Genetic background influences expression and function of the cation channel TRPM4 in the mouse heart.

Transient receptor potential melastatin 4 (TRPM4) cation channels act in cardiomyocytes as a negative modulator of the L-type Ca2+ current. Ubiquitous Trpm4 deletion in mice leads to an increased ß-adrenergic inotropy in healthy mice as well as after myocardial infarction. In this study, we set out to investigate cardiac inotropy in mice with cardiomyocyte-specific Trpm4 deletion. The results guided us to investigate the relevance of TRPM4 for catecholamine-evoked Ca2+ signaling in cardiomyocytes and inotropy in vivo in TRPM4-deficient mouse models of different genetic background. Cardiac hemodynamics were investigated using pressure-volume analysis. Surprisingly, an increased ß-adrenergic inotropy was observed in global TRPM4-deficient mice on a 129SvJ genetic background, but the inotropic response was unaltered in mice with global and cardiomyocyte-specific TRPM4 deletion on the C57Bl/6N background. We found that the expression of TRPM4 proteins is about 78 ± 10% higher in wild-type mice on the 129SvJ versus C57Bl/6N background. In accordance with contractility measurements, our analysis of the intracellular Ca2+ transients revealed an increase in ISO-evoked Ca2+ rise in Trpm4-deficient cardiomyocytes of the 129SvJ strain, but not of the C57Bl/6N strain. No significant differences were observed between the two mouse strains in the expression of other regulators of cardiomyocyte Ca2+ homeostasis. We conclude that the relevance of TRPM4 for cardiac contractility depends on homeostatic TRPM4 expression levels or the genetic endowment in different mouse strains as well as on the health/disease status. Therefore, the concept of inhibiting TRPM4 channels to improve cardiac contractility needs to be carefully explored in specific strains and species and prospectively in different genetically diverse populations of patients.

Cardiomyocyte-Specific Deletion of Orai1 Reveals Its Protective Role in Angiotensin-II-Induced Pathological Cardiac Remodeling.

Pathological cardiac remodeling correlates with chronic neurohumoral stimulation and abnormal Ca2+ signaling in cardiomyocytes. Store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) has been described in adult and neonatal murine cardiomyocytes, and Orai1 proteins act as crucial ion-conducting constituents of this calcium entry pathway that can be engaged not only by passive Ca2+ store depletion but also by neurohumoral stimuli such as angiotensin-II. In this study, we, therefore, analyzed the consequences of Orai1 deletion for cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in neonatal and adult cardiomyocytes as well as for other features of pathological cardiac remodeling including cardiac contractile function in vivo. Cellular hypertrophy induced by angiotensin-II in embryonic cardiomyocytes from Orai1-deficient mice was blunted in comparison to cells from litter-matched control mice. Due to lethality of mice with ubiquitous Orai1 deficiency and to selectively analyze the role of Orai1 in adult cardiomyocytes, we generated a cardiomyocyte-specific and temporally inducible Orai1 knockout mouse line (Orai1CM-KO). Analysis of cardiac contractility by pressure-volume loops under basal conditions and of cardiac histology did not reveal differences between Orai1CM-KO mice and controls. Moreover, deletion of Orai1 in cardiomyocytes in adult mice did not protect them from angiotensin-II-induced cardiac remodeling, but cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area and cardiac fibrosis were enhanced. These alterations in the absence of Orai1 go along with blunted angiotensin-II-induced upregulation of the expression of Myoz2 and a lack of rise in angiotensin-II-induced STIM1 and Orai3 expression. In contrast to embryonic cardiomyocytes, where Orai1 contributes to the development of cellular hypertrophy, the results obtained from deletion of Orai1 in the adult myocardium reveal a protective function of Orai1 against the development of angiotensin-II-induced cardiac remodeling, possibly involving signaling via Orai3/STIM1-calcineurin-NFAT related pathways.

A proteolytic fragment of histone deacetylase 4 protects the heart from failure by regulating the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway.

