Delavirdine is an anti-HIV agent with structural similarity (presence of methanesulfonamide group) to well-known rapid delayed rectifier potassium current (I) inhibitors like dofetilide and E-4031. In spite of this and the fact, that I blockade can lead to long QT syndrome with a risk of early afterdepolarization, cardiac arrhythmia and even sudden cardiac death development, there is no information on the cardiac electrophysiological effects of the delavirdine. Therefore, we examined the concentration-dependent acute effects of delavirdine on action potential morphology and on the underlying ion currents in enzymatically dispersed canine ventricular cardiomyocytes, as well as in a hERG-channel- and NaV1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral ion currents in the mammalian ventricular myocardium are substantially regulated by the sympathetic nervous system via β-adrenergic receptor activation, including the slow delayed rectifier K current and the L-type calcium current. This study investigated the downstream mechanisms of β-adrenergic receptor stimulation by isoproterenol (ISO) on the inward rectifier (I) and the rapid delayed rectifier (I) K currents using action potential voltage clamp (APVC) and conventional voltage clamp techniques in isolated canine left ventricular cardiomyocytes. I and I were dissected by 50 µM BaCl and 1 µM E-4031, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFH2A.Z-nucleosomes are present in both euchromatin and heterochromatin and it has proven difficult to interpret their disparate roles in the context of their stability features. Using an in situ assay of nucleosome stability and DT40 cells expressing engineered forms of the histone variant we show that native H2A.
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrent density, the membrane current value divided by membrane capacitance (C), is widely used in cellular electrophysiology. Comparing current densities obtained in different cell populations assume that C and ion current magnitudes are linearly related, however data is scarce about this in cardiomyocytes. Therefore, we statistically analyzed the distributions, and the relationship between parameters of canine cardiac ion currents and C, and tested if dividing original parameters with C had any effect.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study was designed to test the hypothesis that the selectivity of blocking the late Na current (I) over the peak Na current (I) is related to the fast offset kinetics of the Na channel inhibitor. Therefore, the effects of 1 µM GS967 (I inhibitor), 20 µM mexiletine (I/B antiarrhythmic) and 10 µM quinidine (I/A antiarrhythmic) on I and I were compared in canine ventricular myocardium. I was estimated as the maximum velocity of action potential upstroke (V).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSlow inward currents (SICs) are known as excitatory events of neurons elicited by astrocytic glutamate via activation of extrasynaptic NMDA receptors. By using slice electrophysiology, we tried to provide evidence that SICs can elicit synaptic plasticity. Age dependence of SICs and their impact on synaptic plasticity was also investigated in both on murine and human cortical slices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLate sodium current (I) is an important inward current contributing to the plateau phase of the action potential (AP) in the mammalian heart. Although I is considered as a possible target for antiarrhythmic agents, several aspects of this current remained hidden. In this work, the profile of I, together with the respective conductance changes (G), were studied and compared in rabbit, canine, and guinea pig ventricular myocytes using the action potential voltage clamp (APVC) technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFABT-333 (dasabuvir) is an antiviral agent used in hepatitis C treatment. The molecule, similarly to some inhibitors of hERG channels, responsible for the delayed rectifier potassium current (I), contains the methanesulfonamide group. Reduced I current leads to long QT syndrome and early afterdepolarizations (EADs), therefore potentially causing life-threatening arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is a disease with high mortality and morbidity. Recent positive inotropic drug developments focused on cardiac myofilaments, that is, direct activators of the myosin molecule and Ca sensitizers for patients with advanced HFrEF. Omecamtiv mecarbil (OM) is the first direct myosin activator with promising results in clinical studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent cardiotropic drug developments have focused on cardiac myofilaments. Danicamtiv, the second direct myosin activator, has achieved encouraging results in preclinical and clinical studies, thus implicating its potential applicability in the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Here, we analyzed the inotropic effects of danicamtiv in detail.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDoxorubicin (Dox), a widely used anticancer DNA-binding drug, affects chromatin in multiple ways, and these effects contribute to both its efficacy and its dose-limiting side effects, especially cardiotoxicity. Here, we studied the effects of Dox on the chromatin binding of the architectural proteins high mobility group B1 (HMGB1) and the linker histone H1, and the transcription factor retinoic acid receptor (RARα) by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) in live cells. At lower doses, Dox increased the binding of HMGB1 to DNA while decreasing the binding of the linker histone H1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCardiac diseases are the leading causes of death, with a growing number of cases worldwide, posing a challenge for both healthcare and research. Therefore, the most relevant aim of cardiac research is to unravel the molecular pathomechanisms and identify new therapeutic targets. Cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2), the Ca release channel of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, is believed to be a good therapeutic target in a group of certain heart diseases, collectively called cardiac ryanopathies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe roles and molecular interactions of polyamines (PAs) in the nucleus are not fully understood. Here their effect on nucleosome stability, a key regulatory factor in eukaryotic gene control, is reported, as measured in agarose embedded nuclei of H2B-GFP expressor HeLa cells. Nucleosome stability was assessed by quantitative microscopy [1,2] in situ, in close to native state of chromatin, preserving the nucleosome constrained topology of the genomic DNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe patch clamp technique underwent continual advancement and developed numerous variants in cardiac electrophysiology since its introduction in the late 1970s. In the beginning, the capability of the technique was limited to recording one single current from one cell stimulated with a rectangular command pulse. Since that time, the technique has been extended to record multiple currents under various command pulses including action potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceuticals (Basel)
February 2022
Late sodium current has long been linked to dysrhythmia and contractile malfunction in the heart. Despite the increasing body of accumulating information on the subject, our understanding of its role in normal or pathologic states is not complete. Even though the role of late sodium current in shaping action potential under physiologic circumstances is debated, it's unquestioned role in arrhythmogenesis keeps it in the focus of research.
