Comprehensive analyses of the inotropic compound omecamtiv mecarbil in rat and human cardiac preparations

Author(s):  
Alexandra Rhoden ◽  
Thomas Schulze ◽  
Niels Pietsch ◽  
Torsten Christ ◽  
Arne Hansen ◽  
...  

Omecamtiv mecarbil (OM), a myosin activator, was reported to induce complex concentration- and species-dependent effects on contractile function and clinical studies indicated a low therapeutic index with diastolic dysfunction at concentrations above 1 µM. To further characterize effects of OM in a human context and under different preload conditions, we constructed a setup that allows isometric contractility analyses of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived engineered heart tissues (EHTs). The results were compared to effects of OM on the very same EHTs measured under auxotonic conditions. OM induced a sustained, concentration-dependent increase in time-to-peak under all conditions (maximally 2-3 fold). Peak force, in contrast, was increased by OM only in human, but not rat EHTs and only under isometric conditions, varied between hiPSC lines and showed a biphasic concentration-dependency with maximal effects at 1 µM. Relaxation time tended to fall under auxotonic and strongly increase under isometric conditions, again with biphasic concentration-dependency. Diastolic tension concentration-dependently increased under all conditions. The latter was reduced by an inhibitor of the mitochondrial sodium calcium exchanger (CGP-37157). OM induced increases in mitochondrial oxidation in isolated cardiomyocytes, indicating that OM, an inotrope that does not increase intracellular and mitochondrial Ca2+, can induce mismatch between an increase in ATP and ROS production and unstimulated mitochondrial redox capacity. Taken together, we developed a novel setup well suitable for isometric measurements of EHTs. The effects of OM on contractility and diastolic tension are complex with concentration-, time-, species- and loading-dependent differences. Effects on mitochondrial function require further studies.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (14) ◽  
pp. 3061
Author(s):  
Robert N. Hawthorne ◽  
Adriana Blazeski ◽  
Justin Lowenthal ◽  
Suraj Kannan ◽  
Roald Teuben ◽  
...  

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a progressive heart condition which causes fibro-fatty myocardial scarring, ventricular arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death. Most cases of ARVC can be linked to pathogenic mutations in the cardiac desmosome, but the pathophysiology is not well understood, particularly in early phases when arrhythmias can develop prior to structural changes. Here, we created a novel human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte (hiPSC-CM) model of ARVC from a patient with a c.2358delA variant in desmoglein-2 (DSG2). These DSG2-mutant (DSG2Mut) hiPSC-CMs were compared against two wildtype hiPSC-CM lines via immunostaining, RT-qPCR, Western blot, RNA-Seq, cytokine expression and optical mapping. Mutant cells expressed reduced DSG2 mRNA and had altered localization of desmoglein-2 protein alongside thinner, more disorganized myofibrils. No major changes in other desmosomal proteins were noted. There was increased pro-inflammatory cytokine expression that may be linked to canonical and non-canonical NFκB signaling. Action potentials in DSG2Mut CMs were shorter with increased upstroke heterogeneity, while time-to-peak calcium and calcium decay rate were reduced. These were accompanied by changes in ion channel and calcium handling gene expression. Lastly, suppressing DSG2 in control lines via siRNA allowed partial recapitulation of electrical anomalies noted in DSG2Mut cells. In conclusion, the aberrant cytoskeletal organization, cytokine expression, and electrophysiology found DSG2Mut hiPSC-CMs could underlie early mechanisms of disease manifestation in ARVC patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 154 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Badone ◽  
Carlotta Ronchi ◽  
Francesco Lodola ◽  
Claudia Maniezzi ◽  
Marem Eskandr ◽  
...  

