Endothelin 1 enhances myofilament Ca2+ responsiveness in aequorin-loaded ferret myocardium

Endothelin-1 does not alter Ca2+ responsiveness in saponin-skinned ferret papillary muscles

Endothelin is a potent vasoconstrictor and a positive inotropic agent in myocardium. Endothelin has been reported to increase myocardial contractility with little or no increase in intracellular Ca2+, thus apparently enhancing myofilament responsiveness to Ca2+. We investigated the effects of endothelin on tension development and Ca2+ responsiveness in both intact and saponin-skinned ferret right ventricular papillary muscles. Isolated ferret papillary muscles were stimulated for 2 h in the presence or absence of endothelin (100 nM). The muscles were then chemically skinned with saponin and exposed to relaxing and contracting solutions containing varying amounts of Ca2+, and the developed force of contraction was measured. The [Ca2+] required for half-maximal activation (pCa50) was determined by fitting force versus Ca2+ data to the Hill equation. In isometrically contracting muscles, endothelin (100 nM) caused a mean percent increase in developed tension of 34.7% +/- 11.3% (mean +/- S.E.). In muscles that were exposed to endothelin for 2 h and then skinned, neither the pCa50 nor the maximal Ca(2+)-activated force (Fmax) were significantly different from control skinned papillary muscles. After skinning, when endothelin (100 nM) was added to the Ca2+ buffers, both pCa50 and Fmax were significantly decreased. When papillary muscles were pretreated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and then skinned, there was a significant increase in the pCa50. These results indicate that endothelin acts directly on the myofilaments to impair force development by directly decreasing the Ca2+ responsiveness of myofilaments.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Endothelial control of vascular and myocardial function in heart failure

The effect of vascular endothelium, endocardium, and coronary endothelium on vascular tone and myocardial contraction-relaxation sequence in heart failure is discussed. Vascular endothelium affects underlying vascular smooth muscle through paracrine secretion of relaxing and constricting factors. In heart failure, systemic vasoconstriction results not only from neuroendocrine activation, but also from disturbed local endothelial control of vascular tone because of impaired endothelial-dependent vasodilation and because of increased plasma concentration of endothelin. Experimental evidence obtained in isolated cardiac muscle strips established the influence of endocardial endothelium on the duration of myocardial contraction and on the onset of myocardial relaxation. By analogy to vascular endothelium, both diffusible agents that abbreviate (endothelial-derived relaxation factor-like substance) and those that prolong (endocardin) myocardial contraction have been shown to be released from the endocardium. Similar agents are released from the coronary endothelium and, because of the close proximity of capillaries and myocytes, could exert a major effect on myocardial performance. Endothelial dysfunction and concomitant lack of release of myocardial relaxant factors could explain left ventricular relaxation abnormalities observed in the cardiac allograft or in arterial hypertension. Since endothelial-derived relaxation factor or nitric oxide mediates the coronary reactive hyperemic response, a negative inotropic action of nitric oxide could contribute to left ventricular failure when left ventricular wall stress is elevated, as occurs after myocardial infarction in the noninfarcted zone and during left ventricular volume or pressure overload in the absence of adequate hypertrophy.

Predictors of successful radiofrequency ablation of extranodal slow pathways

Catheter positioning for radiofrequency ablation of extranodal slow pathways is often guided by local electrogram recordings. To determine the predictors of successful ablation sites, we reviewed data from 32 successful and 104 unsuccessful sites. Univariate predictors of a successful site included the occurrence of junctional rhythm during ablation (P < 0.001), shorter time to onset of junctional rhythm (P = 0.05), the presence of a discrete slow pathway potential (P < 0.001), a smaller ratio of the amplitude of the atrial:ventricular electrogram (P = 0.04), later timing (P = 0.001) and longer duration (P < 0.001) of the atrial slow pathway electrogram, and the duration of (P < 0.001), and maximal voltage used during ablation (P < 0.001). By multivariate analysis junctional rhythm (P < 0.001), a discrete slow pathway potential (P = 0.003), a longer duration of the atrial slow pathway electrogram (P = 0.01) and the duration of ablation (P = 0.02) were predictors of success. Because ablations at unsuccessful sites were often aborted at 10-30 seconds, a separate analysis was performed using only the 41 unsuccessful sites where the duration of ablation was > or = 30 seconds. The results were nearly identical. Thus, the occurrence of junctional rhythm during ablation and the morphology and duration of the atrial slow pathway electrogram may serve as guides for slow pathway ablation site selection.

