Altered Expression of Cardiac Myosin Isozymes Associated with the Malignant Hyperthermia Genotype in Swine

Background Anesthetic-induced malignant hyperthermia (MH) in humans and pigs is associated with dramatic alterations in cardiac function. However, it remains controversial as to whether MH-associated cardiac symptoms represent a primary difference of myocardium or a secondary alteration consequent to increases in the hyperthermic stress. Here the authors describe changes in myosin isoform expression in the hearts of MH-susceptible pigs with and without prior exposure to halothane. Methods One group of pigs was diagnosed as MH susceptible by halothane challenge and Hal-1843 nucleotide examination. To determine if there is an effect of halothane exposure, another group of pigs was diagnosed by simple MH genotyping without exposure to halothane. After diagnosis and genotyping, animals with and without exposure to halothane were killed to study cardiac myosin isozyme distributions, cardiac myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity, and the steepness of the Ca2+-ATPase activity relation in the hearts of normal and susceptible pigs. The altered myosin isozyme expression was analyzed by pyrophosphate gel electrophoresis. Results Malignant hyperthermia-susceptible animals with the prior halothane challenge showed an increased V1 myosin (-44%) expression, increased myofibrillar ATPase activity (-25%) and increased steepness of the Ca2+-ATPase activity relation. Without exposure to halothane, no change of myofibrillar ATPase activity was found in the hearts of different genotyped pigs, but there was a small increase in expression of V1 myosin (-5%) in the mutant (TT). Conclusions The potential modulation of V1 myosin expression occurs in the hearts of MH-susceptible pigs. The added stress by halothane challenge would further cause a V3 --> V1 shift, which may be attributed to the long-term effects of hyperthermic stress.

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Isoform-independent heart rate-related variation in cardiac myofibrillar Ca(2+)-activated Mg(2+)-ATPase activity

AJP Cell Physiology ◽

10.1152/ajpcell.1996.270.5.c1271 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 270 (5) ◽

pp. C1271-C1276 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

W. Rouslin ◽

C. W. Broge

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Beef Cattle ◽

Atpase Activity ◽

Specific Activity ◽

Myosin Atpase ◽

Curvilinear Relationship ◽

Mitochondrial Atpase ◽

Myofibrillar Atpase ◽

Cardiac Myosin ◽

Myofibrillar Atpase Activity

In the present study, we compared the activities of the cardiac myofibrillar Ca(2+)-activated Mg(2+)-ATPase and the content of cardiac muscle mitochondrial ATPase inhibitor protein (IF1) of several mammalian species covering broad ranges of body mass and heart rate, i.e., from beef cattle to mouse. The cardiac myofibrillar ATPase from each species was assayed over a range of pCa values at pH 7.4. While the cardiac myofibrillar ATPase from all species examined showed essentially identical Ca2+ concentration dependencies with the ATPase in each species activating steeply between pCa 6.5 and 5.5, the maximal ATPase specific activity reached varied considerably from species to species, and this variation was largely independent of the predominant cardiac myosin ATPase isoform present. Thus, while adult beef cattle, pig, dog, and rabbit all contain predominantly the slow cardiac myosin ATPase isoform the cardiac myofibrillar ATPase specific activities of these four species varied over approximately a fourfold range. Moreover, there was a fairly smooth curvilinear relationship between maximum Ca(2+)-activated myofibrillar ATPase activity and median conscious heart rate for the slow cardiac myosin ATPase-possessing species examined. This smooth continuum also extended to include two species possessing the fast cardiac myosin ATPase isoform, rat and mouse. This relationship between myofibrillar ATPase activity and heart rate that appears to be applicable to a broad range of species suggests that the myofibrillar ATPase is specifically modeled or fine-tuned to the kinetic (heart rate) demand of each species and, within slow and fast heart rate ranges, is essentially independent of myosin ATPase isoform per se. Only hearts containing predominantly the slow myosin ATPase isoform contained functional levels of IF1. Finally, while it has been reported that the ratio of myosin Ca(2+)-ATPase to actomyosin Mg(2+)-ATPase activity is a good index of the percent of the fast myosin ATPase in rabbit myofibrillar preparations, we found that this relationship may be applicable to only some species.

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