Maternal Body Mass Index, Myometrium Contractility and Uterotonic Receptor Expression in Pregnancy.

Pregnant individuals with obesity (body mass index, BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) are more likely to experience prolonged labor and have double the risk of cesarean compared with individuals with normal weight (BMI < 25 kg/m2). The aim of this study was to evaluate whether obesity in pregnancy is associated with reduced spontaneous and oxytocin-stimulated myometrial contractile activity using ex vivo preparations. We also assessed the relationship between maternal BMI and the expression of oxytocin (OXTR) and prostaglandin (FP) receptors in the myometrial tissue. We enrolled 73 individuals with a singleton gestation undergoing scheduled cesarean delivery at term in a prospective cohort study. This included 49 individuals with a pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 and 24 with BMI < 25.0 kg/m2. After delivery, a small strip of myometrium was excised from the upper edge of the hysterotomy. Baseline spontaneous and oxytocin stimulated myometrial contractile activity was measured using ex vivo preparations. Additionally, expression of oxytocin and prostaglandin receptors from myometrial samples were compared using qRT-PCR and western blot techniques. Spontaneous and oxytocin-stimulated contraction frequency, duration, and force were not significantly different in myometrial samples from the obese and normal-weight individuals. Myometrial OXTR gene and protein expression was also similar in the two groups. While FP gene expression was lower in the myometrial samples from the obese group, protein expression did not differ. These data help to address an important knowledge gap related to the biological mechanisms underlying the association between maternal obesity and dysfunctional labor.

Structure of mavacamten-free human cardiac thick filaments within the sarcomere by cryoelectron tomography.

Heart muscle has the unique property that it can never rest; all cardiomyocytes contract with each heartbeat which requires a complex control mechanism to regulate cardiac output to physiological requirements. Changes in calcium concentration regulate the thin filament activation. A separate but linked mechanism regulates the thick filament activation, which frees sufficient myosin heads to bind the thin filament, thereby producing the required force. Thick filaments contain additional nonmyosin proteins, myosin-binding protein C and titin, the latter being the protein that transmits applied tension to the thick filament. How these three proteins interact to control thick filament activation is poorly understood. Here, we show using 3-D image reconstruction of frozen-hydrated human cardiac muscle myofibrils lacking exogenous drugs that the thick filament is structured to provide three levels of myosin activation corresponding to the three crowns of myosin heads in each 429Å repeat. In one crown, the myosin heads are almost completely activated and disordered. In another crown, many myosin heads are inactive, ordered into a structure called the interacting heads motif. At the third crown, the myosin heads are ordered into the interacting heads motif, but the stability of that motif is affected by myosin-binding protein C. We think that this hierarchy of control explains many of the effects of length-dependent activation as well as stretch activation in cardiac muscle control.

Altering Calcium Sensitivity in Heart Failure: A Crossroads of Disease Etiology and Therapeutic Innovation.

Heart failure (HF) presents a significant clinical challenge, with current treatments mainly easing symptoms without stopping disease progression. The targeting of calcium (Ca2+) regulation is emerging as a key area for innovative HF treatments that could significantly alter disease outcomes and enhance cardiac function. In this review, we aim to explore the implications of altered Ca2+ sensitivity, a key determinant of cardiac muscle force, in HF, including its roles during systole and diastole and its association with different HF types-HF with preserved and reduced ejection fraction (HFpEF and HFrEF, respectively). We further highlight the role of the two rate constants kon (Ca2+ binding to Troponin C) and koff (its dissociation) to fully comprehend how changes in Ca2+ sensitivity impact heart function. Additionally, we examine how increased Ca2+ sensitivity, while boosting systolic function, also presents diastolic risks, potentially leading to arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. This suggests that strategies aimed at moderating myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity could revolutionize anti-arrhythmic approaches, reshaping the HF treatment landscape. In conclusion, we emphasize the need for precision in therapeutic approaches targeting Ca2+ sensitivity and call for comprehensive research into the complex interactions between Ca2+ regulation, myofilament sensitivity, and their clinical manifestations in HF.

