scholarly journals Adrenergic tone benefits cardiac performance and warming tolerance in two teleost fishes that lack a coronary circulation

Author(s):  
Andreas Ekström ◽  
Erika Sundell ◽  
Daniel Morgenroth ◽  
Erik Sandblom

AbstractTolerance to acute environmental warming in fish is partly governed by the functional capacity of the heart to increase systemic oxygen delivery at high temperatures. However, cardiac function typically deteriorates at high temperatures, due to declining heart rate and an impaired capacity to maintain or increase cardiac stroke volume, which in turn has been attributed to a deterioration of the electrical conductivity of cardiac tissues and/or an impaired cardiac oxygen supply. While autonomic regulation of the heart may benefit cardiac function during warming by improving myocardial oxygenation, contractility and conductivity, the role of these processes for determining whole animal thermal tolerance is not clear. This is in part because interpretations of previous pharmacological in vivo experiments in salmonids are ambiguous and were confounded by potential compensatory increases in coronary oxygen delivery to the myocardium. Here, we tested the previously advanced hypothesis that cardiac autonomic control benefits heart function and acute warming tolerance in perch (Perca fluviatilis) and roach (Rutilus rutilus); two species that lack coronary arteries and rely entirely on luminal venous oxygen supplies for cardiac oxygenation. Pharmacological blockade of β-adrenergic tone lowered the upper temperature where heart rate started to decline in both species, marking the onset of cardiac failure, and reduced the critical thermal maximum (CTmax) in perch. Cholinergic (muscarinic) blockade had no effect on these thermal tolerance indices. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that adrenergic stimulation improves cardiac performance during acute warming, which, at least in perch, increases acute thermal tolerance.

2017 ◽  
Vol 312 (4) ◽  
pp. R549-R558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Ekström ◽  
Michael Axelsson ◽  
Albin Gräns ◽  
Jeroen Brijs ◽  
Erik Sandblom

Thermal tolerance in fish may be related to an oxygen limitation of cardiac function. While the hearts of some fish species receive oxygenated blood via a coronary circulation, the influence of this oxygen supply on thermal tolerance and cardiac performance during warming remain unexplored. Here, we analyzed the effect in vivo of acute warming on coronary blood flow in adult sexually mature rainbow trout ( Onchorhynchus mykiss) and the consequences of chronic coronary ligation on cardiac function and thermal tolerance in juvenile trout. Coronary blood flow at 10°C was higher in females than males (0.56 ± 0.08 vs. 0.30 ± 0.08 ml·min−1·g ventricle−1), and averaged 0.47 ± 0.07 ml·min−1·g ventricle−1 across sexes. Warming increased coronary flow in both sexes until 14°C, at which it peaked and plateaued at 0.78 ± 0.1 and 0.61 ± 0.1 ml·min−1·g ventricle−1 in females and males, respectively. Thus, the scope for increasing coronary flow was 101% in males, but only 39% in females. Coronary-ligated juvenile trout exhibited elevated heart rate across temperatures, reduced Arrhenius breakpoint temperature for heart rate (23.0 vs. 24.6°C), and reduced upper critical thermal maximum (25.3 vs. 26.3°C). To further analyze the effects of coronary flow restriction on cardiac rhythmicity, electrocardiogram characteristics were determined before and after coronary occlusion in anesthetized trout. Occlusion resulted in reduced R-wave amplitude and an elevated S-T segment, indicating myocardial ischemia, while heart rate was unaffected. This suggests that the tachycardia in ligated trout across temperatures in vivo was mainly to compensate for reduced cardiac contractility to maintain cardiac output. Moreover, our findings show that coronary flow increases with warming in a sex-specific manner. This may improve whole animal thermal tolerance, presumably by sustaining cardiac oxygenation and contractility at high temperatures.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
IM Gómez ◽  
MA Rodríguez ◽  
M Santalla ◽  
G Kassis ◽  
JE Colman Lerner ◽  
...  

AbstractMedical uses of marijuana have been recently approved in many countries, and after a long ban on research, there is despicable scientific evidence regarding its action and side effects. We investigated the effect of inhalation of vaporized marijuana on cardiac function in Drosophila melanogaster, a suitable genetic model for assessing cardiovascular function. Chronic exposure of adult flies to vaporized marijuana reduces heart rate, increments contractility and prolongs relaxation. These changes are manifested in the cardiomyocytes with no effect in calcium handling, and in the absence of the canonical cannabinoids receptors identified in mammals. Our results are the first evidence of the in vivo impact of phytocannabinoids in D. melanogaster and open new paths for genetic screenings using vaporized compounds, providing a simple and affordable platform prior to mammalian models.


