(Circulation. 2005;112:3668-3671.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.
Editorial |
From the Unit of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (FATH 5349), Department of Medicine, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
Correspondence to J.-L. Balligand, MD, PhD, Unit of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (FATH 5349), Department of Medicine, Université catholique de Louvain, 53 Avenue Mounier, 1200 Brussels, Belgium. E-mail Balligand{at}mint.ucl.ac.be
Key Words: Editorials contractility myocardial infarction nitric oxide synthase remodeling
| Introduction |
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Article p 3729
| Which and Where Are the Cardiac Nitric Oxide Synthases? |
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At first glance, this multiplicity of NOS isoforms would hardly be compatible with signaling specificity on limited (sub)cellular targets a fortiori given the theoretical diffusibility of NO as a gas. In muscle cells, however, the abundant distribution of cytosolic myoglobin and oxidant radicals continuously produced by muscle contraction is likely to significantly limit NO bioavailability and its ability to diffuse (at least as a free radical) to molecular targets distant from its enzymatic source. This restricted diffusion, combined with the differential subcellular localization of each NOS, confers specificity and efficiency to NO signaling by confining the effects of NO on target proteins colocalized with each isoform. In aortic endothelial and smooth muscle cells, the dynamic formation of such "signalosomes" was supported by the identification of multiprotein complexes assembled by the combined interaction of the chaperone heat shock protein 90 with both eNOS and soluble guanylate cyclase,9 a major downstream effector of NO signaling. It is likely, therefore, that spatial confinement of the constitutive NOS with key proteins regulating EC coupling subserves their modulation of specific aspects of contractility. Accordingly, the use of preferential enzymatic inhibitors and genetic deletion/overexpression of each NOS isoform has helped to decipher their respective influence on contractility, as extensively reviewed elsewhere.5
| nNOS and Cardiomyocyte Contractility |
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How then would the inotropic effect of ß-adrenergic (ß-AR) stimulation be affected by nNOS? From the inhibitory effect of nNOS on L-type currents, one would predict a potentiation of the ß-AR response after nNOS inhibition or genetic deletion. In isolated cardiomyocytes, this has been consistently observed at low catecholamine concentrations (<10 nmol/L isoproterenol).14 Again, the results at higher concentrations are divergent in vitro, with a sustained increase in contraction in 1 study15 but decreased contraction in another study.11 More agreement with a consistently decreased inotropic response to ß-AR stimulation may be found in vivo (see the article by Barouch et al11 and the article by Dawson et al16 in this issue). This would suggest that the increase in L-type calcium current may not offset the more profound alteration of calcium cycling (ie, deficient SR calcium loading as a result of decreased SERCA function, as discussed above) in the stressed heart.
| nNOS in the Ischemic Heart |
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In the study reported in the present issue, Dawson et al16 examine the impact of nonconditional nNOS genetic deletion on postinfarction mortality, left ventricular remodeling, and basal and stimulated ß-AR contractility. In their strain, they find no effect of nNOS deletion on mortality when animals are selected for similar infarct sizes (average, 39%). Of interest, a clear sex difference appears with higher mortality in males regardless of the nNOS genotype. This may be at variance with the influence of the eNOS genotype on the sex difference in susceptibility to ischemia.19
Using an original 3D echo measurement, they then found clear signs of adverse remodeling in nNOS/ hearts with enlarged end-systolic and end-diastolic dimensions at all time points of the study (1, 4, and 8 weeks after infarction). At the end of the study period, the mice underwent invasive hemodynamic measurements of systolic and diastolic function. Consistent with their previous cell contractility studies,10,14 in noninfarcted mice, basal LV function was enhanced in the nNOS/ group. A slight increase persisted at baseline in infarcted nNOS/ mice compared with infarcted wild-type (WT) littermates. By inference from their previous cell studies, this is interpreted as the consequence of the removal of the nNOS inhibition on L-type calcium currents, although this was not directly measured here. The inotropic response to ß-AR stimulation is more surprising; in noninfarcted mice, ß-AR stimulation of nNOS/ mice results in a blunted increase in Ees (ventricular elastance, an index of ventricular performance) compared with WT. This is contrary to previous findings in isolated cardiomyocytes14 and perhaps is unexpected because of the proposed deinhibition of L-type calcium currents after nNOS deletion (see above). The authors propose that this altered inotropic reserve may result from an increased sympathetic tone in nNOS/ mice, which would also explain the increased basal contractility and the discrepancy with their in vitro cell work in which cells would be withdrawn from such endogenous adrenergic tone. To what extent such an explanation remains valid in the context of profound anesthesia, as used for the catheter measurements, with expected perturbation of the autonomic balance in all groups remains speculative. Another explanation is based on previous observations that nNOS deletion results in higher xanthine oxidase activity2 and oxidant stress likely to decrease cardiac myofilament sensitivity. However, this would be expected to affect the contractility of cardiomyocytes equally in vitro and in vivo, which is not the case. An alternative possibility is that genetic deletion of nNOS would result in a reduced SERCA activity and the inability to sustain an increased inotropic response to catecholamines under full hemodynamic load in vivo despite increased L-type calcium influx, which may sufficiently sustain the inotropic response in unloaded isolated cardiomyocytes. This would be in line with the proposed localization of nNOS in SR membranes and previous demonstrations of decreased SR calcium load in nNOS/ myocytes13 (see above). Additional measurements of SR loading under stress after nNOS inhibition/deletion are clearly needed to clarify this issue.
