(Circulation. 2002;105:1380.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.
Basic Science Reports |
From the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Correspondence to Dr Ellingsen, Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Medical Technology Research Center, Olav Kyrres gate 3, N-7489 Trondheim, Norway. E-mail oyvinde{at}medisin.ntnu.no
| Abstract |
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Methods and Results Female Sprague-Dawley rats with large myocardial infarctions and sham controls were randomized to losartan, cariporide, or placebo after 7 days and treated for 49 days. Cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography and measurement of left ventricular pressures, and gene expression was assessed by competitive reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction. Cell dimensions, shortening, and relaxation were determined by videomicroscopy and calcium transients by fura 2. Losartan reduced postinfarction systolic and diastolic left ventricular dilation (by 24% and 31%, respectively), left and right ventricular weight (by 22% and 26%, respectively), and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy length and width (by 62% and 54%, respectively). Induction of myocardial atrial natriuretic peptide decreased 66%. Cariporide did not affect postinfarction hypertrophy or atrial natriuretic peptide. Losartan and cariporide respectively improved reduced cellular contractility (55% and 30%) and reduced elevated systolic (86% and 27%) and diastolic (49% and 43%) calcium. Losartan and cariporide respectively reduced prolonged time to 50% relaxation (66% and 25%) and time to 50% calcium reduction (55% and 53%).
Conclusions Losartan and cariporide improve cardiomyocyte contractility and calcium regulation in chronic heart failure. Losartan has salutary effects on postinfarction remodeling and gene expression, whereas cariporide is neutral.
Key Words: myocardial infarction echocardiography myocytes calcium genes
| Introduction |
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Cariporide treatment was compared with angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) antagonism by losartan, which has been proven efficient in the treatment of heart failure, with an effect equivalent to that of ACE inhibition.8 Losartan reduces LV dilation and hypertrophy and improves hemodynamics after myocardial infarction, probably by reducing mechanical load and humoral and paracrine stimuli.9 Impaired cardiomyocyte contraction and relaxation, calcium handling, and normal function have been demonstrated in congestive heart failure in humans and rats.1014 Losartan inhibits hypertrophy in stretched cardiomyocytes and in spontaneously hypertensive rats,15,16 but the effects of angiotensin antagonism on myocyte function in heart failure are largely unknown. The second aim of the present study was therefore to determine the effects of chronic losartan treatment on cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, contractility, and calcium handling in postinfarction heart failure.
| Methods |
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Echocardiography
Echocardiography was performed after intraperitoneal sedation with ketamine hydrochloride (40 mg/kg) and xylazine (8 mg/kg).17 LV dimensions were measured in M-mode long-axis recordings. Mitral inflow deceleration time, peak velocity of early and late component of mitral inflow, and isovolumetric relaxation time were calculated as the mean of 5 consecutive cycles of pulsed-wave Doppler spectra recordings.
LV Pressure, Infarct Size, and Tissue Sampling
LV pressures were measured during ventilation with 0.5% isoflurane in 70% O2/30% N2O.17 The heart was sectioned into atria and ventricles, including the interventricular septum in the LV. Infarcted and total LV areas were determined by photographic recordings. The LV was divided into infarcted, border-zone (0 to 2 mm outside the infarct), and remote areas (>2 mm outside the infarct).
mRNA Isolation and Competitive Reverse TranscriptionPolymerase Chain Reaction
Myocardial mRNA was isolated with Dynabeads Oligo (dT)25 (Dynal AS). Competitive reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed in a Perkin Elmer GeneAmp 2400 PCR system with rTth DNA polymerase (Perkin Elmer/Roche Molecular Systems Inc) as described previously.17 Specific sense and antisense primers were as follows: for NHE-1, 5'-TGTTTGTGGGCGTGGTC-3' (bp 1690 to 1706, accession M85299) and 5'-GGCGATGAGGCAGAAGAG-3' (bp 2045 to 2028, accession M85299); for atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), 5'-GGGCTCCTTCTCCATCACC-3' (bp 67 to 85, accession M27498) and 5'-CTCCAATCCTGTCAATCCTACC-3' (bp 479 to 458, accession M27498); and for ET-1, 5'-GTGCTCACC-AAAAAGACAAG-3' (bp 519 to 538, accession M64711) and 5'-CAGCTGCTGATAGATACACTTC-3' (bp 667 to 646, accession M64711). Expected amplified fragment lengths for NHE-1, ANP, and ET-1 were 356, 413, and 149 bp, respectively. Coefficients of variation for NHE, ANP, and ET-1 were 0.07, 0.18, and 0.11, respectively. ET-1 and ANP analyses demonstrated close correlation between added and measured amounts of mRNA (R2=0.99),17 and similar results were found for NHE-1 (R2=0.94).
Cardiomyocyte Isolation
Cardiomyocytes were isolated with collagenase.18 LV tissue was cut into infarcted, border-zone, and remote areas. Only data from remote-area cardiomyocytes are presented. The number of myocytes isolated from LVs of sham-operated animals was 3.4±0.6x106 cells, and yields of rod-shaped cells were 77±2% after primary isolation and >95% of cells on laminin-coated coverslips.
