DAF-2c signaling promotes taste avoidance after starvation in Caenorhabditis elegans by controlling distinct phospholipase C isozymes

Previously, we reported that DAF-2c, an axonal insulin receptor isoform in Caenorhabditis elegans, acts in the ASER gustatory neuron to regulate taste avoidance learning, a process in which worms learn to avoid salt concentrations experienced during starvation. Here, we show that secretion of INS-1, an insulin-like peptide, after starvation conditioning is sufficient to drive taste avoidance via DAF-2c signaling. Starvation conditioning enhances the salt-triggered activity of AIA neurons, the main sites of INS-1 release, which potentially promotes feedback signaling to ASER to maintain DAF-2c activity during taste avoidance. Genetic studies suggest that DAF-2c–Akt signaling promotes high-salt avoidance via a decrease in PLCβ activity. On the other hand, the DAF-2c pathway promotes low-salt avoidance via PLCε and putative Akt phosphorylation sites on PLCε are essential for taste avoidance. Our findings imply that animals disperse from the location at which they experience starvation by controlling distinct PLC isozymes via DAF-2c.

Neural Processes of Psychological Stress and Relaxation Predict the Future Evolution of Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an essential complementary parameter in the assessment of disease burden and treatment outcome in multiple sclerosis (MS) and can be affected by neuropsychiatric symptoms, which in turn are sensitive to psychological stress. However, until now, the impact of neurobiological stress and relaxation on HRQoL in MS has not been investigated. We thus evaluated whether the activity of neural networks triggered by mild psychological stress (elicited in an fMRI task comprising mental arithmetic with feedback) or by stress termination (i.e., relaxation) at baseline (T0) predicts HRQoL variations occurring between T0 and a follow-up visit (T1) in 28 patients using a robust regression and permutation testing. The median delay between T0 and T1 was 902 (range: 363–1,169) days. We assessed HRQoL based on the Hamburg Quality of Life Questionnaire in MS (HAQUAMS) and accounted for the impact of established HRQoL predictors and the cognitive performance of the participants. Relaxation-triggered activity of a widespread neural network predicted future variations in overall HRQoL (t = 3.68, pfamily−wise error [FWE]-corrected = 0.008). Complementary analyses showed that relaxation-triggered activity of the same network at baseline was associated with variations in the HAQUAMS mood subscale on an αFWE = 0.1 level (t = 3.37, pFWE = 0.087). Finally, stress-induced activity of a prefronto-limbic network predicted future variations in the HAQUAMS lower limb mobility subscale (t = −3.62, pFWE = 0.020). Functional neural network measures of psychological stress and relaxation contain prognostic information for future HRQoL evolution in MS independent of clinical predictors.

Diagnosis and Management of Complex Reentrant Arrhythmias Involving the His-Purkinje System

The His-Purkinje system is a network of bundles and fibres comprised of specialised cells that allow for coordinated, synchronous activation of the ventricles. Although the histology and physiology of the His-Purkinje system have been studied for more than a century, its role in ventricular arrhythmias has recently been discovered with the ongoing elucidation of the mechanisms leading to both benign and life-threatening arrhythmias. Studies of Purkinje-cell electrophysiology show multiple mechanisms responsible for ventricular arrhythmias, including enhanced automaticity, triggered activity and reentry. The variation in functional properties of Purkinje cells in different areas of the His-Purkinje system underlie the propensity for reentry within Purkinje fibres in structurally normal and abnormal hearts. Catheter ablation is an effective therapy in nearly all forms of reentrant arrhythmias involving Purkinje tissue. However, identifying those at risk of developing fascicular arrhythmias is not yet possible. Future research is needed to understand the precise molecular and functional changes resulting in these arrhythmias.

