Changes in skeletal muscle SR Ca2+ pump in congestive heart failure due to myocardial infarction are prevented by angiotensin II blockade

Skeletal and cardiac muscle calcium transport regulation in health and disease

In healthy muscle, the rapid release of calcium ions (Ca2+) with excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling, results in elevations in Ca2+ concentrations which can exceed 10-fold that of resting values. The sizable transient changes in Ca2+ concentrations are necessary for the activation of signaling pathways, which rely on Ca2+ as a second messenger, including those involved with force generation, fiber type distribution and hypertrophy. However, prolonged elevations in intracellular Ca2+ can result in the unwanted activation of Ca2+ signaling pathways that cause muscle damage, dysfunction, and disease. Muscle employs several calcium handling and calcium transport proteins that function to rapidly return Ca2+ concentrations back to resting levels following contraction. This review will detail our current understanding of calcium handling during the decay phase of intracellular calcium transients in healthy skeletal and cardiac muscle. We will also discuss how impairments in Ca2+ transport can occur and how mishandling of Ca2+ can lead to the pathogenesis and/or progression of skeletal muscle myopathies and cardiomyopathies.

Action potential-evoked calcium release is impaired in single skeletal muscle fibers from heart failure patients

BACKGROUND

Exercise intolerance in chronic heart failure (HF) has been attributed to abnormalities of the skeletal muscles. Muscle function depends on intact excitation-contraction coupling (ECC), but ECC studies in HF models have been inconclusive, due to deficiencies in the animal models and tools used to measure calcium (Ca2+) release, mandating investigations in skeletal muscle from HF patients. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that Ca2+ release is significantly impaired in the skeletal muscle of HF patients in whom exercise capacity is severely diminished compared to age-matched healthy volunteers.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

Using state-of-the-art electrophysiological and optical techniques in single muscle fibers from biopsies of the locomotive vastus lateralis muscle, we measured the action potential (AP)-evoked Ca2+ release in 4 HF patients and 4 age-matched healthy controls. The mean peak Ca2+ release flux in fibers obtained from HF patients (10±1.2 µM/ms) was markedly (2.6-fold) and significantly (p<0.05) smaller than in fibers from healthy volunteers (28±3.3 µM/ms). This impairment in AP-evoked Ca2+ release was ubiquitous and was not explained by differences in the excitability mechanisms since single APs were indistinguishable between HF patients and healthy volunteers.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings prove the feasibility of performing electrophysiological experiments in single fibers from human skeletal muscle, and offer a new approach for investigations of myopathies due to HF and other diseases. Importantly, we have demonstrated that one step in the ECC process, AP-evoked Ca2+ release, is impaired in single muscle fibers in HF patients.

Prevention of remodeling in congestive heart failure due to myocardial infarction by blockade of the renin–angiotensin system

Ventricular remodeling subsequent to myocardial infarction (MI) is a complex process and is considered to be a major determinant of the clinical course of congestive heart failure (CHF). Emerging evidence suggests that activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays an important role in post-MI ventricular remodeling; however, it is becoming clear that this is one of several neurohumoral systems that are activated in CHF. Blockade of RAS by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonists attenuates the ventricular dysfunction, but the effects of individual drugs in reducing the morbidity and mortality in CHF patients are variable. Furthermore, there is a difference of opinion as to the time of initiation of therapy with RAS blockers after the onset of MI. Since blockade of RAS partially improves cardiac function, it is suggested that a combination therapy involving RAS blockers (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonists) and agents that affect other neurohumoral systems may prove useful for improved treatment of CHF. Although activation of RAS has been shown to promote oxidative stress in experimental studies, the use of antioxidant therapy in CHF patients is controversial. Recent experimental studies have shown that ventricular remodeling in CHF is associated with remodeling of subcellular organelles such as sarcolemma, sarcoplasmic reticulum, myofibrils and extracellular matrix in terms of their molecular structure and composition. Since attenuation of remodeling in one and/or more subcellular organelles by different agents may prevent the progression of CHF, it is a challenge to develop specific drugs affecting molecular mechanisms associated with subcellular remodeling for the improved therapy of CHF.

N-acylhydrazone improves exercise intolerance in rats submitted to myocardial infarction by the recovery of calcium homeostasis in skeletal muscle

AIMS

This work investigated the effects of 3,4-methylenedioxybenzoyl-2-thienylhydrazone (LASSBio-294) treatment on the contractile response of soleus (SOL) muscle from rats submitted to myocardial infarction (MI).

MAIN METHODS

Following coronary artery ligation, LASSBio-294 (2mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle was administrated once daily for 4 weeks.