Phospholamban (PLN) is the natural inhibitor of the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA2a). Heterozygous PLN-R14del mutation is associated with an arrhythmogenic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), whose pathogenesis has been attributed to SERCA2a “superinhibition.” The aim of the project is to test in human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) harvested from a PLN-R14del carrier whether (1) Ca2+ dynamics and protein localization were compatible with SERCA2a superinhibition and (2) functional abnormalities could be reverted by pharmacological SERCA2a activation with PST3093. Ca2+ transients (CaT) were recorded at 36°C in hiPSC-CMs clusters during field stimulation. SERCA2a and PLN were immunolabeled in single hiPSC-CMs. Mutant (MUT) preparations were compared with isogenic WT ones obtained by mutation reversal. WT and MUT differed for the following properties: (1) CaT time to peak (tpeak) and half-time of CaT decay were shorter in MUT, (2) several CaT profiles were identified in WT, whereas “hyperdynamic” ones largely prevailed in MUT, (3) whereas tpeak rate-dependently declined in WT, it was shorter and rate independent in MUT, and (4) diastolic Ca2+ rate-dependently accumulated in WT, but not in MUT. When applied to WT, PST3093 changed all of the above properties to resemble those of MUT; when applied to MUT, PST3093 had no effect. Preferential perinuclear SERCA2a-PLN localization was lost in MUT hiPSC-CMs. In conclusion, functional data converge to argue for PLN-R14del incompetence in inhibiting SERCA2a in the tested case, thus weakening the rationale for therapeutic SERCA2a activation. Mechanisms alternative to SERCA2a superinhibition should be considered in the pathogenesis of DCM, including dysregulation of Ca2+-dependent transcription.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (603) ◽  
pp. eabd1817
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Bliley ◽  
Mathilde C. S. C. Vermeer ◽  
Rebecca M. Duffy ◽  
Ivan Batalov ◽  
Duco Kramer ◽  
...  

The role that mechanical forces play in shaping the structure and function of the heart is critical to understanding heart formation and the etiology of disease but is challenging to study in patients. Engineered heart tissues (EHTs) incorporating human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)–derived cardiomyocytes have the potential to provide insight into these adaptive and maladaptive changes. However, most EHT systems cannot model both preload (stretch during chamber filling) and afterload (pressure the heart must work against to eject blood). Here, we have developed a new dynamic EHT (dyn-EHT) model that enables us to tune preload and have unconstrained contractile shortening of >10%. To do this, three-dimensional (3D) EHTs were integrated with an elastic polydimethylsiloxane strip providing mechanical preload and afterload in addition to enabling contractile force measurements based on strip bending. Our results demonstrated that dynamic loading improves the function of wild-type EHTs on the basis of the magnitude of the applied force, leading to improved alignment, conduction velocity, and contractility. For disease modeling, we used hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes from a patient with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy due to mutations in the desmoplakin gene. We demonstrated that manifestation of this desmosome-linked disease state required dyn-EHT conditioning and that it could not be induced using 2D or standard 3D EHT approaches. Thus, a dynamic loading strategy is necessary to provoke the disease phenotype of diastolic lengthening, reduction of desmosome counts, and reduced contractility, which are related to primary end points of clinical disease, such as chamber thinning and reduced cardiac output.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Ufford ◽  
Sabrina Friedline ◽  
Zhaowen Tong ◽  
Vi T. Tang ◽  
Amani S. Dobbs ◽  
...  

SummaryDisease modeling and pharmaceutical testing using cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC-CMs) requires accurate assessment of contractile function. Micropatterning iPSC-CMs on elastic substrates controls cell shape and alignment to enable contractile studies, but the determinants of intrinsic variability in this system have been incompletely characterized. The primary objective of this study was to determine the impact of myofibrillar structure on contractile function in iPSC-CMs. After labeling micropatterned iPSC-CMs with a cell permeant F-actin dye, we imaged both myofibrillar structure and contractile function. Using automated myofibrillar image analysis, we demonstrate that myofibrillar abundance is widely variable among individual iPSC-CMs and strongly correlates with contractile function. This variability is not reduced by subcloning from single iPSCs to reduce genetic heterogeneity, persists with two different iPSC-CM purification methods, and similarly is present for embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. This analysis provides compelling evidence that myofibrillar structure should be quantified and controlled for in studies investigating contractile function in iPSC-CMs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (24) ◽  
pp. 13500
Author(s):  
Beatrice Badone ◽  
Carlotta Ronchi ◽  
Francesco Lodola ◽  
Anika E. Knaust ◽  
Arne Hansen ◽  
...  