In addition to the mechanisms proposed above, a decrease in SERCA activity (and decreased ability to maintain SR calcium load under stress) may also account for the surprising inversion of the inotropic response in nNOS/ mice after infarction, although a positive, albeit smaller, response is observed in WT mice. Of note, contrary to the present findings in mice, Bendall et al20 found an increase in ß-AR response after preferential nNOS inhibition in infarcted rats in which they initially described an upregulation of cardiomyocyte nNOS. The differential effects of acute inhibition versus chronic, nonconditional genetic deletion (and ensuing adaptive phenotypic changes) may provide some explanation for this discrepancy.
Perhaps another argument in favor of the SERCA hypothesis is the consistent finding of altered diastolic properties in noninfarcted nNOS/ mice and isolated cells in which the same authors had identified slower kinetics of calcium reuptake during relaxation.10 However, the difference between nNOS/ and WT disappears in the late postinfarction period in the study reported in the present issue. The authors attribute this leveling off to a lesser development of fibrosis in the nNOS/ genotype. The underlying mechanisms remain equally undetermined. Although the authors propose that nNOS deletion removes a potential source of oxidant radicals from an uncoupled nNOS (by analogy with eNOS21), this benefit would probably be offset by increased superoxide anions produced by a deinhibited xanthine oxidase as proposed above.
Nevertheless, the finding by Dawson et al16 that nNOS protects against adverse postinfarction remodeling is quite clearly demonstrated and adds to a growing consensus on the protective role of the constitutive NOS in the ischemic myocardium. Similarly, eNOS/ mice with limited infarcts had worse remodeling, hypertrophy of the remote myocardium, and impaired cardiac function,22 whereas cardiomyocyte-specific eNOS overexpressors,4 but not systemic vascular overexpressors,23 were protected. This again emphasizes the importance of the cellular source of NO and, at least for eNOS, argues for an autocrine signaling preventing adverse remodeling. Whether the protective role of nNOS can similarly be attributed to a direct effect in the myocyte independently of systemic (eg, autonomic) influences needs to be tested in cardiomyocyte-specific nNOS transgenic or conditional knockout animals.
Dawson et al also observed an increase in caveolin-3 proteins in infarcted hearts, as previously shown in failing dog hearts24 and postinfarcted human hearts.25 In the latter study, coimmunoprecipitation of caveolin-3 with nNOS was increased as expected and was taken as an indication of the integration of nNOS within functional signaling modules at the sarcolemma, where it would preferentially inhibit L-type calcium entry. Dawson et al wisely refrain from making such a conclusion in their study. Indeed, because caveolin-3 was shown to be redistributed in cytosolic fractions in the postinfarcted heart,26 coimmunoprecipitation from a whole-cell extract would not necessarily or exclusively reflect interaction at the plasma membrane. A stronger case for nNOS translocation would be built if it were clearly identified in plasmalemmal caveolae by electron microscopy, as was done for eNOS.6 One should also keep in mind that the abundance of caveolin is inversely correlated with NOS activity through the inhibitory allosteric binding of caveolin.27 Therefore, any functional interpretation of these changes should be based on a quantitative assessment of caveolin binding to NOS, together with a measurement of NOS activity in situ whenever possible.
| Where Are We Now? |
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| Acknowledgments |
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Disclosure
None.
| Footnotes |
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| References |
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