title: Developmental changes of intracellular Ca2+ transients in beating rat hearts.
abstract: Postnatal maturation of the rat heart is characterized by major changes in the mechanism of excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling. In the neonate, the t tubules and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) are not fully developed yet. Consequently, Ca(2+)-induced Ca(2+) release (CICR) does not play a central role in E-C coupling. In the neonate, most of the Ca(2+) that triggers contraction comes through the sarcolemma. In this work, we defined the contribution of the sarcolemmal Ca(2+) entry and the Ca(2+) released from the SR to the Ca(2+) transient during the first 3 wk of postnatal development. To this end, intracellular Ca(2+) transients were measured in whole hearts from neonate rats by using the pulsed local field fluorescence technique. To estimate the contribution of each Ca(2+) flux to the global intracellular Ca(2+) transient, different pharmacological agents were used. Ryanodine was applied to evaluate ryanodine receptor-mediated Ca(2+) release from the SR, nifedipine for dihydropyridine-sensitive L-type Ca(2+) current, Ni(2+) for the current resulting from the reverse-mode Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchange, and mibefradil for the T-type Ca(2+) current. Our results showed that the relative contribution of each Ca(2+) flux changes considerably during the first 3 wk of postnatal development. Early after birth (1-5 days), the sarcolemmal Ca(2+) flux predominates, whereas at 3 wk of age, CICR from the SR is the most important. This transition may reflect the progressive development of the t tube-SR units characteristic of mature myocytes. We have hence directly defined in the whole beating heart the developmental changes of E-C coupling previously evaluated in single (acutely isolated or cultured) cells and multicellular preparations.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Physiology, Loyola Univ. Chicago, 2160 S. First Ave., Maywood, IL 60153, USA.
authors.forename: Ariel L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Escobar
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ribeiro-Costa
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villalba-Galea
authors.forename: María Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Zoghbi
authors.forename: Claudia G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mejía-Alvarez
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type / Q000502:physiology; D020747:Calcium Channels, T-Type / Q000502:physiology; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel / Q000502:physiology; D012508:Sarcolemma / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015220:Calcium Channels; D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type; D020747:Calcium Channels, T-Type; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel; D002118:Calcium