title: Partial downregulation of junctin enhances cardiac calcium cycling without eliciting ventricular arrhythmias in mice.
abstract: Human failing hearts exhibit significant decreases in junctin expression levels with almost nondetectable levels, which may be associated with premature death, induced by lethal cardiac arrhythmias, based on mouse models. However, the specific contribution of junctin to the delayed afterdepolarizations has been difficult to delineate in the phase of increased Na(+)-Ca(2+) exchanger activity accompanying junctin ablation. Thus we characterized the heterozygous junctin-deficient hearts, which expressed 54% of junctin levels and similar increases in Na(+)-Ca(2+) exchanger activity, as the null model. Cardiac contractile parameters, Ca(2+) transients, and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) content were significantly increased in junctin heterozygous hearts, although they did not reach the levels of null hearts. However, Ca(2+) spark properties were not altered in heterozygous cardiomyocytes, compared with wild-types, and there were no aftercontractions elicited by the increased frequency of stimulation in the presence of isoproterenol, unlike the junctin-deficient cells. Furthermore, heterozygous mice did not exhibit an increased susceptibility to arrhythmia upon catecholamine challenge in vivo, and there were no premature deaths up to 1 yr of age. These findings suggest that a partial downregulation of junctin enhances sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) cycling but does not elicit cardiac arrhythmias even in the context of increased Na(+)-Ca(2+) exchanger activity.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics, Univ. of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 231 Albert Sabin Way, Cincinnati, OH, 45267-0575, USA.
authors.forename: Qunying
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Peidong
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Xiaoyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: W Keith
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Guoxiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Hong-Sheng
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Evangelia G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Kranias
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000187:drug effects; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015536:Down-Regulation; D007545:Isoproterenol; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel / Q000378:metabolism; D012519:Sarcoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism; D019831:Sodium-Calcium Exchanger / Q000378:metabolism; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009124:Muscle Proteins; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel; D019831:Sodium-Calcium Exchanger; D002110:Caffeine; C498841:Asph protein, mouse; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases; D007545:Isoproterenol