Histopathology of the Mitral Valve Residual Leaflet in Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND: Mitral valve (MV) elongation is a primary hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) phenotype and contributes to obstruction. The residual MV leaflet that protrudes past the coaptation point is especially susceptible to flow-drag and systolic anterior motion. Histopathological features of MVs in obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (OHCM), and of residual leaflets specifically, are unknown. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to characterize gross, structural, and cellular histopathologic features of MV residual leaflets in OHCM. On a cellular-level, we assessed for developmental dysregulation of epicardium-derived cell (EPDC) differentiation, adaptive endocardial-to-mesenchymal transition and valvular interstitial cell proliferation, and genetically-driven persistence of cardiomyocytes in the valve. METHODS: Structural and immunohistochemical staining were performed on 22 residual leaflets excised as ancillary procedures during myectomy, and compared with 11 control leaflets from deceased patients with normal hearts. Structural components were assessed with hematoxylin and eosin, trichrome, and elastic stains. We stained for EPDCs, EPDC paracrine signaling, valvular interstitial cells, endocardial-to-mesenchymal transition, and cardiomyocytes. RESULTS: The residual leaflet was always at A2 segment and attached by slack, elongated and curlicued, myxoid chords. MV residual leaflets in OHCM were structurally disorganized, with expanded spongiosa and increased, fragmented elastic fibers compared with control leading edges. The internal collagenous fibrosa was attenuated and there was collagenous tissue overlying valve surfaces in HCM, with an overall trend toward decreased leaflet thickness (1.09 vs 1.47 mm, P = 0.08). No markers of primary cellular processes were identified. CONCLUSIONS: MV residual leaflets in HCM were characterized by histologic findings that were likely secondary to chronic hemodynamic stress and may further increase susceptibility to systolic anterior motion.

Sexual dimorphism in bidirectional SR-mitochondria crosstalk in ventricular cardiomyocytes.

Calcium transfer into the mitochondrial matrix during sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release is essential to boost energy production in ventricular cardiomyocytes (VCMs) and match increased metabolic demand. Mitochondria from female hearts exhibit lower mito-[Ca2+] and produce less reactive oxygen species (ROS) compared to males, without change in respiration capacity. We hypothesized that in female VCMs, more efficient electron transport chain (ETC) organization into supercomplexes offsets the deficit in mito-Ca2+ accumulation, thereby reducing ROS production and stress-induced intracellular Ca2+ mishandling. Experiments using mitochondria-targeted biosensors confirmed lower mito-ROS and mito-[Ca2+] in female rat VCMs challenged with ß-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol compared to males. Biochemical studies revealed decreased mitochondria Ca2+ uniporter expression and increased supercomplex assembly in rat and human female ventricular tissues vs male. Importantly, western blot analysis showed higher expression levels of COX7RP, an estrogen-dependent supercomplex assembly factor in female heart tissues vs males. Furthermore, COX7RP was decreased in hearts from aged and ovariectomized female rats. COX7RP overexpression in male VCMs increased mitochondrial supercomplexes, reduced mito-ROS and spontaneous SR Ca2+ release in response to ISO. Conversely, shRNA-mediated knockdown of COX7RP in female VCMs reduced supercomplexes and increased mito-ROS, promoting intracellular Ca2+ mishandling. Compared to males, mitochondria in female VCMs exhibit higher ETC subunit incorporation into supercomplexes, supporting more efficient electron transport. Such organization coupled to lower levels of mito-[Ca2+] limits mito-ROS under stress conditions and lowers propensity to pro-arrhythmic spontaneous SR Ca2+ release. We conclude that sexual dimorphism in mito-Ca2+ handling and ETC organization may contribute to cardioprotection in healthy premenopausal females.

The lack of Troponin I Ser-23/24 phosphorylation is detrimental to in vivo cardiac function and exacerbates cardiac disease.

