Activity of receptors coupled to guanine nucleotide binding regulatory protein in doxorubicin induced cardiomyopathy.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to study the activity of receptors coupled to guanine nucleotide binding regulatory proteins (G proteins) in doxorubicin induced cardiomyopathy, with special attention to G proteins, beta adrenoceptors, muscarinic receptors, and adenylyl cyclase. DESIGN: Messenger RNA of G proteins, densities and high affinity agonist binding of beta adrenoceptors and muscarinic receptors, activity of adenylyl cyclase, calcium influx, and in vivo lipid peroxidation were determined before, in the early stage, and in the later stage of doxorubicin cardiomyopathic heart failure. SUBJECTS: Sprague-Dawley rats between 150-200 g were used. Doxorubicin was given intravenously at two doses of 4 mg.kg-1 and 6 mg.kg-1 every third week (1st, 4th, 7th week) for nine weeks. Doxorubicin treated rats plus corresponding controls were killed at 3 weeks (n = 7), 6 weeks (n = 7), and 9 weeks (n = 6), respectively. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Northern blot and dot blot hybridisations of the total RNA revealed that messenger RNA of both stimulatory and inhibitory G proteins were identical between doxorubicin treated rats and controls. No alterations in the densities of beta adrenoceptors and muscarinic receptors were observed, neither did the high affinity agonist binding of beta adrenoceptors and muscarinic receptors change. Furthermore, modulation of adenylyl cyclase was unimpaired. In contrast, Ca(2+)-ATPase and serum water soluble fluorescent substance, a product of in vivo lipid peroxidation, were shown to increase dramatically in doxorubicin treated rats (4 mg.kg-1 for 6 and 9 weeks, 6 mg.kg-1 for 3, 6 and 9 weeks) as compared with corresponding controls. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that, despite increased calcium influx and lipid peroxidation in doxorubicin induced cardiomyopathy, the activity of receptors coupled to G proteins remained normal.

Free radical scavenging enzymes and G protein mediated receptor signalling systems in ischaemically preconditioned porcine myocardium.

OBJECTIVE: Increased antioxidant defence and altered G protein mediated receptor signalling systems could be expected in myocardial preconditioning. The myocardial antioxidant defence and the integrity of the G protein mediated receptor signalling systems were therefore examined in normal and preconditioned myocardium. METHODS: Preconditioning in the porcine heart was induced by two occlusions of the mid left anterior descending coronary artery for 10 min, with a 30 min reperfusion interval. Left ventricular biopsies were obtained from control and preconditioned regions 30 min after the last occlusion. RESULTS: In biopsies from the preconditioning region, neither the activities of superoxide dismutase of glutathione peroxidase, nor the content of malondialdehyde were changed. There were no alterations in either the number of receptors (beta adrenergic, muscarinic and endothelin receptors) or the amount of G proteins. Furthermore, the activity of adenylyl cyclase remained unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: No change in the antioxidant defence was demonstrated in preconditioned myocardium. This finding does not support the hypothesis that increased antioxidant defence could contribute to the cardioprotection of preconditioning. Additionally, an intact G protein mediated receptor signalling system was found in preconditioned myocardium with regard to beta adrenergic, muscarinic, and endothelin receptors.

Hypersensitivity of Gi protein mediated muscarinic receptor adenylyl cyclase in chronic ischaemic heart failure in the rat.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to study the Gi protein mediated muscarinic signalling system in the myocardium of rats with chronic ischaemic heart failure. METHODS: Chronic ischaemic heart failure was induced by myocardial ischaemia (four weeks after coronary artery ligation) in rats. The densities and agonist affinities of muscarinic receptors, and the functional activity and concentration of Gi proteins were studied. RESULTS: In failing hearts, the activity of adenylyl cyclase stimulated by guanyliminodiphosphate (Gpp(NH)p) was decreased by 46%. Stimulated activities of adenylyl cyclase by both sodium fluoride and forskolin, however, remained unchanged. Carbachol depressed forskolin stimulated adenylyl cyclase more in membranes from failing hearts than those from normal hearts. The functional level of Gs protein as measured by a reconstitution assay in sarcolemmal membrane did not differ between the two groups. Furthermore, muscarinic receptors exhibited superhigh and low affinities for agonist in failing hearts whereas those in control hearts displayed only high and low affinities. No significant difference in the peptide equivalent amount of membrane bound Gi protein was found in either group. CONCLUSIONS: The experimental chronic failing heart due to myocardial ischaemia showed a depressed myocardial adenylyl cyclase signalling system. This may be due to the hypersensitivity of the Gi protein mediated muscarinic receptor-adenylyl cyclase system as shown by the increased inhibition of Gpp(NH)p mediated adenylyl cyclase, more potent inhibition of stimulated adenylyl cyclase by carbachol, and the superhigh affinity of the muscarinic receptors for carbachol.

