been extensively investigated, and mechanisms for the occurrence of EADs on a beat-to-beat basis have been proposed. However, no previous study explains slow fluctuations in EADs, which may underlie intermittency of EAD trains and consequent arrhythmias. We hypothesize that the feedback of intracellular calcium and sodium concentrations ([Na](i) and [Ca](i)) that influence membrane voltage (V) can explain EAD intermittency.

METHODS AND RESULTS

AP recordings in rabbit ventricular myocytes revealed intermittent EADs, with slow fluctuations between runs of APs with EADs present or absent. We then used dynamical systems analysis and detailed mathematical models of rabbit ventricular myocytes that replicate the observed behavior and investigated the underlying mechanism. We found that a dominance of inward Na-Ca exchanger current (I(NCX)) over Ca-dependent inactivation of L-type Ca current (I(CaL)) forms a positive feedback between [Ca](i) and V, thus resulting in 2 stable AP states, with and without EADs (ie, bistability). Slow changes in [Na](i) determine the transition between these 2 states, forming a bistable on-off switch of EADs. Tissue simulations showed that this bistable switch of cellular EADs provided both a trigger and a functional substrate for intermittent arrhythmias in homogeneous tissues.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrates that the interaction among V, [Ca](i), and [Na](i) causes slow on-off switching (or bistability) of AP duration in cardiac myocytes and EAD-mediated arrhythmias and suggests a novel possible mechanism for intermittency of cardiac arrhythmias.

Oxidative shift in tissue redox potential increases beat-to-beat variability of action potential duration

Profound changes in tissue redox potential occur in the heart under conditions of oxidative stress frequently associated with cardiac arrhythmias. Since beat-to-beat variability (short term variability, SV) of action potential duration (APD) is a good indicator of arrhythmia incidence, the aim of this work was to study the influence of redox changes on SV in isolated canine ventricular cardiomyocytes using a conventional microelectrode technique. The redox potential was shifted toward a reduced state using a reductive cocktail (containing dithiothreitol, glutathione, and ascorbic acid) while oxidative changes were initiated by superfusion with H2O2. Redox effects were evaluated as changes in “relative SV” determined by comparing SV changes with the concomitant APD changes. Exposure of myocytes to the reductive cocktail decreased SV significantly without any detectable effect on APD. Application of H2O2 increased both SV and APD, but the enhancement of SV was the greater, so relative SV increased. Longer exposure to H2O2 resulted in the development of early afterdepolarizations accompanied by tremendously increased SV. Pretreatment with the reductive cocktail prevented both elevation in relative SV and the development of afterdepolarizations. The results suggest that the increased beat-to-beat variability during an oxidative stress contributes to the generation of cardiac arrhythmias.

In Vitro Early Safety Pharmacology Screening: Perspectives Related to Cardiovascular Safety

In vitro screening for cardiovascular safety liabilities of novel drug candidates presents a challenge for the pharmaceutical industry. Such approaches rely on detecting pharmacologic effects on key components of complex integrated system early in drug discovery to define potential safety liabilities. Key to such studies are the concepts of hazard identification vs. risk assessment, drug specificity vs. selectivity, and an appreciation of the challenges faced when attempting to translate in vitro findings to preclinical in vivo as well as clinical effects. This chapter defines some key aspects of early safety pharmacology screening for cardiovascular liabilities, citing studies of two key depolarizing cardiac currents (fast sodium current and L-type calcium current) as examples linked to effects on cardiac conduction and repolarization.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy restores sympathovagal balance in the failing heart by differential remodeling of cholinergic signaling

RATIONALE

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is the only heart failure (HF) therapy documented to improve left ventricular function and reduce mortality. The underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Although β-adrenergic signaling has been studied extensively, the effect of CRT on cholinergic signaling is unexplored.