Troponin I (TnI) is a key regulator of cardiac contraction and relaxation with TnI Ser-23/24 phosphorylation serving as a myofilament mechanism to modulate cardiac function. Basal cardiac TnI Ser-23/24 phosphorylation is high such that both increased and decreased TnI phosphorylation may modulate cardiac function. While the effects of increasing TnI Ser-23/24 phosphorylation on heart function are well established, the effects of decreasing TnI Ser-23/24 phosphorylation are not clear. To understand the in vivo role of decreased TnI Ser-23/24 phosphorylation, mice expressing TnI with Ser-23/24 mutated to alanine (TnI S23/24A) that lack the ability to be phosphorylated at these residues were subjected to echocardiography and pressure-volume hemodynamic measurements in the absence or presence of physiological (pacing increasing heart rate or adrenergic stimulation) or pathological (transverse aortic constriction (TAC)) stress. In the absence of pathological stress, the lack of TnI Ser-23/24 phosphorylation impaired systolic and diastolic function. TnI S23/24A mice also had an impaired systolic and diastolic response upon stimulation increased heart rate and an impaired adrenergic response upon dobutamine infusion. Following pathological cardiac stress induced by TAC, TnI S23/24A mice had a greater increase in ventricular mass, worse diastolic function, and impaired systolic and diastolic function upon increasing heart rate. These findings demonstrate that mice lacking the ability to phosphorylate TnI at Ser-23/24 have impaired in vivo systolic and diastolic cardiac function, a blunted cardiac reserve and a worse response to pathological stress supporting decreased TnI Ser23/24 phosphorylation is a modulator of these processes in vivo.

Mechanical Dyssynchrony of Isolated Left and Right Ventricular Human Myocardium in End-Stage Heart Failure.

BACKGROUND: The left and right ventricles of the human heart differ in embryology, shape, thickness, and function. Ventricular dyssynchrony often occurs in cases of heart failure. Our objectives were to assess whether differences in contractile properties exist between the left and right ventricles and to evaluate signs of left/right ventricular mechanical synchrony in isolated healthy and diseased human myocardium. METHODS: Myocardial left and right ventricular trabeculae were dissected from nonfailing and end-stage failing human hearts. Baseline contractile force and contraction/relaxation kinetics of the left ventricle were compared to those of the right ventricle in the nonfailing group (n=41) and in the failing group (n=29). Correlation analysis was performed to assess the mechanical synchrony between left and right ventricular myocardium isolated from the same heart, in nonfailing (n=41) and failing hearts (n=29). RESULTS: The failing right ventricular myocardium showed significantly higher developed force (Fdev; P=0.001; d=0.98), prolonged time to peak (P<0.001; d=1.14), and higher rate of force development (P=0.002; d=0.89) and force decline (P=0.003; d=0.82) compared to corresponding left ventricular myocardium. In healthy myocardium, a strong positive relationship was present between the left and right ventricles in time to peak (r=0.58, P<0.001) and maximal kinetic rate of contraction (r=0.63, P<0.001). These coefficients were much weaker, often nearly absent, in failing myocardium. CONCLUSIONS: At the level of isolated cardiac trabeculae, contractile performance, specifically of contractile kinetics, is correlated in the nonfailing myocardium between the left and right ventricles' but this correlation is significantly weaker, or even absent, in end-stage heart failure, suggesting an interventricular mechanical dyssynchrony.

CLIC4 localizes to mitochondrial-associated membranes and mediates cardioprotection.

Mitochondrial-associated membranes (MAMs) are known to modulate organellar and cellular functions and can subsequently affect pathophysiology including myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. Thus, identifying molecular targets in MAMs that regulate the outcome of IR injury will hold a key to efficient therapeutics. Here, we found chloride intracellular channel protein (CLIC4) presence in MAMs of cardiomyocytes and demonstrate its role in modulating ER and mitochondrial calcium homeostasis under physiological and pathological conditions. In a murine model, loss of CLIC4 increased myocardial infarction and substantially reduced cardiac function after IR injury. CLIC4 null cardiomyocytes showed increased apoptosis and mitochondrial dysfunction upon hypoxia-reoxygenation injury in comparison to wild-type cardiomyocytes. Overall, our results indicate that MAM-CLIC4 is a key mediator of cellular response to IR injury and therefore may have a potential implication on other pathophysiological processes.

