Aging-associated susceptibility to stress-induced ventricular arrhythmogenesis is attenuated by tetrodotoxin.

Aging is associated with increased prevalence of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias, but mechanisms underlying higher susceptibility to arrhythmogenesis and means to prevent such arrhythmias under stress are not fully defined. We aimed to define differences in aging-associated susceptibility to ventricular fibrillation (VF) induction between young and aged hearts. VF induction was attempted in isolated perfused hearts of young (6-month) and aged (24-month-old) male Fischer-344 rats by rapid pacing before and following isoproterenol (1 µM) or global ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury with or without pretreatment with low-dose tetrodotoxin, a late sodium current blocker. At baseline, VF could not be induced; however, the susceptibility to inducible VF after isoproterenol and spontaneous VF following I/R was 6-fold and 3-fold higher, respectively, in old hearts (P < 0.05). Old animals had longer epicardial monophasic action potential at 90% repolarization (APD90; P < 0.05) and displayed a loss of isoproterenol-induced shortening of APD90 present in the young. In isolated ventricular cardiomyocytes from older but not younger animals, 4-aminopyridine prolonged APD and induced early afterdepolarizations (EADs) and triggered activity with isoproterenol. Low-dose tetrodotoxin (0.5 µM) significantly shortened APD without altering action potential upstroke and prevented 4-aminopyridine-mediated APD prolongation, EADs, and triggered activity. Tetrodotoxin pretreatment prevented VF induction by pacing in isoproterenol-challenged hearts. Vulnerability to VF following I/R or catecholamine challenge is significantly increased in old hearts that display reduced repolarization reserve and increased propensity to EADs, triggered activity, and ventricular arrhythmogenesis that can be suppressed by low-dose tetrodotoxin, suggesting a role of slow sodium current in promoting arrhythmogenesis with aging.

Biological database of images and genomes: tools for community annotations linking image and genomic information.

Genomic data and biomedical imaging data are undergoing exponential growth. However, our understanding of the phenotype-genotype connection linking the two types of data is lagging behind. While there are many types of software that enable the manipulation and analysis of image data and genomic data as separate entities, there is no framework established for linking the two. We present a generic set of software tools, BioDIG, that allows linking of image data to genomic data. BioDIG tools can be applied to a wide range of research problems that require linking images to genomes. BioDIG features the following: rapid construction of web-based workbenches, community-based annotation, user management and web services. By using BioDIG to create websites, researchers and curators can rapidly annotate a large number of images with genomic information. Here we present the BioDIG software tools that include an image module, a genome module and a user management module. We also introduce a BioDIG-based website, MyDIG, which is being used to annotate images of mycoplasmas.

Cardiac subsarcolemmal and interfibrillar mitochondria display distinct responsiveness to protection by diazoxide.

OBJECTIVE: Cardiac subsarcolemmal (SSM) and interfibrillar (IFM) mitochondrial subpopulations possess distinct biochemical properties and differ with respect to their protein and lipid compositions, capacities for respiration and protein synthesis, and sensitivity to metabolic challenge, yet their responsiveness to mitochondrially active cardioprotective therapeutics has not been characterized. This study assessed the differential responsiveness of the two mitochondrial subpopulations to diazoxide, a cardioprotective agent targeting mitochondria. METHODS: Mitochondrial subpopulations were freshly isolated from rat ventricles and their morphologies assessed by electron microscopy and enzymatic activities determined using standard biochemical protocols with a plate reader. Oxidative phosphorylation was assessed from State 3 respiration using succinate as a substrate. Calcium dynamics and the status of Ca²âº-dependent mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) pore and mitochondrial membrane potential were assessed using standard Ca²âº and TPP⁺ ion-selective electrodes. RESULTS: Compared to IFM, isolated SSM exhibited a higher sensitivity to Ca²âº overload-mediated inhibition of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis with decreased ATP production (from 375±25 to 83±15 nmol ATP/min/mg protein in SSM, and from 875±39 to 583±45 nmol ATP/min/mg protein in IFM). In addition, SSM exhibited reduced Ca²âº-accumulating capacity as compared to IFM (230±13 vs. 450±46 nmol Ca²âº/mg protein in SSM and IFM, respectively), suggestive of increased Ca²âº sensitivity of MPT pore opening. Despite enhanced susceptibility to stress, SSM were more responsive to the protective effect of diazoxide (100 µM) against Ca²âº overload-mediated inhibition of ATP synthesis (67% vs. 2% in SSM and IFM, respectively). CONCLUSION: These results provide evidence for the distinct sensitivity of cardiac SSM and IFM toward Ca²âº-dependent metabolic stress and the protective effect of diazoxide on mitochondrial energetics.

Aging-induced alterations in gene transcripts and functional activity of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation complexes in the heart.

Aging is associated with progressive decline in energetic reserves compromising cardiac performance and tolerance to injury. Although deviations in mitochondrial functions have been documented in senescent heart, the molecular bases for the decline in energy metabolism are only partially understood. Here, high-throughput transcription profiles of genes coding for mitochondrial proteins in ventricles from adult (6-months) and aged (24-months) rats were compared using microarrays. Out of 614 genes encoding for mitochondrial proteins, 94 were differentially expressed with 95% downregulated in the aged. The majority of changes affected genes coding for proteins involved in oxidative phosphorylation (39), substrate metabolism (14) and tricarboxylic acid cycle (6). Compared to adult, gene expression changes in aged hearts translated into a reduced mitochondrial functional capacity, with decreased NADH-dehydrogenase and F(0)F(1) ATPase complex activities and capacity for oxygen-utilization and ATP synthesis. Expression of genes coding for transcription co-activator factors involved in the regulation of mitochondrial metabolism and biogenesis were downregulated in aged ventricles without reduction in mitochondrial density. Thus, aging induces a selective decline in activities of oxidative phosphorylation complexes I and V within a broader transcriptional downregulation of mitochondrial genes, providing a substrate for reduced energetic efficiency associated with senescence.

Potassium channel openers are uncoupling protonophores: implication in cardioprotection.

Excessive build-up of mitochondrial protonic potential is harmful to cellular homeostasis, and modulation of inner membrane permeability a proposed countermeasure. Here, we demonstrate that structurally distinct potassium channel openers, diazoxide and pinacidil, facilitated transmembrane proton translocation generating H(+)-selective current through planar phospholipid membrane. Both openers depolarized mitochondria, activated state 4 respiration and reduced oxidative phosphorylation, recapitulating the signature of mitochondrial uncoupling. This effect was maintained in K(+)-free conditions and shared with the prototypic protonophore 2,4-dinitrophenol. Diazoxide, pinacidil and 2,4-dinitrophenol, but not 2,4-dinitrotoluene lacking protonophoric properties, preserved functional recovery of ischemic heart. The identified protonophoric property of potassium channel openers, thus, implicates a previously unrecognized component in their mechanism of cardioprotection.