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January 2022
Transient receptor potential melastatin 4 is a unique member of the TRPM protein family and, similarly to TRPM5, is Ca-sensitive and permeable to monovalent but not divalent cations. It is widely expressed in many organs and is involved in several functions by regulating the membrane potential and Ca homeostasis in both excitable and non-excitable cells. This part of the review discusses the pharmacological modulation of TRPM4 by listing, comparing, and describing both endogenous and exogenous activators and inhibitors of the ion channel.
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December 2021
Transient receptor potential melastatin 4 (TRPM4) is a unique member of the TRPM protein family and, similarly to TRPM5, is Ca sensitive and permeable for monovalent but not divalent cations. It is widely expressed in many organs and is involved in several functions; it regulates membrane potential and Ca homeostasis in both excitable and non-excitable cells. This part of the review discusses the currently available knowledge about the physiological and pathophysiological roles of TRPM4 in various tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
January 2022
Astaxanthin is a lipid-soluble carotenoid influencing lipid metabolism, body weight, and insulin sensitivity. We provide a systematic analysis of acute and chronic effects of astaxanthin on different organs. Changes by chronic astaxanthin feeding were analyzed on general metabolism, expression of regulatory proteins in the skeletal muscle, as well as changes of excitation and synaptic activity in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus of mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTRPV3 (transient receptor potential vanilloid 3) is a pro-inflammatory ion channel mostly expressed by keratinocytes of the human skin. Previous studies have shown that the expression of TRPV3 is markedly upregulated in the lesional epidermis of atopic dermatitis (AD) patients suggesting a potential pathogenetic role of the ion channel in the disease. In the current study, we aimed at defining the molecular and functional expression of TRPV3 in non-lesional skin of AD patients as previous studies implicated that healthy-appearing skin in AD is markedly distinct from normal skin with respect to terminal differentiation and certain immune function abnormalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe studied the effect of different magnitudes (7000 PSI (48.26 MPa), 8000 PSI (55.16 MPa), and 9000 PSI (62.
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November 2021
Enhancement of the late sodium current (I) increases arrhythmia propensity in the heart, whereas suppression of the current is antiarrhythmic. In the present study, we investigated I in canine ventricular cardiomyocytes under action potential voltage-clamp conditions using the selective Na channel inhibitors GS967 and tetrodotoxin. Both 1 µM GS967 and 10 µM tetrodotoxin dissected largely similar inward currents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransient receptor potential melastatin 4 (TRPM4) plays an important role in many tissues, including pacemaker and conductive tissues of the heart, but much less is known about its electrophysiological role in ventricular myocytes. Our earlier results showed the lack of selectivity of 9-phenanthrol, so CBA ((4-chloro-2-(2-chlorophenoxy)acetamido) benzoic acid) was chosen as a new, potentially selective inhibitor. Goal: Our aim was to elucidate the effect and selectivity of CBA in canine left ventricular cardiomyocytes and to study the expression of TRPM4 in the canine heart.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceuticals (Basel)
July 2021
Due to the limited availability of healthy human ventricular tissues, the most suitable animal model has to be applied for electrophysiological and pharmacological studies. This can be best identified by studying the properties of ion currents shaping the action potential in the frequently used laboratory animals, such as dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, or rats, and comparing them to those of human cardiomyocytes. The authors of this article with the experience of three decades of electrophysiological studies, performed in mammalian and human ventricular tissues and isolated cardiomyocytes, summarize their results obtained regarding the major canine and human cardiac ion currents.
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