Reduced cardiac muscle power with low ATP simulating heart failure.

For patients with heart failure, myocardial ATP level can be reduced to one-half of that observed in healthy controls. This marked reduction (from ≈8 mM in healthy controls to as low as 3-4 mM in heart failure) has been suggested to contribute to impaired myocardial contraction and to the decreased pump function characteristic of heart failure. However, in vitro measures of maximum myofilament force generation, maximum shortening velocity, and the actomyosin ATPase activity show effective KM values for MgATP ranging from ≈10 µM to 150 µM, well below the intracellular ATP level in heart failure. Thus, it is not clear that the fall of myocardial ATP observed in heart failure is sufficient to impair the function of the contractile proteins. Therefore, we tested the effect of low MgATP levels on myocardial contraction using demembranated cardiac muscle preparations that were exposed to MgATP levels typical of the range found in non-failing and failing hearts. Consistent with previous studies, we found that a 50% reduction in MgATP level (from 8 mM to 4 mM) did not reduce maximum force generation or maximum velocity of shortening. However, we found that a 50% reduction in MgATP level caused a 20%-25% reduction in maximal power generation (measured during muscle shortening against a load) and a 20% slowing of cross-bridge cycling kinetics. These results suggest that the decreased cellular ATP level occurring in heart failure contributes to the impaired pump function of the failing heart. Since the ATP-myosin ATPase dissociation constant is estimated to be submillimolar, these findings also suggest that MgATP concentration affects cross-bridge dynamics through a mechanism that is more complex than through the direct dependence of MgATP concentration on myosin ATPase activity. Finally, these studies suggest that therapies targeted to increase adenine nucleotide pool levels in cardiomyocytes might be beneficial for treating heart failure.

Quantification of Cardiac Adipose Tissue in Failing and Nonfailing Human Myocardium.

Background Because body mass index (BMI) is generally used clinically to define obesity and to estimate body adiposity, BMI likely is positively correlated with epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) level. Based on echocardiography, previous outcomes on this matter have varied from almost absent to rather strong correlations between BMI and EAT. The purpose of our study was to unambiguously examine EAT content and determine if correlations exist between EAT content and BMI, cause of heart failure, or contractile force. Methods and Results We qualitatively scored 150 human hearts ex vivo on EAT distribution. From each heart, multiple photographs of the heart were taken, and both atrial and ventricular adipose tissue levels were semiquantitatively scored. Main findings include a generally higher EAT content on nonfailing hearts compared with end-stage failing hearts (atrial adipose tissue level 5.70±0.13 vs. 5.00±0.12, P<0.001; ventricular adipose tissue level 5.14±0.16 vs. 4.57±0.12, P=0.0048). The results also suggest that EAT quantity is not strongly correlated with BMI in nonfailing (atrial adipose tissue level r=0.069, ventricular adipose tissue level r=0.14) or failing (atrial adipose tissue level r=-0.022, ventricular adipose tissue level r=0.051) hearts. Atrial EAT is closely correlated with ventricular EAT in both nonfailing (r=0.92, P<0.001) and failing (r=0.87, P<0.001) hearts. Conclusions EAT volume appears to be inversely proportional to severity of or length of time with heart failure based on our findings. Based on a lack of correlation with BMI, it is incorrect to assume high EAT volume given high body fat percentage.

Post-translational modification patterns on ß-myosin heavy chain are altered in ischemic and nonischemic human hearts.