Cellular Calcium and Shortening
Isolated myocytes attached to laminin-coated coverslips were loaded with fura 2, placed in a chamber on an inverted microscope (Diaphot-TMD, Nikon), and stimulated electrically by bipolar pulses (5-ms duration, 2 to 10 Hz).18 During stimulation, the cells were superfused at 2 mL/min with HEPES buffer at 37°C with 1.8 mmol/L Ca2+. Only cells that remained rod shaped, without blebs or other visible morphological alterations, and that responded adequately to stimulation at 2 Hz were included in the protocol. The amplitude of cell shortening and velocity of contraction and relaxation were analyzed with a video/edge monitor detector. Fura 2 fluorescence was measured with a photomultiplier tube at a sampling rate of 500 Hz. In vivo calcium calibration was performed on 30 myocytes from 6 sham-operated hearts and 30 myocytes from 4 infarcted hearts. Minimum and maximum fluorescence ratios (Rmin and Rmax) were determined as described previously.19 Rmin and Rmax were not significantly different among groups. Intracellular calcium concentration was calculated assuming a dissociation constant of 200 nmol/L.18 Contractility and calcium data were calculated from 10 consecutive contractions after stabilization at each stimulation frequency. Only data from cells that completed the entire protocol were included. Approximately 5% of the rod-shaped cells did not respond properly to stimulation at 2 Hz, 14% of cells were excluded because edge detection failed, and 3% of the remaining cells did not complete the protocol. Myocyte length and midpoint width were calculated in 166±6 cells from each animal.
Statistical Analysis
Differences among groups were analyzed with Friedman test for related observations and Kruskal-Wallis test for unrelated observations, with appropriate procedures applied for multiple comparisons. Repeated variables were analyzed with a repeated-measures ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results are presented as mean±SEM.
| Results |
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Contractility
Cardiomyocyte contractility measured as cellular fractional shortening was substantially reduced after myocardial infarction (Figure 1). Time to 50% relaxation increased by 35% (P<0.001) at 7 Hz, which suggests reduced diastolic function, and there was a trend toward increased time to 50% shortening (9%, P=0.11; Table 1). Losartan markedly increased cellular shortening amplitude at all stimulation frequencies (23%, P<0.001, 7 Hz; Figure 1) and reduced time to 50% relaxation (17%, P<0.001, 7 Hz; Table 1). Although cariporide had no effect on cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, contractility and relaxation were improved (13% and 6%, respectively; P<0.01; 7 Hz). As demonstrated in Figure 4, these findings contrast the associated changes in cardiomyocyte length and contractility in the placebo and losartan groups. Fractional shortening (M-mode echocardiography) was reduced from 31±1% to 10±1% (P<0.0001) after myocardial infarction (Table 3). There was a trend toward increased fractional shortening with losartan (23%, P=0.13) but not with cariporide.
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Calcium Handling
Diastolic and systolic cytosolic calcium was increased in cardiomyocytes from infarcted LVs at all frequencies (62% and 30%, respectively; P<0.001; 7 Hz; Figures 2A and 2B). In all cell groups, calcium concentrations increased at higher frequencies. Losartan markedly reduced systolic and diastolic calcium (19% and 18%, respectively; P<0.01; 7 Hz), whereas cariporide caused a moderate reduction (7% and 16%, respectively; P<0.03; 7 Hz). Cytosolic calcium amplitude was similar in cardiomyocytes from all groups at low frequencies (2 to 5 Hz) but increased at high frequencies (7 to 10 Hz) after myocardial infarction (Figure 2C). This increase disappeared after losartan but remained unchanged by cariporide. Time to 50% decay in cytosolic calcium was prolonged (31%, 7 Hz, P<0.001; Table 1), which indicates impaired diastolic calcium handling. Losartan and cariporide reduced the increase in time to 50% decay in cytosolic calcium (55% and 53%, respectively; 7 Hz; P<0.001). Time to 50% of peak calcium remained unchanged after myocardial infarction and drugs. A calcium sensitivity index (cellular shortening/calcium transient amplitude) indicated a markedly reduced responsiveness to calcium during heart failure (Figure 2D), a substantial increase after losartan, and a moderate increase after cariporide.
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Border-Zone Cardiomyocytes
In the border zone, there was a trend toward longer myocytes, reduced cell shortening, higher calcium concentrations, longer time to 50% relaxation time, and more impaired calcium handling compared with remote area cells. However, the mean differences were small (2% to 10%) and did not reach statistical significance (data not shown).
