Aberrant intracellular calcium cycling in the heart : mechanistic insights into catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia and heart failure
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Heart disease is the biggest killer world-wide, causing a quarter of all deaths. During the past two decades, it has also risen above infectious diseases as the leading cause of years of life lost. Heart failure, characterized by weak pump function of the heart, and disturbances in heart rhythm (arrhythmias) are common and interrelated mechanisms underlying cardiac mortality. Intracellular calcium ions are crucial to contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle, as well as to control of its rhythm. How calcium is handled and regulated is thus essential to normal cardiac function, and disturbances in these processes can have catastrophic consequences. Understanding the mechanisms of these disturbances is important for improving disease prevention, diagnosis, and management. The studies in this thesis focus on two conditions where cardiac calcium handling is impaired. Studies I - III examine the mechanisms of a genetic arrhythmia disease named catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), which is characterized by stress-induced ventricular tachycardia in a structurally normal heart. Study IV investigates cardiac function in a model of another genetic disease, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). This systemic disease mainly affects the kidneys, and the mechanisms of the concomitant decline in cardiac function have thus far remained underinvestigated. We evaluated clinical data on cardiac function of CPVT patients, including 24h electrocardiograms, intracardiac monophasic action potential recordings, and exercise stress tests. We used cell models to study the underlying disease mechanisms in detail. During conditions of stress, CPVT cells showed increased spontaneous and irregular release of calcium from within the intracellular stores through the cardiac ryanodine receptors. These receptors, which function as intracellular calcium release channels, harbor the disease-causing mutation. The spontaneous release of calcium led to changes in the membrane potential of the cells, manifested as afterdepolarizations during the resting phase of the cardiac cycle. These afterdepolarizations were reproduced in the clinical monophasic action potential recordings of CPVT patients, and were shown to trigger arrhythmias in these patients. Changes in intracellular calcium alter the membrane potential, and these changes are reflected on the electrocardiogram. Thus, irregularities that might correspond to those observed in the cell model were then investigated in 24h electrocardiograms of CPVT patients. Increased irregularity of cardiac repolarization was found in the CPVT patients. Such irregularity was greater in the electrocardiograms of CPVT patients with a history of more severe arrhythmic events. Additionally, we found slowed depolarization in response to stress in CPVT cells and patients, suggesting reduced conduction velocity might contribute to an arrhythmic substrate in these patients. Cardiac function in ADPKD caused by mutations in polycystin-2, another intracellular calcium channel, was investigated in a zebrafish model lacking expression of the polycystin-2 protein. The zebrafish lacking polycystin-2 showed signs of heart failure, including reduced cardiac output, edema, and arrhythmias. Hearts, which were then examined in more detail ex vivo, showed impaired cycling of intracellular calcium, which is likely to underlie the cardiac dysfunction observed in vivo. The association of ADPKD with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) was examined using the Mayo ADPKD Mutation Database, which contains data on genotyped ADPKD patients. Examination of the ADPKD Database showed IDCM to be very common among ADPKD patients. IDCM was most prevalent in patients with mutations in polycystin-2, suggesting impaired calcium cycling as a potential pathomechanism. Studies I-III shed new light on mechanisms of arrhythmias in CPVT and related conditions, opening the way for future studies on arrhythmia risk and therapeutic evaluation. Furthermore, the results encourage pursuing the novel stem cell models for studying pathomechanisms and therapeutics. Study IV showed an association between ADPKD and IDCM. The zebrafish model suggested impaired calcium cycling as an underlying mechanism, highlighting the usefulness of zebrafish as a model in cardiac research.
Source: Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja
Author: Jere Paavola
Language: English
Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Yale University, Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, Ida Montinin Säätiö, Helsingin ja Uudenmaan Sairaanhoitopiiri, Suomen Lääketieteen Säätiö, Aarne Koskelon Säätiö, Finska Läkaresällskapet, Minerva Foundation, Biomedicum Helsinki-säätiö, Tampereen Yliopisto, Emil Aaltosen Säätiö, Sydäntutkimussäätiö, Orionin Tutkimussäätiö, Suomalainen Lääkäriseura Duodecim, Paavo Nurmen Säätiö
OpenAlex ID: W1506423696