The stress-responsive epigenetic repressor histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) regulates cardiac gene expression. Here we show that the levels of an N-terminal proteolytically derived fragment of HDAC4, termed HDAC4-NT, are lower in failing mouse hearts than in healthy control hearts. Virus-mediated transfer of the portion of the Hdac4 gene encoding HDAC4-NT into the mouse myocardium protected the heart from remodeling and failure; this was associated with decreased expression of Nr4a1, which encodes a nuclear orphan receptor, and decreased NR4A1-dependent activation of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP). Conversely, exercise enhanced HDAC4-NT levels, and mice with a cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Hdac4 show reduced exercise capacity, which was characterized by cardiac fatigue and increased expression of Nr4a1. Mechanistically, we found that NR4A1 negatively regulated contractile function in a manner that depended on the HBP and the calcium sensor STIM1. Our work describes a new regulatory axis in which epigenetic regulation of a metabolic pathway affects calcium handling. Activation of this axis during intermittent physiological stress promotes cardiac function, whereas its impairment in sustained pathological cardiac stress leads to heart failure.

Transient receptor potential channels function as a coincidence signal detector mediating phosphatidylserine exposure.

Blood platelet aggregation must be tightly controlled to promote clotting at injury sites but avoid inappropriate occlusion of blood vessels. Thrombin, which cleaves and activates Gq-coupled protease-activated receptors, and collagen-related peptide, which activates the receptor glycoprotein VI, stimulate platelets to aggregate and form thrombi. Coincident activation by these two agonists synergizes, causing the exposure of phosphatidylserine on the cell surface, which is a marker of cell death in many cell types. Phosphatidylserine exposure is also essential to produce additional thrombin on platelet surfaces, which contributes to thrombosis. We found that activation of either thrombin receptors or glycoprotein VI alone produced a calcium signal that was largely dependent only on store-operated Ca(2+) entry. In contrast, experiments with platelets from knockout mice showed that the presence of both ligands activated nonselective cation channels of the transient receptor potential C (TRPC) family, TRPC3 and TRPC6. These channels principally allowed entry of Na(+), which coupled to reverse-mode Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchange to allow calcium influx and thereby contribute to Ca(2+) signaling and phosphatidylserine exposure. Thus, TRPC channels act as coincidence detectors to coordinate responses to multiple signals in cells, thereby indirectly mediating in platelets an increase in intracellular calcium concentrations and exposure of prothrombotic phosphatidylserine.

Moderate calcium channel dysfunction in adult mice with inducible cardiomyocyte-specific excision of the cacnb2 gene.

The major L-type voltage-gated calcium channels in heart consist of an α1C (Ca(V)1.2) subunit usually associated with an auxiliary ß subunit (Ca(V)ß2). In embryonic cardiomyocytes, both the complete and the cardiac myocyte-specific null mutant of Ca(V)ß2 resulted in reduction of L-type calcium currents by up to 75%, compromising heart function and causing defective remodeling of intra- and extra-embryonic blood vessels followed by embryonic death. Here we conditionally excised the Ca(V)ß2 gene (cacnb2) specifically in cardiac myocytes of adult mice (KO). Upon gene deletion, Ca(V)ß2 protein expression declined by >96% in isolated cardiac myocytes and by >74% in protein fractions from heart. These latter protein fractions include Ca(V)ß2 proteins expressed in cardiac fibroblasts. Surprisingly, mice did not show any obvious impairment, although cacnb2 excision was not compensated by expression of other Ca(V)ß proteins or changes of Ca(V)1.2 protein levels. Calcium currents were still dihydropyridine-sensitive, but current density at 0 mV was reduced by <29%. The voltage for half-maximal activation was slightly shifted to more depolarized potentials in KO cardiomyocytes when compared with control cells, but the difference was not significant. In summary, Ca(V)ß2 appears to be a much stronger modulator of L-type calcium currents in embryonic than in adult cardiomyocytes. Although essential for embryonic survival, Ca(V)ß2 down-regulation in cardiomyocytes is well tolerated by the adult mice.