OBJECTIVE

We hypothesized that remodeling of cholinergic signaling plays an important role in the aberrant calcium signaling and depressed contractile and β-adrenergic responsiveness in dyssynchronous HF that are restored by CRT.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Canine tachypaced dyssynchronous HF and CRT models were generated to interrogate responses specific to dyssynchronous versus resynchronized ventricular contraction during hemodynamic decompensation. Echocardiographic, electrocardiographic, and invasive hemodynamic data were collected from normal controls, dyssynchronous HF and CRT models. Left ventricular tissue was used for biochemical analyses and functional measurements (calcium transient, sarcomere shortening) from isolated myocytes (n=42-104 myocytes per model; 6-9 hearts per model). Human left ventricular myocardium was obtained for biochemical analyses from explanted failing (n=18) and nonfailing (n=7) hearts. The M2 subtype of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors was upregulated in human and canine HF compared with nonfailing controls. CRT attenuated the increased M2 subtype of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor expression and Gαi coupling and enhanced M3 subtype of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor expression in association with enhanced calcium cycling, sarcomere shortening, and β-adrenergic responsiveness. Despite model-dependent remodeling, cholinergic stimulation completely abolished isoproterenol-induced triggered activity in both dyssynchronous HF and CRT myocytes.

CONCLUSIONS

Remodeling of cholinergic signaling is a critical pathological component of human and canine HF. Differential remodeling of cholinergic signaling represents a novel mechanism for enhancing sympathovagal balance with CRT and may identify new targets for treatment of systolic HF.

Myocardial electrotonic response to submaximal exercise in dogs with healed myocardial infarctions: evidence for β-adrenoceptor mediated enhanced coupling during exercise testing

INTRODUCTION

Autonomic neural activation during cardiac stress testing is an established risk-stratification tool in post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients. However, autonomic activation can also modulate myocardial electrotonic coupling, a known factor to contribute to the genesis of arrhythmias. The present study tested the hypothesis that exercise-induced autonomic neural activation modulates electrotonic coupling (as measured by myocardial electrical impedance, MEI) in post-MI animals shown to be susceptible or resistant to ventricular fibrillation (VF).

METHODS

Dogs (n = 25) with healed MI instrumented for MEI measurements were trained to run on a treadmill and classified based on their susceptibility to VF (12 susceptible, 9 resistant). MEI and ECGs were recorded during 6-stage exercise tests (18 min/test; peak: 6.4 km/h @ 16%) performed under control conditions, and following complete β-adrenoceptor (β-AR) blockade (propranolol); MEI was also measured at rest during escalating β-AR stimulation (isoproterenol) or overdrive-pacing.

RESULTS

Exercise progressively increased heart rate (HR) and reduced heart rate variability (HRV). In parallel, MEI decreased gradually (enhanced electrotonic coupling) with exercise; at peak exercise, MEI was reduced by 5.3 ± 0.4% (or -23 ± 1.8Ω, P < 0.001). Notably, exercise-mediated electrotonic changes were linearly predicted by the degree of autonomic activation, as indicated by changes in either HR or in HRV (P < 0.001). Indeed, β-AR blockade attenuated the MEI response to exercise while direct β-AR stimulation (at rest) triggered MEI decreases comparable to those observed during exercise; ventricular pacing had no significant effects on MEI. Finally, animals prone to VF had a significantly larger MEI response to exercise.

CONCLUSIONS

These data suggest that β-AR activation during exercise can acutely enhance electrotonic coupling in the myocardium, particularly in dogs susceptible to ischemia-induced VF.

Application of stochastic phenomenological modelling to cell-to-cell and beat-to-beat electrophysiological variability in cardiac tissue

Variability in the action potential of isolated myocytes and tissue samples is observed in experimental studies. Variability is manifested as both differences in the action potential (AP) morphology between cells (extrinsic variability), and also ‘intrinsic’ or beat-to-beat variability of repolarization (BVR) in the AP duration of each cell. We studied the relative contributions of experimentally recorded intrinsic and extrinsic variability to dispersion of repolarization in tissue. We developed four cell-specific parameterizations of a phenomenological stochastic differential equation AP model exhibiting intrinsic variability using APs recorded from isolated guinea pig ventricular myocytes exhibiting BVR. We performed simulations in tissue using the four different model parameterizations in the presence and the absence of both intrinsic and extrinsic variability. We altered the coupling of the tissue to determine how inter-cellular coupling affected the dispersion of the AP duration in tissue. Both intrinsic and extrinsic variability were gradually revealed by reduction of tissue coupling. However, the recorded extrinsic variability between individual myocytes produced a greater degree of dispersion in repolarization in tissue than the intrinsic variability of each myocyte.

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We modelled inter-cell and beat-to-beat repolarization variability in cardiomyocytes.

