Aims/hypothesis Empagliflozin (EMPA), an inhibitor of the renal sodium-glucose cotransporter (SGLT) 2, reduces the risk of cardiovascular death in patients with type 2 diabetes. The underlying mechanism of this effect is unknown. ] m , through impairment of myocardial NHE flux, independent of SGLT2 activity.

No abstract

The mammalian heart pumps blood through the vessels, maintaining the dynamic equilibrium in a circulatory system driven by two pumps in series. This vital function is based on the fine-tuning of cardiac performance by the Frank-Starling mechanism that relates the pressure exerted by the contracting ventricle (end systolic pressure) to its volume (end systolic volume). At the level of the sarcomere, the structural unit of the cardiac myocytes, the Frank-Starling mechanism consists of the increase in active force with the increase of sarcomere length (length-dependent activation). We combine sarcomere mechanics and micrometer-nanometer-scale X-ray diffraction from synchrotron light in intact ventricular trabeculae from the rat to measure the axial movement of the myosin motors during the diastole-systole cycle under sarcomere length control. We find that the number of myosin motors leaving the off, ATP hydrolysis-unavailable state characteristic of the diastole is adjusted to the sarcomere length-dependent systolic force. This mechanosensing-based regulation of the thick filament makes the energetic cost of the systole rapidly tuned to the mechanical task, revealing a prime aspect of the Frank-Starling mechanism. The regulation is putatively impaired by cardiomyopathycausing mutations that affect the intramolecular and intermolecular interactions controlling the off state of the motors. myosin filament mechanosensing | heart regulation | small-angle X-ray diffraction | cardiac muscle | Frank-Starling mechanism I n each sarcomere, the structural unit of the skeletal and cardiac muscles, myosin motors arranged in antiparallel arrays in the two halves of the thick myosin-containing filament work cooperatively, generating force and shortening by cyclic ATPdriven interactions with the interdigitating thin actin-containing filaments. The textbook model for the activation of contraction indicates that the binding to actin of myosin motors from the neighboring thick filament is controlled by a calcium-dependent structural change in the thin filament. However, in these muscles at rest, most of the myosin motors are in the off state and packed into helical tracks with 43-nm periodicity on the surface of the thick filaments (1-4), making them unavailable for binding to the thin filament and ATP hydrolysis (5, 6). Recent X-ray diffraction experiments on single fibers from skeletal muscle showed that, in addition to the canonical thin filament activation system, a thick filament mechanosensing mechanism provides a way for selective unlocking of myosin motors during high load contraction (7). This thick filament-based regulation has not yet been shown in cardiac muscle, in which several regulatory systems are significant. In contrast to skeletal muscle, during heart contraction, the internal concentration of Ca 2+ ([Ca 2+ ] i ) may not reach the full activation level, and thus, the mechanical response depends on both [Ca 2+ ] i and the sensitivity of the filaments to Ca 2+ (8, 9). For a given [Ca 2+ ] i , the maximal force i...

the four important S4 arginine residues on the voltage-sensing paddle is still unknown, with some models placing them in an aqueous crevice, and others a lipid environment. To learn more about the intricate role of lipid in the structure and function of potassium channels we have studied deuterium and phosphate ESEEM on spin-labeled, liposome reconstituted KcsA. By scanning the trans-membrane helices of KcsA, we show that deuterium coupling can be used to determine residue depth within a lipid bilayer. In addition, residues that interact with the phosphate head-groups of the lipid can be determined by phosphate coupling, and their precise location modeled.

The sarcomeric proteins represent the structural building blocks of heart muscle, which are essential for contraction and relaxation. During recent years, it has become evident that posttranslational modifications of sarcomeric proteins, in particular phosphorylation, tune cardiac pump function at rest and during exercise. This delicate, orchestrated interaction is also influenced by mutations, predominantly in sarcomeric proteins, which cause hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy. In this review, we follow a bottom-up approach starting from a description of the basic components of cardiac muscle at the molecular level up to the various forms of cardiac disorders at the organ level. An overview is given of sarcomere changes in acquired and inherited forms of cardiac disease and the underlying disease mechanisms with particular reference to human tissue. A distinction will be made between the primary defect and maladaptive/adaptive secondary changes. Techniques used to unravel functional consequences of disease-induced protein changes are described, and an overview of current and future treatments targeted at sarcomeric proteins is given. The current evidence presented suggests that sarcomeres not only form the basis of cardiac muscle function but also represent a therapeutic target to combat cardiac disease.