Constitutively Activating GNAS Somatic Mutation in Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Tachycardia

Background: The cellular mechanism of focal, idiopathic right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) tachycardia is thought to be due to cAMP-mediated triggered activity. A potential molecular mechanism has not yet been determined. We identified and characterized a novel missense somatic mutation in the gene (GNAS) encoding the G s α (stimulatory G protein alpha-subunit) from a patient with RVOT tachycardia that is proposed to be the etiology of the clinical tachycardia. Methods: Percutaneous endomyocardial biopsies were obtained from multiple sites in a patient with nonexertional, repetitive monomorphic RVOT tachycardia. Sequencing of extracted genomic DNA identified a G s α W234R variant only at the site of tachycardia origin. Functional studies using in vitro transfection with S49 cyc− murine lymphoma cells and measurement of cyclic AMP levels were performed. A trypsin protection assay assessed GTP binding kinetics and structural modeling predicted the impact of the mutation on protein-protein interactions. Whole-cell patch clamp experiments of transfected CHO cells assessed the downstream effects of the mutation. Results: In vitro studies of the GNAS mutation (W234R) demonstrated basal levels of cAMP ≈16-fold higher than wild-type cells, consistent with constitutive stimulation of G s α. Mutant G s α was partially protected from proteolysis after incubation with GTP, indicating diminished GTPase activity and reduced GTP hydrolysis as the mechanism for increased basal intracellular cAMP levels. Transfected mutant CHO cells increased unstimulated mean peak L-type calcium channel current density by ≈50% and in silico modeling demonstrated spontaneous delayed afterdepolarizations and triggered activity. Conclusions: We identified a novel somatic mutation in GNAS associated with RVOT tachycardia. The mutation results in constitutive activation of G s α, impairs GTP hydrolysis, and elevates basal cAMP levels, leading to enhanced L-type calcium current and triggered activity. These findings confirm that RVOT tachycardia can be caused by somatic mutations in signal transduction proteins that regulate intracellular cAMP and its downstream effectors.

A computational model of pig ventricular cardiomyocyte electrophysiology and calcium handling: Translation from pig to human electrophysiology

The pig is commonly used as an experimental model of human heart disease, including for the study of mechanisms of arrhythmia. However, there exist differences between human and porcine cellular electrophysiology: The pig action potential (AP) has a deeper phase-1 notch, a longer duration at 50% repolarization, and higher plateau potentials than human. Ionic differences underlying the AP include larger rapid delayed-rectifier and smaller inward-rectifier K+-currents (IKr and IK1 respectively) in humans. AP steady-state rate-dependence and restitution is steeper in pigs. Porcine Ca2+ transients can have two components, unlike human. Although a reliable computational model for human ventricular myocytes exists, one for pigs is lacking. This hampers translation from results obtained in pigs to human myocardium. Here, we developed a computational model of the pig ventricular cardiomyocyte AP using experimental datasets of the relevant ionic currents, Ca2+-handling, AP shape, AP duration restitution, and inducibility of triggered activity and alternans. To properly capture porcine Ca2+ transients, we introduced a two-step process with a faster release in the t-tubular region, followed by a slower diffusion-induced release from a non t-tubular subcellular region. The pig model behavior was compared with that of a human ventricular cardiomyocyte (O’Hara-Rudy) model. The pig, but not the human model, developed early afterdepolarizations (EADs) under block of IK1, while IKr block led to EADs in the human but not in the pig model. At fast rates (pacing cycle length = 400 ms), the human cell model was more susceptible to spontaneous Ca2+ release-mediated delayed afterdepolarizations (DADs) and triggered activity than pig. Fast pacing led to alternans in human but not pig. Developing species-specific models incorporating electrophysiology and Ca2+-handling provides a tool to aid translating antiarrhythmic and arrhythmogenic assessment from the bench to the clinic.