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We coupled the cells together into cardiac tissue.

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Reducing tissue coupling increased repolarization dispersion in tissue.

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Inter-cell variability had a greater effect on repolarization dispersion.

Direct measurements of SR free Ca reveal the mechanism underlying the transient effects of RyR potentiation under physiological conditions

AIMS

Most of the calcium that activates contraction is released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) through the ryanodine receptor (RyR). It is controversial whether activators of the RyR produce a maintained increase in the amplitude of the systolic Ca transient. We therefore aimed to examine the effects of activation of the RyR in large animals under conditions designed to be as physiological as possible while simultaneously measuring SR and cytoplasmic Ca.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Experiments were performed on ventricular myocytes from canine and ovine hearts. Cytoplasmic Ca was measured with fluo-3 and SR Ca with mag-fura-2. Application of caffeine resulted in a brief increase in the amplitude of the systolic Ca transient accompanied by an increase of action potential duration. These effects disappeared with a rate constant of ∼3 s(-1). Similar effects were seen in cells taken from sheep in which heart failure had been induced by rapid pacing. The decrease of Ca transient amplitude was accompanied by a decrease of SR Ca content. During this phase, the maximum (end-diastolic) SR Ca content fell while the minimum systolic increased.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that, under conditions designed to be as physiological as possible, potentiation of RyR opening has no maintained effect on the systolic Ca transient. This result makes it unlikely that potentiation of the RyR has a maintained role in positive inotropy.

Spontaneous, pro-arrhythmic calcium signals disrupt electrical pacing in mouse pulmonary vein sleeve cells

The pulmonary vein, which returns oxygenated blood to the left atrium, is ensheathed by a population of unique, myocyte-like cells called pulmonary vein sleeve cells (PVCs). These cells autonomously generate action potentials that propagate into the left atrial chamber and cause arrhythmias resulting in atrial fibrillation; the most common, often sustained, form of cardiac arrhythmia. In mice, PVCs extend along the pulmonary vein into the lungs, and are accessible in a lung slice preparation. We exploited this model to study how aberrant Ca(2+) signaling alters the ability of PVC networks to follow electrical pacing. Cellular responses were investigated using real-time 2-photon imaging of lung slices loaded with a Ca(2+)-sensitive fluorescent indicator (Ca(2+) measurements) and phase contrast microscopy (contraction measurements). PVCs displayed global Ca(2+) signals and coordinated contraction in response to electrical field stimulation (EFS). The effects of EFS relied on both Ca(2+) influx and Ca(2+) release, and could be inhibited by nifedipine, ryanodine or caffeine. Moreover, PVCs had a high propensity to show spontaneous Ca(2+) signals that arose via stochastic activation of ryanodine receptors (RyRs). The ability of electrical pacing to entrain Ca(2+) signals and contractile responses was dramatically influenced by inherent spontaneous Ca(2+) activity. In PVCs with relatively low spontaneous Ca(2+) activity (<1 Hz), entrainment with electrical pacing was good. However, in PVCs with higher frequencies of spontaneous Ca(2+) activity (>1.5 Hz), electrical pacing was less effective; PVCs became unpaced, only partially-paced or displayed alternans. Because spontaneous Ca(2+) activity varied between cells, neighboring PVCs often had different responses to electrical pacing. Our data indicate that the ability of PVCs to respond to electrical stimulation depends on their intrinsic Ca(2+) cycling properties. Heterogeneous spontaneous Ca(2+) activity arising from stochastic RyR opening can disengage them from sinus rhythm and lead to autonomous, pro-arrhythmic activity.

The conventional antihistamine drug cyproheptadine lacks QT-interval-prolonging action in halothane-anesthetized guinea pigs: comparison with hydroxyzine

Antihistamines are known to belong to the chemical class that may induce long QT syndrome. Among them, cyproheptadine has been shown to exert multifaceted actions on the ventricular repolarization phase; namely, shortening of the action potential duration at supra-therapeutic concentrations of 2 - 8 μM and prolongation of the QT interval at ≥ 10 μM. Since information is limited regarding the in vivo electrophysiological effects of cyproheptadine, we assessed it using the halothane-anesthetized guinea-pig model, which was compared with effects of another antihistamine drug, hydroxyzine. Sub-therapeutic to therapeutic doses of hydroxyzine at 1 and 10 mg/kg, i.v. prolonged the QT interval and duration of monophasic action potential, whereas therapeutic to supra-therapeutic doses of cyproheptadine at 0.1 and 1 mg/kg, i.v. hardly affected the indices of ventricular repolarization. These results suggest that cyproheptadine may be categorized into antihistamines with little effect on the ventricular repolarization.