Increase in functional activity rather than in amount of Gi-alpha in failing human heart with dilated cardiomyopathy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate whether or not increased pertussis toxin catalysed ADP ribosylation correlates with increased amount of Gi-alpha in failing human heart. DESIGN: Antisera raised against unique synthetic peptides corresponding to alpha subunits of Gs and Gi 1-3 were used in immunoblotting and ELISA to determine amounts of various G proteins. Adenylyl cyclase activity, beta adrenoceptors, and muscarinic receptors were then measured in cardiomyopathic hearts (n = 6) obtained at transplant in order to study whether or not an altered expression of G proteins has relevance to the integrity and function of the receptor--adenylyl cyclase system. Six non-failing control hearts were also studied. RESULTS: No significant differences in the peptide equivalent amounts of either Gs or Gi were found in the failing human heart as compared to the non-failing heart. However, functional activity of Gi was shown to increase significantly since there was a decrease in basal (57%), isoprenaline stimulated (60%), and guanyliminodiphosphate stimulated (52%) adenylyl cyclase activity. In contrast the density of beta adrenoceptors was markedly decreased (51%) in failing human heart in comparison to non-failing hearts. Neither the density nor the affinity of muscarinic receptors changed in the failing human heart. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that in the failing human heart, there is an increase in functional activity rather than in amount of Gi, and an important part of functional expression of Gi-alpha may be regulated at the post-translational level.

Oxygen free radical injury and Gs mediated signal transduction in the stunned porcine myocardium.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate involvement of oxygen free radicals and any changes in the Gs mediated beta adrenergic signalling system of stunned porcine myocardium. METHODS: Myocardial stunning was induced in eight pentobarbitone anaesthetised pigs by brief occlusions of the distal left anterior descending coronary artery for periods of up to 10 min. Segment length function was measured in the ischaemic region and in a control region supplied by the circumflex artery. Left ventricular biopsies were obtained from the two regions 1 h after the last occlusion for ultrastructural and biochemical studies. Timolol has been used to prevent arrhythmia during ischaemia. RESULTS: At the time when biopsies were obtained, percent systolic shortening was reduced to 58% in the region subjected to ischaemia and was only minimally reduced in the control region. In the biopsies from the stunned region: (1) electron microscopy showed mild and reversible intracellular changes in the stunned myocardium; (2) the activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase were decreased by 66% and 52%, respectively; (3) the content of malondialdehyde was increased by 49%; (4) neither density nor affinity of beta adrenoceptors showed any changes; (5) there were no alterations in messenger RNA encoding for the alpha subunit of the stimulatory guanine nucleotide binding protein (Gs), demonstrated by northern and dot-blot hybridisations; (6) ELISA technique utilising a specific antipeptide antibody showed no quantitative change in Gs; (7) the activity of adenyl cyclase was unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: Even though the stunned porcine myocardium showed substantial evidence of free radical injury, the beta adrenergic signalling system was intact.

Properties of G-protein modulated receptor-adenylyl cyclase system in myocardium of spontaneously hypertensive rats treated with adriamycin.

Properties of the receptor--G protein--adenylyl cyclase system were studied in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) treated with adriamycin (ADR, 1 mg/kg per week) for 12 weeks. An identical dosing schedule caused a significantly greater decline in body weight gain and a marked elevation of plasma norepinephrine level in SHR than in WKY. A significant increase in the messenger RNA encoding Gi-alpha 2 was found in SHR+ADR group. The activity of the adenylyl cyclase stimulated by guanyliminodiphosphate [Gpp(NH)p] was decreased by 49% in SHR and 73% in SHR+ADR. However, stimulated activities of adenylyl cyclase by both sodium fluoride and forskolin remained unchanged. Functional level of stimulatory G-protein (Gs) as measured by reconstitution assay in sarcolemmal membrane was unaltered among different groups. Furthermore, the density of beta-adrenoceptor was significantly decreased without change of its affinity. Muscarinic receptors exhibited a three-site affinity distribution in SHR+ADR whereas other groups displayed only two-site affinity distribution. These results suggest that SHR exhibited a depressed myocardial adenylyl cyclase signaling system which may not be due to the functional uncoupling of beta-adrenoceptors from Gs but to the increased inhibitory G-protein (Gi) activity as demonstrated by the increased mRNA of Gi-alpha 2, increased inhibition of Gpp(NH)p-mediated adenylyl cyclase and the super high affinity for carbachol of the muscarinic receptors. Decreased beta-adrenoceptor density and functional alteration of Gi might be regarded as the predisposing factors for the increased susceptibility of myocardium of SHR to ADR.