Phospholamban (PLN) is the natural inhibitor of the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATP-ase (SERCA2a). Heterozygous PLN p.Arg14del mutation is associated with an arrhythmogenic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), whose pathogenesis has been attributed to SERCA2a “superinhibition”. Aim: To test in cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) derived from a PLN p.Arg14del carrier whether (1) Ca2+ dynamics and protein localization were compatible with SERCA2a superinhibition and (2) if functional abnormalities could be reverted by pharmacological SERCA2a activation (PST3093). Methods: Ca2+ transients (CaT) were recorded at 36 °C in hiPSC-CMs clusters during field stimulation. SERCA2a and PLN where immunolabeled in single hiPSC-CMs. Mutant preparations (MUT) were compared to isogenic wild-type ones (WT), obtained by mutation reversal. Results: WT and MUT differed for the following properties: (1) CaT time to peak (tpeak) and half-time of CaT decay were shorter in MUT; (2) several CaT profiles were identified in WT, “hyperdynamic” ones largely prevailed in MUT; (3) whereas tpeak rate-dependently declined in WT, it was shorter and rate-independent in MUT; (4) diastolic Ca2+ rate-dependently accumulated in WT, but not in MUT. When applied to WT, PST3093 turned all the above properties to resemble those of MUT; when applied to MUT, PST3093 had a smaller or negligible effect. Preferential perinuclear SERCA2a-PLN localization was lost in MUT hiPSC-CMs. Conclusions: Functional data converge to argue for PLN p.Arg14del incompetence in inhibiting SERCA2a in the tested case, thus weakening the rationale for therapeutic SERCA2a activation. Mechanisms alternative to SERCA2a superinhibition should be considered in the pathogenesis of DCM, possibly including dysregulation of Ca2+-dependent transcription.


2019 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Keung Lam ◽  
Lei Tian ◽  
Nadjet Belbachir ◽  
Alexa Wnorowski ◽  
Rajani Shrestha ◽  
...  

Rationale: Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are an important class of drugs in managing cardiovascular diseases. Patients usually rely on these medications for the remainder of their lives after diagnosis. Although the acute pharmacological actions of CCBs in the hearts are well-defined, little is known about the drug-specific effects on human cardiomyocyte transcriptomes and physiological alterations after long-term exposure. Objective: This study aimed to simulate chronic CCB treatment and to examine both the functional and transcriptomic changes in human cardiomyocytes. Methods and Results: We differentiated cardiomyocytes and generated engineered heart tissues from 3 human induced pluripotent stem cell lines and exposed them to 4 different CCBs—nifedipine, amlodipine, diltiazem, and verapamil—at their physiological serum concentrations for 2 weeks. Without inducing cell death and damage to myofilament structure, CCBs elicited line-specific inhibition on calcium kinetics and contractility. While all 4 CCBs exerted similar inhibition on calcium kinetics, verapamil applied the strongest inhibition on cardiomyocyte contractile function. By profiling cardiomyocyte transcriptome after CCB treatment, we identified little overlap in their transcriptome signatures. Verapamil is the only inhibitor that reduced the expression of contraction-related genes, such as MYH (myosin heavy chain) and troponin I, consistent with its depressive effects on contractile function. The reduction of these contraction-related genes may also explain the responsiveness of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy to verapamil in managing left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Conclusions: This is the first study to identify the transcriptome signatures of different CCBs in human cardiomyocytes. The distinct gene expression patterns suggest that although the 4 inhibitors act on the same target, they may have distinct effects on normal cardiac cell physiology.


Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 130 (suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haodi Wu ◽  
Jaecheol Lee ◽  
Mingxia Gu ◽  
Feng Lan ◽  
Jared Churko ◽  
...  

Introduction: Familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) has been modeled by human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs). However, the mechanisms of compromised signaling transduction and contractile function in DCM iPSC-CMs are still not well understood. Methods and Results: Beating iPSC-CMs were generated from healthy individuals and DCM patients. RNA-seq and real-time PCR showed strict regulation of the main beta-adrenergic signaling proteins in iPSC-CMs during maturation. Confocal imaging of spontaneous calcium activity and hydrogel-based traction force microscopy (TFM) technology demonstrated beta-adrenergic stimulation induced both inotropic and chronotropic regulation in the contractility of iPSC-CMs. Following extended in vitro maturation of iPSC-CMs, we observed a transition in the beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR) subtype dependence from beta-2 AR dominance at early stage (day 30) to beta-1/2 AR co-existence at late stage (day 60). Comparison of the beta-adrenergic responsiveness between iPSC-CMs from DCM patients and their familial controls showed compromised beta-adrenergic signaling in DCM cells. Microarray data and expression profiling indicated up-regulated phosphodiesterases (PDE) 2A, 3A and 5A in DCM iPSC-CMs, which impaired cAMP generation and blunted the beta-adrenergic response. By blocking PDE2A, 3A or 5A, beta-adrenergic signaling reactivity and contractile function in DCM iPSC-CMs were both greatly improved. To further elucidate underlying mechanism of PDE regulation, we conducted chromatin immunoprecipitation (CHIP) assays, which showed significant up-regulation of activation histone marker and down-regulation of repressive histone marker in the PDE promoters during maturation process of DCM iPSC-CMs, which closely recapitulated the epigenetic modulation in the ventricle tissues harvested from DCM patients. Conclusions: Patient-specific DCM iPSC-CMs recapitulated impaired beta-adrenergic responsiveness and contractility in diseased heart. Studies on iPSC-CM model revealed a novel epigenetic mechanism that underlies PDE subtype specific regulation and signaling deficiency in DCM pathogenesis, which may serve as a new therapeutic target in the future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 121 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor J Humphrey ◽  
Manuel M Mazo ◽  
Nadav Amdursky ◽  
Nicholas S Peters ◽  
Molly M Stevens ◽  
...  