Determinants of beat-to-beat variability of repolarization duration in the canine ventricular myocyte: a computational analysis

Beat-to-beat variability of repolarization duration (BVR) is an intrinsic characteristic of cardiac function and a better marker of proarrhythmia than repolarization prolongation alone. The ionic mechanisms underlying baseline BVR in physiological conditions, its rate dependence, and the factors contributing to increased BVR in pathologies remain incompletely understood. Here, we employed computer modeling to provide novel insights into the subcellular mechanisms of BVR under physiological conditions and during simulated drug-induced repolarization prolongation, mimicking long-QT syndromes type 1, 2, and 3. We developed stochastic implementations of 13 major ionic currents and fluxes in a model of canine ventricular-myocyte electrophysiology. Combined stochastic gating of these components resulted in short- and long-term variability, consistent with experimental data from isolated canine ventricular myocytes. The model indicated that the magnitude of stochastic fluctuations is rate dependent due to the rate dependence of action-potential (AP) duration (APD). This process (the “active” component) and the intrinsic nonlinear relationship between membrane current and APD (“intrinsic component”) contribute to the rate dependence of BVR. We identified a major role in physiological BVR for stochastic gating of the persistent Na⁺ current (I_Na) and rapidly activating delayed-rectifier K⁺ current (I_Kr). Inhibition of I_Kr or augmentation of I_Na significantly increased BVR, whereas subsequent β-adrenergic receptor stimulation reduced it, similar to experimental findings in isolated myocytes. In contrast, β-adrenergic stimulation increased BVR in simulated long-QT syndrome type 1. In addition to stochastic channel gating, AP morphology, APD, and beat-to-beat variations in Ca²⁺ were found to modulate single-cell BVR. Cell-to-cell coupling decreased BVR and this was more pronounced when a model cell with increased BVR was coupled to a model cell with normal BVR. In conclusion, our results provide new insights into the ionic mechanisms underlying BVR and suggest that BVR reflects multiple potentially proarrhythmic parameters, including increased ion-channel stochasticity, prolonged APD, and abnormal Ca²⁺ handling.

Every heartbeat has an electrical recovery (repolarization) interval that varies in duration from beat to beat. Excessive beat-to-beat variability of repolarization duration has been shown to be a risk marker of potentially fatal heart-rhythm disorders, but the contributing subcellular mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Computational models have greatly enhanced our understanding of several basic electrophysiological mechanisms. We developed a detailed computer model of the ventricular myocyte that can simulate beat-to-beat changes in repolarization duration by taking into account stochastic changes in the opening and closing of individual ion channels responsible for all main ion currents. The model accurately reproduced experimental data from isolated myocytes under both physiological and pathological conditions. Using the model, we identified several mechanisms contributing to repolarization variability, including stochastic gating of ion channels, duration and morphology of the repolarization phase, and intracellular calcium handling, thereby providing insights into its basis as a proarrhythmic marker. Our computer model provides a detailed framework to study the dynamics of cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias.

Do t-tubules play a role in arrhythmogenesis in cardiac ventricular myocytes?

The transverse (t-) tubules of mammalian ventricular myocytes are invaginations of the surface membrane. The function of many of the key proteins involved in excitation-contraction coupling is located predominantly at the t-tubules, which thus form a Ca(2+)-handling micro-environment that is central to the normal rapid activation and relaxation of the ventricular myocyte. Although cellular arrhythmogenesis shares many ion flux pathways with normal excitation-contraction coupling, the role of the t-tubules in such arrhythmogenesis has not previously been considered. In this brief review we consider how the location and co-location of proteins at the t-tubules may contribute to the generation of arrhythmogenic delayed and early afterdepolarisations, and how the loss of t-tubules that occurs during heart failure may alter the generation of such arrhythmias, as well as contributing to other types of arrhythmia as a result of changes of electrical heterogeneity within the whole heart.