Decreased density of mesenteric arteries but not of myocardial endothelin receptors and function in rats with chronic ischemic heart failure.

Mesenteric artery and cardiac ventricular endothelin receptors and endothelin-1-induced pressor responses were studied in normal rats and rats with chronic congestive heart failure induced by myocardial ischemia (4 weeks after coronary artery ligation). In mesenteric arteries of rats with chronic ischemic heart failure, endothelin receptor density was significantly decreased by 59%, whereas the dissociation constant was increased 2.8-fold, as compared with controls. There were, however, no changes in endothelin-receptor density or the dissociation constant in cardiac ventricular membrane preparations from rats with congestive heart failure as compared with controls. In pithed rats with congestive heart failure there was a reduced pressor response to a bolus injection of endothelin-1 (800 pmole/kg body weight), while the vasodilatory response was unaltered as compared with sham-operated controls. These results demonstrate that there is a decreased vascular endothelin-receptor function due to a down-regulated endothelin receptor. The in vivo data indicate that this is due to impaired endothelin A but not endothelin B receptor function. Thus, there is an impaired arterial but not cardiac ventricular endothelin receptor-mediated signalling system in the rat with chronic ischemic heart failure.

Effect of metoprolol on activity of beta-adrenoceptor coupled to guanine nucleotide binding regulatory proteins in adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity.

Prevention of cardiotoxicity without interfering with the therapeutic efficacy of adriamycin is a very crucial question. We have investigated the activity of beta-adrenoceptor coupled to guanine nucleotide binding regulatory proteins (G-proteins) and Ca(2+)-ATPase activity in experimental adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity and the influence of metoprolol treatment on these variables. Adriamycin was administered to rats intravenously as a single dose of 6 mg/kg, and metoprol was continuously given by means of implanted osmotic pumps. beta-Adrenoceptor characteristics were measured by radioligand-binding experiments and by basal and stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity. Northern blot and dot blot analysis was used to quantify G-protein mRNA. It was shown that adriamycin did not induce any change in the total beta-adrenoceptor density, nor did the high affinity agonist binding to beta-adrenoceptor change. Adriamycin did not induce any alteration in the amount of mRNA encoding for stimulatory (Gs) or inhibitory (Gi) G-proteins. Also, basal and stimulated adenylyl cyclase activities were identical in the different experimental groups. In contrast, the Ca(2+)-ATPase was shown to increase in adriamycin-treated rats compared to control rats (45 +/- 3.8 versus 23 +/- 1.2 mumol Pi/mg/h, P less than .01). Metoprolol was shown to normalize this increase (29 +/- 2.1 mumol Pi/mg/h). Thus, it may be concluded that in experimental adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity, despite Ca(2+)-overloading, the beta-adrenoceptor-G protein-adenylyl cyclase system remains intact. Metoprolol seems to prevent Ca(2+)-overloading independently of the beta-adrenoceptors studied here.

Diabetes-induced changes in the Gi-modulated muscarinic receptor-adenylyl cyclase system in rat myocardium.

The inhibitory guanine nucleotide binding regulatory protein (Gi)-mediated muscarinic receptor-adenylyl cyclase system was studied in myocardium from adult male Wistar rats with 10 weeks of diabetes induced by a single intravenous injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg). Neither the messenger ribonucleic acid level nor the amount of Gi was changed in the streptozotocin diabetic group as compared to the control group. The activity of the adenylyl cyclase stimulated by guanyliminodiphosphate was decreased by 48% in the streptozotocin diabetic group whereas stimulated activities of adenylyl cyclase by sodium fluoride and forskolin remained unchanged. The inhibition of forskolin-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity by carbachol was more potent in membranes from the streptozotocin diabetic group than that in membranes from the control group. The competition binding curve between (3H)- quinuclidinyl benzilate and carbachol obtained from the streptozotocin diabetic group was shifted to the left as compared to the control group. These results suggest that the myocardium of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats exhibited an increase in Gi function as demonstrated by the increased inhibition of guanyliminodiphosphate-mediated adenylyl cyclase and the superhigh affinity for carbachol of the muscarinic receptors. As there were signs, similar to those seen in clinical heart failure, in the streptozotocin diabetic group, these results demonstrate that functional alteration of Gi might underlie, at least in part, the cardiac dysfunction that is associated with diabetes.