Protein changes contributing to right ventricular cardiomyocyte diastolic dysfunction in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Right ventricular (RV) diastolic function is impaired in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Our previous study showed that elevated cardiomyocyte stiffness and myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity underlie diastolic dysfunction in PAH. This study investigates protein modifications contributing to cellular diastolic dysfunction in PAH.

Experimentally increasing titin compliance in a novel mouse model attenuates the Frank-Starling mechanism but has a beneficial effect on diastole.

Background: Experimentally upregulating compliant titins has been suggested as a therapeutic for lowering pathological diastolic stiffness levels. However, how increasing titin compliance impacts global cardiac function requires in-depth study. We investigate the effect of upregulating compliant titins in a novel mouse model with a genetically altered titin splicing factor; integrative approaches were used from intact cardiomyocyte mechanics to pressure-volume analysis and Doppler echocardiography.

Right ventricular diastolic impairment in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: The role of right ventricular (RV) diastolic stiffness in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is not well established. Therefore, we investigated the presence and possible underlying mechanisms of RV diastolic stiffness in PAH patients.

Methods And Results: Single-beat RV pressure-volume analyses were performed in 21 PAH patients and 7 control subjects to study RV diastolic stiffness.

Shortening of the elastic tandem immunoglobulin segment of titin leads to diastolic dysfunction.

Background: Diastolic dysfunction is a poorly understood but clinically pervasive syndrome that is characterized by increased diastolic stiffness. Titin is the main determinant of cellular passive stiffness. However, the physiological role that the tandem immunoglobulin (Ig) segment of titin plays in stiffness generation and whether shortening this segment is sufficient to cause diastolic dysfunction need to be established.

The multifunctional Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II delta (CaMKIIδ) phosphorylates cardiac titin's spring elements.

Titin-based passive stiffness is post-translationally regulated by several kinases that phosphorylate specific spring elements located within titin's elastic I-band region. Whether titin is phosphorylated by calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII), an important regulator of cardiac function and disease, has not been addressed. The aim of this work was to determine whether CaMKIIδ, the predominant CaMKII isoform in the heart, phosphorylates titin, and to use phosphorylation assays and mass spectrometry to study which of titin's spring elements might be targeted by CaMKIIδ.

Mouse and computational models link Mlc2v dephosphorylation to altered myosin kinetics in early cardiac disease.

Actin-myosin interactions provide the driving force underlying each heartbeat. The current view is that actin-bound regulatory proteins play a dominant role in the activation of calcium-dependent cardiac muscle contraction. In contrast, the relevance and nature of regulation by myosin regulatory proteins (for example, myosin light chain-2 [MLC2]) in cardiac muscle remain poorly understood.

Titin-actin interaction: PEVK-actin-based viscosity in a large animal.

Titin exhibits an interaction between its PEVK segment and the actin filament resulting in viscosity, a speed dependent resistive force, which significantly influences diastolic filling in mice. While diastolic disease is clinically pervasive, humans express a more compliant titin (N2BA:N2B ratio ~0.5-1.

Titin based viscosity in ventricular physiology: an integrative investigation of PEVK-actin interactions.

Viscosity is proposed to modulate diastolic function, but only limited understanding of the source(s) of viscosity exists. In vitro experiments have shown that the proline-glutamic acid-valine-lysine (PEVK) rich element of titin interacts with actin, causing a viscous force in the sarcomere. It is unknown whether this mechanism contributes to viscosity in vivo.

Excision of titin's cardiac PEVK spring element abolishes PKCalpha-induced increases in myocardial stiffness.

Protein kinase C-alpha (PKCalpha) was recently reported to increase myocardial stiffness, an effect that was proposed to be due to phosphorylation of two highly conserved sites (S11878 and S12022) within the proline-glutamic acid-valine-lysine (PEVK) rich spring element of titin. To test this proposal we investigated the effect of PKCalpha on phosphorylation and passive stiffness in a mouse model lacking the titin exons that contain these two phosphorylation sites, the PEVK knockout (KO). We used skinned, gelsolin-extracted, left ventricular myocardium from wildtype and PEVK KO mice.