Phosphorylation and acetylation of sarcomeric proteins are important for fine-tuning myocardial contractility. Here, we used bottom-up proteomics and label-free quantification to identify novel post-translational modifications (PTMs) on ß-myosin heavy chain (ß-MHC) in normal and failing human heart tissues. We report six acetylated lysines and two phosphorylated residues: K34-Ac, K58-Ac, S210-P, K213-Ac, T215-P, K429-Ac, K951-Ac, and K1195-Ac. K951-Ac was significantly reduced in both ischemic and nonischemic failing hearts compared to nondiseased hearts. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations show that K951-Ac may impact stability of thick filament tail interactions and ultimately myosin head positioning. K58-Ac altered the solvent-exposed SH3 domain surface - known for protein-protein interactions - but did not appreciably change motor domain conformation or dynamics under conditions studied. Together, K213-Ac/T215-P altered loop 1's structure and dynamics - known to regulate ADP-release, ATPase activity, and sliding velocity. Our study suggests that ß-MHC acetylation levels may be influenced more by the PTM location than the type of heart disease since less protected acetylation sites are reduced in both heart failure groups. Additionally, these PTMs have potential to modulate interactions between ß-MHC and other regulatory sarcomeric proteins, ADP-release rate of myosin, flexibility of the S2 region, and cardiac myofilament contractility in normal and failing hearts.

The Case for, and Challenges of, Human Cardiac Tissue in Advancing Phosphoprotein Research.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke affect over 92 million Americans and account for nearly 1 out of 3 deaths in the US. The use of animal models in cardiovascular research has led to considerable advances in treatment and in our understanding of the pathophysiology of many CVDs. Still, animals may not fully recapitulate human disease states; species differences have long been postulated to be one of the main reasons for a failure of translation between animals and humans in drug discovery and development. Indeed, it has become increasingly clear over the past few decades that to answer certain biomedical questions, like the physiological mechanisms that go awry in many human CVDs, animal tissues may not always be the best option to use. While human cardiac tissue has long been used for laboratory research, published findings often contradict each other, leading to difficulties in interpretation. Current difficulties in utilizing human cardiac tissue include differences in acquisition time, varying tissue procurement protocols, and the struggle to define a human "control" sample. With the tremendous emphasis on translational research that continues to grow, research studies using human tissues are becoming more common. This mini review will discuss advantages, disadvantages, and considerations of using human cardiac tissue in the study of CVDs, paying specific attention to the study of phosphoproteins.

Effect of hypothyroidism on contractile performance of isolated end-stage failing human myocardium.

The relationship between hypothyroidism and the occurrence and progression of heart failure (HF) has had increased interest over the past years. The low T3 syndrome, a reduced T3 in the presence of normal thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), and free T4 concentration, is a strong predictor of all-cause mortality in HF patients. Still, the impact of hypothyroidism on the contractile properties of failing human myocardium is unknown. Our study aimed to investigate that impact using ex-vivo assessment of force and kinetics of contraction/relaxation in left ventricular intact human myocardial muscle preparations. Trabeculae were dissected from non-failing (NF; n = 9), failing with no hypothyroidism (FNH; n = 9), and failing with hypothyroidism (FH; n = 9) hearts. Isolated muscle preparations were transferred into a custom-made setup where baseline conditions as well as the three main physiological modulators that regulate the contractile strength, length-dependent and frequency-dependent activation, as well as ß-adrenergic stimulation, were assessed under near-physiological conditions. Hypothyroidism did not show any additional significant impact on the contractile properties different from the recognized alterations usually detected in such parameters in any end-stage failing heart without thyroid dysfunction. Clinical information for FH patients in our study revealed they were all receiving levothyroxine. Absence of any difference between failing hearts with or without hypothyroidism, may possibly be due to the profound effects of the advanced stage of heart failure that concealed any changes between the groups. Still, we cannot exclude the possibility of differences that may have been present at earlier stages. The effects of THs supplementation such as levothyroxine on contractile force and kinetic parameters of failing human myocardium require further investigation to explore its full potential in improving cardiovascular performance and cardiovascular outcomes of HF associated with hypothyroidism.

UCHL1 protects against ischemic heart injury via activating HIF-1α signal pathway.

Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal esterase L1 (UCHL1) has been thought to be a neuron specific protein and shown to play critical roles in Parkinson's Disease and stroke via de-ubiquiting and stabilizing key pathological proteins, such as α-synuclein. In the present study, we found that UCHL1 was significantly increased in both mouse and human cardiomyocytes following myocardial infarction (MI). When LDN-57444, a pharmacological inhibitor of UCHL1, was used to treat mice subjected to MI surgery, we found that administration of LDN-57444 compromised cardiac function when compared with vehicle treated hearts, suggesting a potential protective role of UCHL1 in response to MI. When UCHL1 was knockout by CRISPR/Cas 9 gene editing technique in human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), we found that cardiomyocytes derived from UCHL1-/- hiPSCs were more susceptible to hypoxia/re-oxygenation induced injury as compared to wild type cardiomyocytes. To study the potential targets of UCHL1, a BioID based proximity labeling approach followed by mass spectrum analysis was performed. The result suggested that UCHL1 could bind to and stabilize HIF-1α following MI. Indeed, expression of HIF-1α was lower in UCHL1-/- cells as determined by Western blotting and HIF-1α target genes were also suppressed in UCHL1-/- cells as quantified by real time RT-PCR. Recombinant UCHL1 (rUCHL1) protein was purified by E. Coli fermentation and intraperitoneally (I.P.) delivered to mice. We found that administration of rUCHL1 could significantly preserve cardiac function following MI as compared to control group. Finally, adeno associated virus mediated cardiac specific UCHL1 delivery (AAV9-cTNT-m-UCHL1) was performed in neonatal mice. UCHL1 overexpressing hearts were more resistant to MI injury as compare to the hearts infected with control virus. In summary, our data revealed a novel protective role of UCHL1 on MI via stabilizing HIF-1α and promoting HIF-1α signaling.

Altered Expression of Zonula occludens-1 Affects Cardiac Na+ Channels and Increases Susceptibility to Ventricular Arrhythmias.

Zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) is an intracellular scaffolding protein that orchestrates the anchoring of membrane proteins to the cytoskeleton in epithelial and specialized tissue including the heart. There is clear evidence to support the central role of intracellular auxiliary proteins in arrhythmogenesis and previous studies have found altered ZO-1 expression associated with atrioventricular conduction abnormalities. Here, using human cardiac tissues, we identified all three isoforms of ZO-1, canonical (Transcript Variant 1, TV1), CRA_e (Transcript Variant 4, TV4), and an additionally expressed (Transcript Variant 3, TV3) in non-failing myocardium. To investigate the role of ZO-1 on ventricular arrhythmogenesis, we generated a haploinsufficient ZO-1 mouse model (ZO-1+/-). ZO-1+/- mice exhibited dysregulated connexin-43 protein expression and localization at the intercalated disc. While ZO-1+/- mice did not display abnormal cardiac function at baseline, adrenergic challenge resulted in rhythm abnormalities, including premature ventricular contractions and bigeminy. At baseline, ventricular myocytes from the ZO-1+/- mice displayed prolonged action potential duration and spontaneous depolarizations, with ZO-1+/- cells displaying frequent unsolicited (non-paced) diastolic depolarizations leading to spontaneous activity with multiple early afterdepolarizations (EADs). Mechanistically, ZO-1 deficient myocytes displayed a reduction in sodium current density (INa) and an increased sensitivity to isoproterenol stimulation. Further, ZO-1 deficient myocytes displayed remodeling in ICa current, likely a compensatory change. Taken together, our data suggest that ZO-1 deficiency results in myocardial substrate susceptible to triggered arrhythmias.

Distributed synthesis of sarcolemmal and sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane proteins in cardiac myocytes.