KEY FINDINGS

The run time to fatigue for sham rats was 17.9 ±2.6 min, and it was reduced to 3.3 ± 0.8 min (P<0.05) in MI rats. In MI rats treated with LASSBio-294, the time to fatigue was 15.1 ± 3.6 min. During the contractile test, SOL muscles from sham rats showed a response of 7.12 ± 0.54N/cm(2) at 60 Hz, which was decreased to 5.45 ± 0.49 N/cm(2) (P<0.05) in MI rats. The contractility of SOL muscles from the MI-LASSBio-294 group was increased to 9.01 ± 0.65N/cm(2). At 16 mM caffeine, the contractility was reduced from 2.31 ± 0.33 to 1.60 ± 0.21 N/cm(2) (P<0.05) in the MI group. In SOL muscles from MI-LASSBio-294 rats, the caffeine response was increased to 2.62 ± 0.33 N/cm(2). Moreover, SERCA2a expression in SOL muscles was decreased by 0.31-fold (31%) in the MI group compared to the Sham group (P<0.05). In the MI-LASSBio-294 group, it was increased by 1.53-fold (153%) compared to the MI group (P<0.05). Meanwhile, the nuclear density in SOL muscles was increased in the MI group compared to the Sham group. Treatment with LASSBio-294 prevented this enhancement of cellular infiltrate.

SIGNIFICANCE

LASSBio-294 treatment prevented the development of muscular fatigue and improved exercise intolerance in rats submitted to MI.

Abnormalities of calcium handling proteins in skeletal muscle mirror those of the heart in humans with heart failure: a shared mechanism?

BACKGROUND

In the failing human heart, abnormalities of Ca(2+) cycling have been described, but there is scant knowledge about Ca(2+) handling in the skeletal muscle of humans with heart failure (HF). We tested the hypothesis that in humans with HF, Ca(2+) cycling proteins in skeletal muscle are abnormal.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Ten advanced HF patients (50.4 ± 3.7 years), and 9 age-matched controls underwent vastus lateralis biopsy. Western blot analysis showed that sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase (SERCA)2a, which is responsible for Ca(2+) sequestration into the sarcoplasmic reticulum(SR), was lower in HF versus controls (4.8 ± 0.5 vs 7.5 ± 0.8 AU, P = .01). Although phospholamban (PLN), which inhibits SERCA2a, was not different in HF versus controls, phosphorylation (SER16 site) of PLN, which relieves this inhibition, was reduced (0.8 ± 0.1 vs 3.9 ± 0.9 AU, P = .004). Dihydropyridine receptors were reduced in HF, (2.1 ± 0.4 vs 3.6 ± 0.5 AU, P = .04). We tested the hypothesis that these abnormalities of Ca(2+) handling protein content and regulation were due to increased oxidative stress, but oxygen radical scavenger proteins were not elevated in the skeletal muscle of HF patients.

CONCLUSION

In chronic HF, marked abnormalities of Ca(2+) handling proteins are present in skeletal muscle, which mirror those in failing heart tissue. This suggests a common mechanism, such as chronic augmentation of sympathetic activity and autophosphorylation of Ca(2+)-calmodulin-dependent-protein kinase II.

Aerobic exercise training improves skeletal muscle function and Ca2+ handling-related protein expression in sympathetic hyperactivity-induced heart failure

The cellular mechanisms of positive effects associated with aerobic exercise training on overall intrinsic skeletal muscle changes in heart failure (HF) remain unclear. We investigated potential Ca2+ abnormalities in skeletal muscles comprising different fiber compositions and investigated whether aerobic exercise training would improve muscle function in a genetic model of sympathetic hyperactivity-induced HF. A cohort of male 5-mo-old wild-type (WT) and congenic α2A/α2C adrenoceptor knockout (ARKO) mice in a C57BL/6J genetic background were randomly assigned into untrained and trained groups. Exercise training consisted of a 8-wk running session of 60 min, 5 days/wk (from 5 to 7 mo of age). After completion of the exercise training protocol, exercise tolerance was determined by graded treadmill exercise test, muscle function test by Rotarod, ambulation and resistance to inclination tests, cardiac function by echocardiography, and Ca2+ handling-related protein expression by Western blot. α2A/α2CARKO mice displayed decreased ventricular function, exercise intolerance, and muscle weakness paralleled by decreased expression of sarcoplasmic Ca2+ release-related proteins [α1-, α2-, and β1-subunits of dihydropyridine receptor (DHPR) and ryanodine receptor (RyR)] and Ca2+ reuptake-related proteins [sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA)1/2 and Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX)] in soleus and plantaris. Aerobic exercise training significantly improved exercise tolerance and muscle function and reestablished the expression of proteins involved in sarcoplasmic Ca2+ handling toward WT levels. We provide evidence that Ca2+ handling-related protein expression is decreased in this HF model and that exercise training improves skeletal muscle function associated with changes in the net balance of skeletal muscle Ca2+ handling proteins.

Stressed out: the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor as a target of stress

Over the past century, understanding the mechanisms underlying muscle fatigue and weakness has been the focus of much investigation. However, the dominant theory in the field, that lactic acidosis causes muscle fatigue, is unlikely to tell the whole story. Recently, dysregulation of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+) release has been associated with impaired muscle function induced by a wide range of stressors, from dystrophy to heart failure to muscle fatigue. Here, we address current understandings of the altered regulation of SR Ca(2+) release during chronic stress, focusing on the role of the SR Ca(2+) release channel known as the type 1 ryanodine receptor.