Role of endothelial cells in cardiovascular function

Since the first description of vascular endothelium-dependent relaxation in response to acetylcholine, the role of endothelial cells in the regulation of cardiovascular function has been increasingly studied. The identification of endothelial releasing factors such as nitric oxide and endothelin has enabled us to better understand the mechanisms involved in autoregulation. It has also been shown that both vascular and endocardial endothelium can modify the contractile characteristics of their adjacent myocardium. In the heart, these modulating effects of endothelial cells are more widespread than previously thought and, can be the result of the direct effects of endocardial and vascular endothelial cells and their indirect effects, via modulation of the myocardial response to inotropic agents.

Selective inhibition by phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate of the alpha 1-receptor-mediated positive inotropic effect

Influence of the protein kinase C activator phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate on the alpha 1- and beta-adrenoceptor-mediated positive inotropic effect was studied in the rabbit ventricular myocardium. Phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (10(-8)-10(-6) M) inhibited the positive inotropic effect mediated by alpha 1-adrenoceptors in a concentration-dependent manner, while the positive inotropy mediated by beta-adrenoceptors was not affected by phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate up to 3 x 10(-7) M. Phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate at 10(-6) M decreased the beta-mediated effect, but the extent of inhibition was less than that of alpha 1-mediated effect produced by 10(-8) M phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate. Thus, the inhibition induced by phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate was 100-fold more selective for alpha 1- than for beta-mediated inotropy. Phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate at 10(-7) M increased the basal force of contraction in some preparations, but decreased it at 3 x 10(-7) M and higher in a concentration-dependent manner. In membrane fractions derived from the rabbit ventricular muscle, phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate did not affect the specific binding of [3H]prazosin. A nonhydrolyzable GTP analogue GTP gamma S shifted the epinephrine-induced displacement curve of [3H]prazosin to the right, but phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate did not affect the curve. Accumulation of [3H]inositol monophosphate induced by alpha 1 stimulation was inhibited by phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate. These findings indicate that phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate may induce the selective uncoupling of the myocardial alpha 1-receptor stimulation to activation of phospholipase C, and inhibit selectively the alpha 1-mediated positive inotropy.

Effects of endothelin on intracellular Ca2+ and contractility in single ventricular myocytes from the ferret and human

We investigated the role of endothelin-1 on peak intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) and peak shortening of ventricular myocytes (loaded with indo-1/AM) from failing human hearts. 10 nM of ET-1 significantly increased the cell peak shortening (84 +/- 29%, P less than 0.05) without significantly increasing the peak [Ca2+]i (15 +/- 7%, P greater than 0.05). Further studies on ferret cardiac myocytes indicated that in addition to producing dose-dependent (0.1-10 nM) significant increases in peak shortening (max 55 +/- 6% P less than 0.01) and non-significant increases in peak [Ca2+]i (max 35 +/- 19%, P greater than 0.05), endothelin-1 significantly shifted the peak [Ca2+]i-peak shortening curve upward. The results suggest that endothelin-1 acts directly on human and ferret cardiac myocytes to produce a positive inotropic effect that may predominantly be due to an enhanced myofilament Ca2+ responsiveness.

The influence of endocardial endothelium on myocardial contraction

A novel unidentified agent, provisionally named 'endocardin', has been shown to be released from endocardial endothelium. Endocardin has a unique prolonging effect on myocardial contraction. In contrast, endothelium-derived relaxing factor released from endocardial endothelium has the opposite effect of abbreviating contraction. Jerry Smith and colleagues discuss the mechanisms of action of these agents and their possible physiology and pathophysiology.