Comparison of the caldesmon content of cardiac and smooth muscle

Inhibition of SERCA2 Ca(2+)-ATPases by Cs(+)

Replacement of K(+) with Cs(+) on the cytoplasmic side of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) membrane reduces the maximum velocity (V(max)) of Ca(2+) uptake into the SR of saponin-permeabilized rat ventricular myocytes. To compare the sensitivity of the cardiac and smooth muscle/non-muscle forms of the sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase (SERCA2a and -2b respectively) to replacement of K(+) with Cs(+), SERCA2a and SERCA2b were expressed in HEK-293 cells. Ca(2+) uptake into HEK cell microsomes was inhibited by replacement of extravesicular K(+) with Cs(+) (V(max) of SERCA2a-mediated Ca(2+) uptake in CsCl was 80% of that in KCl; V(max) of SERCA2b-mediated uptake was 70% of that in KCl). The Ca(2+) sensitivity of uptake was decreased for both SERCA2a- and SERCA2b-mediated uptake and the Hill coefficients were increased in the presence of CsCl. The effects of Cs(+) on uptake were associated with direct inhibition of the ATPase activity of SERCA2a and SERCA2b. Our results indicate that cation binding sites are present in both SERCA2 isoforms, although the extent to which SERCA2b is inhibited by K(+) replacement is greater than that of SERCA2a or SERCA1. Consideration of these results and the recent molecular modeling work of others suggests that monovalent cations could interact with the Ca(2+) binding region of SERCA.

Postnatal changes in caldesmon expression and localization in cardiac myocytes

Caldesmon is a heat-stable protein found in both muscle and non-muscle tissue. It binds to a number of contractile and cytoskeletal proteins and may be involved in regulating acto-myosin interaction in smooth muscle cells and/or the assembly of microfilaments in muscle and non-muscle cells. We have shown previously that caldesmon is localized at the Z-lines in adult cardiac myocytes and that both the low- and high-molecular-weight forms (/-caldesmon and h-caldesmon, respectively) are present in atrial and ventricular myocytes. Here we examined the expression of caldesmon and its localization in freshly isolated cardiac myocytes during postnatal development and when these myocytes were grown in culture. We found that /-caldesmon is expressed in both neonatal and adult rat ventricular myocytes. The expression of h-caldesmon, however, was not detected in myocytes from newborn animals but increased during the first 2 weeks of postnatal development. Caldesmon was generally not co-localized with alpha-actinin at the Z-lines in neonatal myocytes but became increasingly more so during the first 2 weeks of postnatal development. When myocytes from 5- and 10-day-old rats were grown in primary culture, h-caldesmon expression decreased and caldesmon could not be detected at the Z-lines in the cultured cells. These results indicate that caldesmon plays a role at the Z-lines in adult cardiac myocytes; however, its localization at the Z-lines is not necessary for the prenatal development that occurs at these sites or for the establishment of a contractile phenotype in cultured cardiac myocytes.