Role of microtubules versus myosin heavy chain isoforms in contractile dysfunction of hypertrophied murine cardiocytes

• Published in: American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology 2003-09, Vol.285 (3), p.H1270-H1285
• Main Authors: Ishibashi, Yuji, Takahashi, Masaru, Isomatsu, Yukihisa, Qiao, Fei, Iijima, Yoshihiro, Shiraishi, Hirokazu, Simsic, Janet M, Baicu, Catalin F, Robbins, Jeffrey, Zile, Michael R, Cooper, George, IV
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Calcium - metabolism; Disease Models, Animal; Gene Expression; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular - metabolism; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular - pathology; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular - physiopathology; Isomerism; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Microtubules - metabolism; Myocardial Contraction - physiology; Myocytes, Cardiac - metabolism; Myocytes, Cardiac - pathology; Myosin Heavy Chains - chemistry; Myosin Heavy Chains - genetics; Myosin Heavy Chains - metabolism; Sarcomeres - physiology; Tubulin - metabolism; Weight-Bearing
• ISSN: 0363-6135; 1522-1539
• DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00654.2002

1 Gazes Cardiac Research Institute, Cardiology Division, Medical University of South Carolina, and Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston, South Carolina 29401; and 2 Division of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology, Children's Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229 Submitted 24 July 2002 ; accepted in final form 9 May 2003 In large mammals there is a correlation between microtubule network densification and contractile dysfunction in severe pressure-overload hypertrophy. In small mammals there is a similar correlation for the shift to -myosin heavy chain (MHC), a MHC isoform having a slower ATPase V max . In this study, murine left ventricular (LV) pressure overload invoked both mechanisms: microtubule network densification and -MHC expression. Cardiac -MHC was also augmented without altering tubulin levels by two load-independent means, chemical thyroidectomy and transgenesis. In hypertrophy, contractile function of the LV and its cardiocytes decreased proportionally; microtubule depolymerization restored normal cellular contraction. In hypothyroid mice having a complete shift from -MHC to -MHC, contractile function of the LV and its cardiocytes also decreased, but microtubule depolymerization had no effect on cellular contraction. In transgenic mice having a cardiac -MHC increase similar to that in hypertrophy, contractile function of the LV and its cardiocytes was normal, and microtubule depolymerization had no effect. Thus, although both mechanisms may cause contractile dysfunction, for the extent of MHC isoform switching seen even in severe murine LV pressure-overload hypertrophy, microtubule network densification appears to have the more important role. left ventricle; heart failure; cytoskeleton; contractile proteins; sarcomeres Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: G. Cooper, Gazes Cardiac Research Institute, PO Box 250773, Medical Univ. of South Carolina, 114 Doughty St., Charleston, SC 29403 (E-mail: cooperge{at}musc.edu ).