Gene Expression
Regional myocardial expression of ANP, ET-1, and NHE-1 was measured by competitive RT-PCR (Figure 3). ANP expression, an established indicator of hypertrophy and heart failure, was markedly increased in remote area and border zone (30- and 34-fold, respectively; P<0.001) after myocardial infarction. Losartan reduced ANP expression in remote area and border zone (46% and 38%, respectively; P<0.05), consistent with the changes in cardiac weights, LV areas, cellular dimensions, and echocardiographic findings. Cariporide tended to increase ANP expression in remote area after myocardial infarction (23%, P=0.09), whereas there was no effect on expression in border zone (P=0.76) or in sham-operated animals (P=0.76). Expression of ET-1, which correlates with impaired cardiac function and high mortality after myocardial infarction, increased 3-fold in the remote area (P<0.001) and 4-fold in the border zone (P<0.001). There was no effect of losartan or cariporide on ET-1 expression in remote area (P=0.24), border zone (P=0.91), or LV of sham-operated animals (P=0.39). NHE-1 mRNA increased moderately in remote area and border zone (55%, P<0.05) after myocardial infarction. After losartan, there was a trend toward reduced expression in remote area and border zone (28% for remote area, P=0.21; 33% for border zone, P=0.08) but no effect after cariporide.
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| Discussion |
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Whereas increased diastolic calcium concentrations in heart failure cardiomyocytes were in line with results of previous studies,21,23,24 the increased peak systolic calcium after myocardial infarction is in agreement with some studies23,25 but in contrast to others.24,26,27 Calcium concentrations increased markedly at 7 and 10 Hz, especially in failing myocytes, probably because of reduced SR uptake at high frequencies. Interestingly, the in vivo rat heart rate is 6 to 11 Hz.18 The positive force-frequency relationship contrasts some previous reports.13,14,19 The discrepancy probably results from higher stimulation frequency in the present study; Borzak et al28 found a negative force-frequency relationship up to 1 Hz and a positive relationship from 2 Hz to 6 Hz. In the present study, the difference in myocyte shortening between normal and failing cardiomyocytes increased with higher frequencies, but even in heart failure, there was no negative force-frequency relationship.
To minimize confounding of body growth on myocardial hypertrophy, we used female animals. Sex differences in cardiomyocyte size, contractility, and calcium handling29 might account for some of the differences between the present study and other studies. After infarction, cardiomyocyte width increased more than reported previously.3,13,14 This was probably not due to sex differences, because myocyte width increases less in females than in males.30 Differences were probably due to infarct size and time after infarction; myocyte width changes little after small infarcts,14 and the increase in width occurs later than the increase in length.31 Reduced RV weight and LV dilation after losartan concur with previous findings,9,16,20 whereas reduced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy has been demonstrated in spontaneously hypertensive rats16 but not in heart failure. There were trends of reduced RV and LV weight/body weight after cariporide (10% [P=0.32] and 6% [P=0.16], respectively). However, cardiomyocyte dimensions were unchanged and were the most sensitive indicators of hypertrophy (estimated probability of 80% to detect a 2.5% difference in cell length, P<0.05). The missed effect of cariporide is in contrast to previous studies demonstrating reduced myocyte and RV hypertrophy and attenuation of postinfarction LV dilation and hypertrophy.3,5 In those studies, treatment was begun before or immediately after coronary occlusion; thus, NHE inhibition might have affected infarct size or survival of border-zone cardiomyocytes. Reduced infarct size and cardiac hypertrophy occurred when cariporide was given within 24 hours of coronary ligation but not when it was started after 7 days.4
Whereas losartan had an effect on myocyte contractility and hypertrophy (Figure 4), cariporide only changed contractility, which suggests that postinfarction hypertrophy and impaired cellular function are not similarly regulated and that losartan and cariporide effects might be mechanistically different. Most likely, attenuated hypertrophy by losartan resulted from reduced systolic mechanical loading (indicated by markedly lower systolic pressure and LV diameter) and from inhibition of local trophic effects mediated by AT1 receptors.15 Diastolic loading appeared to be less important, because cariporide had no effect on hypertrophy despite a significant reduction in diastolic pressure and LV diameter.
Reduced myocardial ANP expression by losartan in infarcted hearts is in agreement with reduced hypertrophy and previous findings.20,32 The trend toward increased ANP after cariporide indicates failure to affect hypertrophy. Even though angiotensin II induces ET-1 expression in isolated cardiomyocytes,33 losartan did not affect infarct-induced myocardial ET-1 expression. Because mRNA was isolated from myocardial tissue, the expression in myocytes versus nonmyocytes could not be identified. However, ANP is not expressed in cardiac nonmyocytes, and ET-1 expression in myocytes followed a similar pattern as in myocardium in a previous study.17 The reduced NHE expression after losartan might have contributed to reduced hypertrophy due to less stretch-induced alkalization. However, if NHE-1 activation were an important myocardial growth signal in vivo, reduced hypertrophy by cariporide would be expected.
In conclusion, our results suggest that the cardiac sodium-hydrogen exchange contributes to the deterioration of cardiomyocyte contractility and calcium homeostasis and exerts neutral effects on hypertrophy in postinfarction heart failure. In contrast, angiotensin appears to affect both myocyte function and growth either by direct or indirect effects.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received October 9, 2001; revision received December 31, 2001; accepted January 7, 2002.
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