Rationale Cardiovascular disease represents a global pandemic. The advent of and recent advances in mouse genomics, epigenomics, and transgenics offer ever-greater potential for powerful avenues of research. However, progress is often constrained by unique complexities associated with the isolation of viable myocytes from the adult mouse heart. Current protocols rely on retrograde aortic perfusion using specialized Langendorff apparatus, which poses considerable logistical and technical barriers to researchers and demands extensive training investment. Objective To identify and optimize a convenient, alternative approach, allowing the robust isolation and culture of adult mouse cardiac myocytes using only common surgical and laboratory equipment. Methods and Results Cardiac myocytes were isolated with yields comparable to those in published Langendorff-based methods, using direct needle perfusion of the LV ex vivo and without requirement for heparin injection. Isolated myocytes can be cultured antibiotic free, with retained organized contractile and mitochondrial morphology, transcriptional signatures, calcium handling, responses to hypoxia, neurohormonal stimulation, and electric pacing, and are amenable to patch clamp and adenoviral gene transfer techniques. Furthermore, the methodology permits concurrent isolation, separation, and coculture of myocyte and nonmyocyte cardiac populations. Conclusions We present a novel, simplified method, demonstrating concomitant isolation of viable cardiac myocytes and nonmyocytes from the same adult mouse heart. We anticipate that this new approach will expand and accelerate innovative research in the field of cardiac biology.

We show that hepatitis C virus (HCV) p7 protein forms ion channels in black lipid membranes. HCV p7 ion channels are inhibited by long-alkyl-chain iminosugar derivatives, which have antiviral activity against the HCV surrogate bovine viral diarrhea virus. HCV p7 presents a potential target for antiviral therapy.H epatitis C virus (HCV) is the major cause of chronic hepatitis with a significant risk of end-stage liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (1). HCV belongs to the family Flaviviridae, which consists of three genera: flaviviruses, pestiviruses, and hepaciviruses. In the absence of both a suitable small animal model and a reliable in vitro infectivity assay for HCV, potential antiviral drugs initially have been tested by using a related pestivirus, bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) (2). BVDV in vitro infectivity assays were used to demonstrate that long-alkyl-chain iminosugar derivatives containing either the glucose analogue deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) or the galactose analogue deoxygalactonojirimycin (DGJ) are potent antiviral inhibitors (3).DNJ derivatives inhibit endoplasmic reticulum (ER) ␣-glucosidases I and II (4, 5), and this inhibition leads to the misfolding of many host-and virus-encoded glycoproteins, including the envelope glycoproteins of BVDV (6) and HCV (7). Previous experiments have shown that the antiviral effect of the longalkyl-chain derivative N-nonyl-DNJ (NN-DNJ) is more pronounced than that of the short-alkyl-chain derivative N-butyl-DNJ (NB-DNJ), although the latter achieves a more effective ER ␣-glucosidase inhibition in cellulo. In addition, long-alkylchain DGJ derivatives that are not recognized by and do not inhibit ER ␣-glucosidases also show potent antiviral activity (3). Therefore, ER ␣-glucosidase inhibition does not correlate directly with the observed antiviral effect and is ruled out as the sole antiviral mechanism.The additional mechanism of action apparently is associated with the length of the alkyl side chain, because the short-chain N-butyl-DGJ (NB-DGJ) shows no antiviral activity, whereas the long-alkyl-chain derivative NN-DGJ is a potent inhibitor (3).The predominant antiviral mechanism is proposed to be mediated directly or indirectly by an effect of the long-alkyl side chains on the membrane and͞or membrane proteins, because treatment with long-alkyl-chain iminosugars affects the dimerization of viral membrane glycoproteins and alters the membrane glycoprotein composition of secreted BVDV virions but does not influence either viral RNA replication or protein synthesis (3).We decided to investigate the small membrane-spanning protein p7 as a potential target of long-alkyl-chain iminosugar derivatives, because flaviviruses such as dengue virus and Japanese encephalitis virus (8), which do not contain p7, are not inhibited by long-alkyl-chain DGJ derivatives, whereas pestiviruses are (3). Pesti-and hepaciviruses both contain the p7 protein.Most functional data about p7 are derived from the pestivirus p7, a 70-aa protein very similar to HCV p7. Functional data hav...