2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J Traynham ◽  
Ancai Yuan ◽  
Erhe Gao ◽  
Walter Koch

In the next 35 years, the global population of individuals above 60 years of age will double to approximately 2 billion. In the aged population, cardiovascular diseases are known to occur at a higher prevalence ultimately leading to increased mortality. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been identified as vital regulators of cardiac function. GPCR kinases (GRKs) are important in cardiac GPCR regulation through desensitization of these receptors. GRK2 is highly expressed in the heart, and has been widely characterized due to its upregulation in heart failure. Studies from our lab have shown that elevated GRK2 levels in ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury result in a pro-death phenotype. Interestingly, cardio-protection can be inferred via S-nitrosylation of GRK2 at cysteine 340. Further, we have generated a knock-in GRK2 340S mouse, in which cysteine 340 was mutated to block dynamic GRK2 S-nitrosylation. GRK2 340S mice are more susceptible to I/R injury. Given that GRK2 340S mice are more susceptible to oxidative stress, and there is a nitroso-redox imbalance in senescence, it is possible that these mice are more likely to exhibit decreased cardiac performance as they age. Therefore, we hypothesize that with age GRK2 340S knockin mice will develop an overall worsened cardiac phenotype compared to control wild-type (WT) mice. To test this hypothesis, 340S and WT mice were aged for a year, and cardiac function was evaluated via echocardiography. Aged 340S mice exhibited significantly decreased ejection fraction and fraction shortening relative to aged WT controls. Prior to tissue harvesting, in-vivo hemodynamics was conducted via Millar catheterization. At baseline, aged 340S mice exhibited increased systolic blood pressure compared to aged WT mice. At the conclusion of this protocol, mice were sacrificed and heart weight (HW), body weight (BW), and tibia length (TL) measured to evaluate cardiac hypertrophy. Aged 340S mice exhibited significantly increased HW/BW and HW/TL ratios, indicative of cardiac hypertrophy, relative to aged WT controls. Taken together, these data suggest that with age, loss of the cardio protection inferred by S-nitrosylation of GRK2 at leads to decreased cardiac performance, and an overall worsened cardiac phenotype.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urszula Tyrankiewicz ◽  
Mariola Olkowicz ◽  
Piotr Berkowicz ◽  
Magdalena Jablonska ◽  
Ryszard T. Smolenski ◽  
...  

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition (ACE-I) and physical activity favorably modulate the ACE/ACE-2 balance. However, it is not clear whether physical activity and ACE-I could synergistically modulate ACE/ACE-2 balance in the course of heart failure (HF). Here, we studied the effects of combined spontaneous physical activity and ACE-I–based treatment on angiotensin (Ang) pattern and cardiac function in a mouse model of HF (Tgαq*44). Tgαq*44 mice with advanced HF (at the age of 12 months) were running spontaneously in a running wheel (exercise training group, ExT) and/or were treated with ACE inhibitor (ACE-I, perindopril, 10 mg/kg) for 2 months. Angiotensin profile was characterized by an LC-MS/MS-based method. The cardiac performance was assessed in vivo by MRI. Ang-(1–7)/Ang II ratio in both plasma and the aorta was significantly higher in the combined treatment group than the ACE-I group or ExT alone, suggesting the additive favorable effects on ACE-2/Ang-(1–7) and ACE/Ang II axes’ balance induced by a combination of ACE-I with ExT. The basal cardiac performance did not differ among the experimental groups of Tgαq*44 mice. We demonstrated additive changes in ACE/ACE-2 balance in both plasma and the aorta by spontaneous physical activity and ACE-I treatment in Tgαq*44 mice. However, these changes did not result in an improvement of failing heart function most likely because the disease was at the end-stage. Ang-(1–7)/Ang II balance represents a valuable biochemical end point for monitoring therapeutic intervention outcome in heart failure.