It is widely assumed that synthesis of membrane proteins, particularly in the heart, follows the classical secretory pathway with mRNA translation occurring in perinuclear regions followed by protein trafficking to sites of deployment. However, this view is based on studies conducted in less-specialized cells, and has not been experimentally addressed in cardiac myocytes. Therefore, we undertook direct experimental investigation of protein synthesis in cardiac tissue and isolated myocytes using single-molecule visualization techniques and a novel proximity-ligated in situ hybridization approach for visualizing ribosome-associated mRNA molecules for a specific protein species, indicative of translation sites. We identify here, for the first time, that the molecular machinery for membrane protein synthesis occurs throughout the cardiac myocyte, and enables distributed synthesis of membrane proteins within sub-cellular niches where the synthesized protein functions using local mRNA pools trafficked, in part, by microtubules. We also observed cell-wide distribution of membrane protein mRNA in myocardial tissue from both non-failing and hypertrophied (failing) human hearts, demonstrating an evolutionarily conserved distributed mechanism from mouse to human. Our results identify previously unanticipated aspects of local control of cardiac myocyte biology and highlight local protein synthesis in cardiac myocytes as an important potential determinant of the heart's biology in health and disease.

Altered microRNA and mRNA profiles during heart failure in the human sinoatrial node.

Heart failure (HF) is frequently accompanied with the sinoatrial node (SAN) dysfunction, which causes tachy-brady arrhythmias and increased mortality. MicroRNA (miR) alterations are associated with HF progression. However, the transcriptome of HF human SAN, and its role in HF-associated remodeling of ion channels, transporters, and receptors responsible for SAN automaticity and conduction impairments is unknown. We conducted comprehensive high-throughput transcriptomic analysis of pure human SAN primary pacemaker tissue and neighboring right atrial tissue from human transplanted HF hearts (n = 10) and non-failing (nHF) donor hearts (n = 9), using next-generation sequencing. Overall, 47 miRs and 832 mRNAs related to multiple signaling pathways, including cardiac diseases, tachy-brady arrhythmias and fibrosis, were significantly altered in HF SAN. Of the altered miRs, 27 are predicted to regulate mRNAs of major ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors which are involved in SAN automaticity (e.g. HCN1, HCN4, SLC8A1) and intranodal conduction (e.g. SCN5A, SCN8A) or both (e.g. KCNJ3, KCNJ5). Luciferase reporter assays were used to validate interactions of miRs with predicted mRNA targets. In conclusion, our study provides a profile of altered miRs in HF human SAN, and a novel transcriptome blueprint to identify molecular targets for SAN dysfunction and arrhythmia treatments in HF.

Memantine and its benefits for cancer, cardiovascular and neurological disorders.

Memantine is a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that was initially indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease. It is now also considered for a variety of other pathologies in which activation of NMDA receptors apparently contributes to the pathogenesis and progression of disease. In addition to the central nervous system (CNS), NMDA receptors can be found in non-neuronal cells and tissues that recently have become an interesting research focus. Some studies have shown that glutamate signaling plays a role in cell transformation and cancer progression. In addition, these receptors may play a role in cardiovascular disorders. In this review, we focus on the most recent findings for memantine with respect to its pharmacological effects in a range of diseases, including inflammatory disorders, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, neuropathy, as well as retinopathy.

MG53 suppresses NF-κB activation to mitigate age-related heart failure.

Aging is associated with chronic oxidative stress and inflammation that affect tissue repair and regeneration capacity. MG53 is a TRIM family protein that facilitates repair of cell membrane injury in a redox-dependent manner. Here, we demonstrate that the expression of MG53 was reduced in failing human hearts and aged mouse hearts, concomitant with elevated NF-κB activation. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of longitudinal, systemic administration of recombinant human MG53 (rhMG53) protein in aged mice. Echocardiography and pressure-volume loop measurements revealed beneficial effects of rhMG53 treatment in improving heart function of aged mice. Biochemical and histological studies demonstrated that the cardioprotective effects of rhMG53 are linked to suppression of NF-κB-mediated inflammation, reducing apoptotic cell death and oxidative stress in the aged heart. Repetitive administration of rhMG53 in aged mice did not have adverse effects on major vital organ functions. These findings support the therapeutic value of rhMG53 in treating age-related decline in cardiac function.