CaMKII inhibition reduces arrhythmogenic Ca2+ events in subendocardial cryoinjured rat living myocardial slices

Spontaneous Ca2+ release (SCR) can cause triggered activity and initiate arrhythmias. Intrinsic transmural heterogeneities in Ca2+ handling and their propensity to disease remodeling may differentially modulate SCR throughout the left ventricular (LV) wall and cause transmural differences in arrhythmia susceptibility. Here, we aimed to dissect the effect of cardiac injury on SCR in different regions in the intact LV myocardium using cryoinjury on rat living myocardial slices (LMS). We studied SCR under proarrhythmic conditions using a fluorescent Ca2+ indicator and high-resolution imaging in LMS from the subendocardium (ENDO) and subepicardium (EPI). Cryoinjury caused structural remodeling, with loss in T-tubule density and an increased time of Ca2+ transients to peak after injury. In ENDO LMS, the Ca2+ transient amplitude and decay phase were reduced, while these were not affected in EPI LMS after cryoinjury. The frequency of spontaneous whole-slice contractions increased in ENDO LMS without affecting EPI LMS after injury. Cryoinjury caused an increase in foci that generates SCR in both ENDO and EPI LMS. In ENDO LMS, SCRs were more closely distributed and had reduced latencies after cryoinjury, whereas this was not affected in EPI LMS. Inhibition of CaMKII reduced the number, distribution, and latencies of SCR, as well as whole-slice contractions in ENDO LMS, but not in EPI LMS after cryoinjury. Furthermore, CaMKII inhibition did not affect the excitation–contraction coupling in cryoinjured ENDO or EPI LMS. In conclusion, we demonstrate increased arrhythmogenic susceptibility in the injured ENDO. Our findings show involvement of CaMKII and highlight the need for region-specific targeting in cardiac therapies.

Abstract 16594: Disruption of Caveolae-Confined Phosphorylation of Ryanodine Receptors Promotes Ca 2+ Handling Abnormalities and Arrhythmogenesis in Mouse Atrial Myocytes

Rationale: Chronic atrial fibrillation has been linked to ectopic triggered activity driven by delayed afterdepolarizations in response to sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ leak from certain areas in atria. These activities were associated with hyperphosphorylated ryanodine receptors (RyRs), while the underlying mechanisms remain uncertain. Here, we hypothesized that mouse atria have areas with lower transversal-axial tubule system (TATS) organization, where phosphorylation of RyRs is mainly confines by caveolae nanodomains and might be firstly disturbed in disease conditions. Methods and results: In wild type (WT) mouse intact atria stained with RH-237, we found that myocytes located in the intercaval region (ICR, between the superior vena cava and atrioventricular junction and between the crista terminalis and interatrial septum) have a significantly less density of TATS than right atrial appendage (RAA) myocytes: 5.7±0.4% in ICR vs. 13.4±0.9% in RAA, P<0.01. Also an elevated frequency of spontaneous Ca 2+ sparks was observed in myocytes isolated from ICR vs. RAA (12.5±2.6 vs. 1.5±0.3 sparks/μm/s, P<0.01). ICR myocytes isolated from mice with a cardiac-specific knockout of the main structural protein of caveolae, caveolin-3, showed significant increase of Ca 2+ sparks frequency as compared to WT (27.3±4.1 sparks/μm/s, P<0.01). Immunofluorescence staining of RyRs, phosphorylated at protein kinase A/ Ca 2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II phosphorylation sites: Ser 2808 -RyR and Ser 2814 -RyR, showed predominant subsarcolemmal localization, with a high co-localization with caveolin-3, in ICR and RAA cells. Myocytes isolated from caveolin-3 knockout mice showed extension of both Ser 2808- RyR and Ser 2808- RyR to whole-cell wide striated pattern in ICR, but not RAA. This redistribution was associated with development of delayed afterdepolarizations in ICR but not RAA cells. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that in ICR in mouse atria, caveolae form functional, spatially-confined cAMP nanodomains and control localized RyR phosphorylation. Disruption of caveolae structures, seen in various pathologies, may lead to hyperphosphorylation of RyRs promoting Ca 2+ handling abnormalities and arrhythmogenic triggered activity.