2014 ◽  
Vol 115 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yigang Wang

Objective: We sought to assess the cardiac protective effects after MI of (1) PC differentiated directly into cardiomyocytes (CM) and endothelial cells (EC) to the site of injury, or (2) paracrine factors released from PC. Methods: These concepts were evaluated by using iPSC-derived PC genetically modified to express the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (TK) under the control of cardiomyocyte (NCX1) or endothelial cell (VE-cadherin) specific promoters. PC expressing the TK permitted ablation at the first week or the third week by iv ganciclovir (GCV). If GCV applied at the first week, but not at the third week, altered cardiac function, we would conclude that myocardial contractile recovery depends on CM and EC-derived from iPSC. If the beneficial effects on cardiac function persisted after GCV was given at the third week, we would surmise that the PC effect was via by a paracrine action. MI created by ligation of LAD, the cell patch with PC was applied to the scarred myocardium. Rats were treated with GCV at 1 or 3 weeks to ablate implanted PC. Echocardiography, vessel density, and histological analysis were used to obtain endpoints for this study. Result: In vivo : The levels of IGF-1α and VEGF released from ischemic tissues were significant higher in the cell patch group. Heart function, infarction size, and vessel density were significantly improved after cell patch treatment. However, this beneficial effect on cardiac function was completely abolished in the group given GCV at week 1, but only partially abolished in the group given GCV at week 3 compared to the untreated cell patch group. Conclusions: Taken together, these data support our conclusion that iPSC-derived cardiovascular lineages (CM and EC) contribute directly to an improved cardiac performance and attenuated remodeling, and that paracrine factors also play a supporting role in the restoration of heart function after MI.


2000 ◽  
Vol 278 (3) ◽  
pp. H971-H981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Gyurko ◽  
Peter Kuhlencordt ◽  
Mark C. Fishman ◽  
Paul L. Huang

To study the role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in cardiac function, we compared eNOS expression, contractility, and relaxation in the left ventricles of wild-type and eNOS-deficient mice. eNOS immunostaining is localized to the macro- and microvascular endothelium throughout the myocardium in wild-type mice and is absent in eNOS−/− mice. Whereas blood pressure is elevated in eNOS−/− mice, baseline cardiac contractility (dP/d t max) is similar in wild-type and eNOS−/− mice (9,673 ± 2,447 and 9,928 ± 1,566 mmHg/s, respectively). The β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol (Iso) at doses of ≥1 ng causes enhanced increases in dP/d t max in eNOS−/− mice compared with wild-type controls in vivo ( P < 0.01) as well as in Langendorff isolated heart preparations ( P < 0.02). β-Adrenergic receptor binding (Bmax) is not significantly different in the two groups of animals (Bmax = 41.4 ± 9.4 and 36.1 ± 5.1 fmol/mg for wild-type and eNOS−/−). Iso-stimulated ventricular relaxation is also enhanced in the eNOS−/− mice, as measured by dP/d t min in the isolated heart. However, baseline ventricular relaxation is normal in eNOS−/− mice (τ = 5.2 ± 1.0 and 5.6 ± 1.5 ms for wild-type and eNOS−/−, respectively), whereas it is impaired in wild-type mice after NOS inhibition (τ = 8.3 ± 2.4 ms). cGMP levels in the left ventricle are unaffected by eNOS gene deletion (wild-type: 3.1 ± 0.8 pmol/mg, eNOS−/−: 3.1 ± 0.6 pmol/mg), leading us to examine the level of another physiological regulator of cGMP. Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) expression is markedly upregulated in the eNOS−/− mice, and exogenous ANP restores ventricular relaxation in wild-type mice treated with NOS inhibitors. These results suggest that eNOS attenuates both inotropic and lusitropic responses to β-adrenergic stimulation, and it also appears to regulate baseline ventricular relaxation in conjunction with ANP.


1999 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 812-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiminori Kato ◽  
Donald C. Chapman ◽  
Heinz Rupp ◽  
Anton Lukas ◽  
Naranjan S. Dhalla