Tissue engineering provides a promising method of introducing functional cardiomyocytes (CMs) to damaged myocardium after myocardial infarction; however, finding a biocompatible construct with the chemical and mechanical properties capable of supporting CM function is challenging. Serum albumin hydrogels are novel autogenic scaffolds with elastic properties that can be tailored to mimic the stiffness of native adult myocardium. We assessed the hypothesis that culturing immature CMs on these serum albumin hydrogels would affect CM gene expression and calcium handling. Neonatal cardiomyocyte (NRVM) viability was maintained for at least 14 days on the hydrogels, with clear sarcomeric striations. Cardiac gene expression was quantified using RT-qPCR and demonstrated an up regulation in many genes of cells cultured on hydrogels compared to glass (e.g. relative expression (log 2-ΔΔCt) of ryanodine receptor 2: glass= -2.3±0.5, hydrogel= -0.3±0.1,p<0.01; connexin 43:glass= -1.7±0.5, hydrogel= 0.3±0.1,p<0.01,n=4-6). Compared to glass, NRVMs on hydrogels have an increased time to peak of the calcium transients measured using Fluo-4AM and field stimulated at 1 Hz (tp glass=38±3 ms, tp hydrogel= 54±2 ms, p<0.01,n=4-6). Compared to glass the hydrogels also have a reduced time 50% decay (t50 glass=108±13 ms, t50 hydrogel=78±6 ms, p<0.05,n=4-6) and 80% decay (t80 glass=217±19 ms, t80 hydrogel= 152±10 ms,p<0.05,n=4-6). Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) were cultured on the hydrogels for up to 28 days. Calcium handling was faster in the iPSC-CMs cultured on the hydrogels in comparison to glass with a reduced time to peak (tp glass=281±43 ms, tp hydrogel= 186±8 ms, p<0.05, n=4) and time to 50% decay (t50 glass=269±15 ms, t50 hydrogel=204±10 ms,p<0.01,n=4) and 90% decay (t90 glass=535±33 ms, t90 hydrogel=397±19 ms, p<0.01,n=4). The serum albumin hydrogels are compatible with NRVM and iPSC-CM culture for at least 28 days. We demonstrate that the serum albumin hydrogels have significant effects on CM calcium cycling and have the potential for use in myocardial repair. Further study is required to determine the mechanisms involved in calcium handling alterations and then assess this engineered patch in vivo for cardiac repair.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Bliley ◽  
Mathilde C.S.C Vermeer ◽  
Rebecca M. Duffy ◽  
Ivan Batalov ◽  
Duco Kramer ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe role mechanical forces play in shaping the structure and function of the heart is critical to understanding heart formation and the etiology of disease but is challenging to study in patients. Engineered heart tissues (EHTs) incorporating human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes have the potential to provide insight into these adaptive and maladaptive changes in the heart. However, most EHT systems are unable to model both preload (stretch during chamber filling) and afterload (pressure the heart must work against to eject blood). Here, we have developed a new dynamic EHT (dyn-EHT) model that enables us to tune preload and have unconstrained fractional shortening of >10%. To do this, 3D EHTs are integrated with an elastic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) strip that provides mechanical pre- and afterload to the tissue in addition to enabling contractile force measurements based on strip bending. Our results demonstrate in wild-type EHTs that dynamic loading is beneficial based on the magnitude of the forces, leading to improved alignment, conduction velocity, and contractility. For disease modeling, we use hiPSC–derived cardiomyocytes from a patient with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) due to mutations in desmoplakin. We demonstrate that manifestation of this desmosome-linked disease state requires the dyn-EHT conditioning and that it cannot be induced using 2D or standard 3D EHT approaches. Thus, dynamic loading strategy is necessary to provoke a disease phenotype (diastolic lengthening, reduction of desmosome counts, and reduced contractility), which are akin to primary endpoints of clinical disease, such as chamber thinning and reduced cardiac output.Single Sentence SummaryDevelopment of a dynamic mechanical loading platform to improve contractile function of engineered heart tissues and study cardiac disease progression.


2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tromondae K Feaster ◽  
Charles H Williams ◽  
Adrian G Cadar ◽  
Young W Chun ◽  
Lili Wang ◽  
...  

Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have great potential as tools for human heart disease modeling and drug discovery. However, their contractile properties have not been routinely evaluated; as current methods are not accessible for most laboratories. We sought to develop a more efficient method to evaluate hiPSC-CM mechanical properties, at the single cell level. Individual hiPSC-CMs were cultured on a hydrogel based platform, termed the “hydrogel mattress,” and their cellular contractile properties evaluated using video-based edge detection. We found that hiPSC-CMs maintained on the mattress reproducibly exhibited robust cell shortening, in dramatic contrast to hiPSC-CMs maintained in a standard manner. We further found that contraction and peak cell shortening amplitude of hiPSC-CMs on mattress was comparable to that of freshly isolated adult ventricular mouse CM. Importantly, hiPSC-CMs maintained on the mattress exhibited several characteristics of a native CM, in terms of myocyte elongation, calcium handling and pharmacological response. Finally, using this platform, we could calculate the traction force generated by individual CMs. In summary, the Hydrogel mattress platform is a simple and reliable in vitro platform that not only enables the quantification of contractile performance of isolated hiPSC-CMs, but also enhances CM maturation. This flexible platform can be extended to in vitro disease modeling, drug discovery and cardiotoxicity testing.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document