This paper is the third in a series of reviews published in this issue resulting from the University of California Davis Cardiovascular Symposium 2014: Systems approach to understanding cardiac excitation–contraction coupling and arrhythmias: Na+ channel and Na+ transport. The goal of the symposium was to bring together experts in the field to discuss points of consensus and controversy on the topic of sodium in the heart. The present review focuses on cardiac Na+/Ca2+ exchange (NCX) and Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA). While the relevance of Ca2+ homeostasis in cardiac function has been extensively investigated, the role of Na+ regulation in shaping heart function is often overlooked. Small changes in the cytoplasmic Na+ content have multiple effects on the heart by influencing intracellular Ca2+ and pH levels thereby modulating heart contractility. Therefore it is essential for heart cells to maintain Na+ homeostasis. Among the proteins that accomplish this task are the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) and the Na+/K+ pump (NKA). By transporting three Na+ ions into the cytoplasm in exchange for one Ca2+ moved out, NCX is one of the main Na+ influx mechanisms in cardiomyocytes. Acting in the opposite direction, NKA moves Na+ ions from the cytoplasm to the extracellular space against their gradient by utilizing the energy released from ATP hydrolysis. A fine balance between these two processes controls the net amount of intracellular Na+ and aberrations in either of these two systems can have a large impact on cardiac contractility. Due to the relevant role of these two proteins in Na+ homeostasis, the emphasis of this review is on recent developments regarding the cardiac Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX1) and Na+/K+ pump and the controversies that still persist in the field.

BackgroundAntiarrhythmic drugs are widely used to treat patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), but the mechanisms conveying their variable effectiveness are not known. Recent data suggested that paired like homeodomain-2 transcription factor (PITX2) might play an important role in regulating gene expression and electrical function of the adult left atrium (LA).ObjectivesAfter determining LA PITX2 expression in AF patients requiring rhythm control therapy, the authors assessed the effects of Pitx2c on LA electrophysiology and the effect of antiarrhythmic drugs.MethodsLA PITX2 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels were measured in 95 patients undergoing thoracoscopic AF ablation. The effects of flecainide, a sodium (Na+)-channel blocker, and d,l-sotalol, a potassium channel blocker, were studied in littermate mice with normal and reduced Pitx2c mRNA by electrophysiological study, optical mapping, and patch clamp studies. PITX2-dependent mechanisms of antiarrhythmic drug action were studied in human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells expressing human Na channels and by modeling human action potentials.ResultsFlecainide 1 μmol/l was more effective in suppressing atrial arrhythmias in atria with reduced Pitx2c mRNA levels (Pitx2c+/–). Resting membrane potential was more depolarized in Pitx2c+/– atria, and TWIK-related acid-sensitive K+ channel 2 (TASK-2) gene and protein expression were decreased. This resulted in enhanced post-repolarization refractoriness and more effective Na-channel inhibition. Defined holding potentials eliminated differences in flecainide’s effects between wild-type and Pitx2c+/– atrial cardiomyocytes. More positive holding potentials replicated the increased effectiveness of flecainide in blocking human Nav1.5 channels in HEK293 cells. Computer modeling reproduced an enhanced effectiveness of Na-channel block when resting membrane potential was slightly depolarized.ConclusionsPITX2 mRNA modulates atrial resting membrane potential and thereby alters the effectiveness of Na-channel blockers. PITX2 and ion channels regulating the resting membrane potential may provide novel targets for antiarrhythmic drug development and companion therapeutics in AF.