To examine the role of changes in myocardial metabolism in cardiac dysfunction in diabetes mellitus, rats were injected with streptozotocin (65 mg/kg body wt) to induce diabetes and were treated 2 wk later with the carnitine palmitoyltransferase inhibitor (carnitine palmitoyltransferase I) etomoxir (8 mg/kg body wt) for 4 wk. Untreated diabetic rats exhibited a reduction in heart rate, left ventricular systolic pressure, and positive and negative rate of pressure development and an increase in end-diastolic pressure. The sarcolemmal Na+-K+-ATPase activity was depressed and was associated with a decrease in maximal density of binding sites (Bmax) value for high-affinity sites for [3H]ouabain, whereas Bmax for low-affinity sites was unaffected. Treatment of diabetic animals with etomoxir partially reversed the depressed cardiac function with the exception of heart rate. The high serum triglyceride and free fatty acid levels were reduced, whereas the levels of glucose, insulin, and 3,3′,-5-triiodo-l-thyronine were not affected by etomoxir in diabetic animals. The activity of Na+-K+-ATPase expressed per gram heart weight, but not per milligram sarcolemmal protein, was increased by etomoxir in diabetic animals. Furthermore, Bmax (per g heart wt) for both low-affinity and high-affinity binding sites in control and diabetic animals was increased by etomoxir treatment. Etomoxir treatment also increased the depressed left ventricular weight of diabetic rats and appeared to increase the density of the sarcolemma and transverse tubular system to normalize Na+-K+-ATPase activity. Therefore, a shift in myocardial substrate utilization may represent an important signal for improving the depressed cardiac function and Na+-K+-ATPase activity in diabetic rat hearts with impaired glucose utilization.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna H. Andreassen ◽  
Petter Hall ◽  
Pouya Khatibzadeh ◽  
Fredrik Jutfelt ◽  
Florence Kermen

ABSTRACTUnderstanding animal thermal tolerance is crucial to predict how animals will respond to increasingly warmer temperatures, and to mitigate the impact of the climate change on species survival. Yet, the physiological mechanisms underlying animal thermal tolerance are largely unknown. In this study, we developed a method for measuring upper thermal limit (CTmax) in larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) and found that it occurs at similar temperatures as in adult zebrafish. We discovered that CTmax precedes a transient, heat-induced brain-wide depolarization during heat ramping. By monitoring heart rate, we established that cardiac function is sub-optimal during the period where CTmax and brain depolarization occur. In addition, we found that oxygen availability affects both locomotor neural activity and CTmax during a heat stress. The findings of this study suggest that neural impairment due to limited oxygen availability at high temperatures can cause CTmax in zebrafish.HighlightsLarval zebrafish reach their critical thermal limit (CTmax) at similar temperature as adult zebrafishAcute heat stress causes a brain-wide spreading depolarization near the upper thermal limitCTmax precedes brain-wide depolarizationHeart rate declines at high temperatures but is maintained during CTmax and brain depolarizationNeural activity is impaired prior to CTmax and brain-wide depolarizationOxygen availability in the water affects both CTmax and neural activity


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacopo Agrimi ◽  
Danilo Menicucci ◽  
Marco Laurino ◽  
Chelsea Mackey ◽  
Laila Hasnain ◽  
...  

Brain modulation of myocardial activity via the autonomic nervous system is increasingly well characterized. Conversely, how primary alterations in cardiac function, such as an intrinsic increase in heart rate or contractility, reverberate on brain signaling/adaptive behaviors - in a bottom-up modality - remains largely unclear. Mice with cardiac-selective overexpression of adenylyl cyclase type 8 (TGAC8) display increased heart rate and reduced heart rhythm complexity associated with a nearly abolished response to external sympathetic inputs. Here, we tested whether chronically elevated intrinsic cardiac performance alters the heart-brain informational flow, affecting brain signaling and, thus, behavior. To this end, we employed dual lead telemetry for simultaneous recording of EEG and EKG time series in awake, freely behaving TGAC8 mice and wild-type (WT) littermates. We recorded EEG and EKG signals, while monitoring mouse behavior with established tests. Using heart rate variability (HRV) in vivo and isolated atria response to sympathomimetic agents, we first confirmed that the TGAC8 murine heart evades autonomic control. The EEG analysis revealed a substantial drop in theta-2 (4-7 Hz) activity in these transgenic mice. Next, we traced the informational flow between EKG and EEG in the theta-2 frequency band via the Granger causality statistical approach and we found a substantial decrement in the extent of heart/brain bidirectional communication. Finally, TGAC8 mice displayed heightened locomotor activity in terms of behavior, with higher total time mobile, distance traveled, and movement speed while freezing behavior was reduced. Increased locomotion correlated negatively with theta-2 waves count and amplitude. Our study shows that cardiac-born persistent sympathetic stress disrupts the information flow between the heart and brain while influencing central physiological patterns, such as theta activity that controls locomotion. Thus, cardiac-initiated disorders, such as persistently elevated cardiac performance that escapes autonomic control, are penetrant enough to alter brain functions and, thus, primary adaptive behavioral responses.


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