Dantrolene is the first line therapy of malignant hyperthermia. Animal studies suggest that dantrolene also protects against heart failure and arrhythmias caused by spontaneous Ca 21 release. Although dantrolene inhibits Ca 21 release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum of skeletal and cardiac muscle preparations, its mechanism of action has remained controversial, because dantrolene does not inhibit single ryanodine receptor (RyR) Ca 21 release channels in lipid bilayers. Here we test the hypothesis that calmodulin (CaM), a physiologic RyR binding partner that is lost during incorporation into lipid bilayers, is required for dantrolene inhibition of RyR channels. In single channel recordings (100 nM cytoplasmic [Ca 21 ] 1 2 mM ATP), dantrolene caused inhibition of RyR1 (rabbit skeletal muscle) and RyR2 (sheep) with a maximal inhibition of P o (E max ) to 52 6 4% of control only after adding physiologic [CaM] 5 100 nM. Dantrolene inhibited RyR2 with an IC 50 of 0.16 6 0.03 mM. Mutant N98S-CaM facilitated dantrolene inhibition with an IC 50 5 5.9 6 0.3 nM. In mouse cardiomyocytes, dantrolene had no effect on cardiac Ca 21 release in the absence of CaM, but reduced Ca 21 wave frequency (IC 50 5 0.42 6 0.18 mM, E max 5 47 6 4%) and amplitude (IC 50 5 0.19 6 0.04 mM, E max 5 66 6 4%) in the presence of 100 nM CaM. We conclude that CaM is essential for dantrolene inhibition of RyR1 and RyR2. Its absence explains why dantrolene inhibition of single RyR channels has not been previously observed.

Bupha-Intr T, Oo YW, Wattanapermpool J. Increased myocardial stiffness with maintenance of length-dependent calcium activation by female sex hormones in diabetic rats. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 300: H1661-H1668, 2011. First published February 18, 2011 doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00411.2010.-A decrease in peak early diastolic filling velocity in postmenopausal women implies a sex hormonerelated diastolic dysfunction. The regulatory effect of female sex hormones on cardiac distensibility therefore was evaluated in ovariectomized rats by determining the sarcomere length-passive tension relationship of ventricular skinned fiber preparations. Diabetes also was induced in the rat to assess the protective significance of female sex hormones on diastolic function. While ovariectomy had no effect on myocardial stiffness, collagen content, or titin ratio, a significant increase in myocardial stiffness was observed in diabetic rat only when female sex hormones were intact. The increased stiffness in diabetic-sham rats was accompanied by an elevated collagen content resulting from increases in the levels of procollagen and Smad2. Surprisingly, the increased myocardial stiffness in diabetic-sham rats was accompanied by a shift toward a more compliant N2BA of cardiac titin isoforms. The pCa-active tension relationship was analyzed at fixed sarcomere lengths of 2.0 and 2.3 m to determine the magnitude of changes in myofilament Ca 2ϩ sensitivity between the two sarcomere lengths. Interestingly, high expression of N2BA titin was associated with a suppressed magnitude of changes in myofilament Ca 2ϩ sensitivity only in the diabetic-ovariectomized condition. Estrogen supplementation in diabetic-ovariectomized rats partially increased myocardial stiffness but completely reversed the change in myofilament Ca 2ϩ sensitivity. These results indicate a restrictive adaptation of myocardium governed by female sex hormones to maintain myofilament activity in compensation to the pathophysiological induction of cardiac dilatation by the diabetic condition. female sex hormones; diabetes; diastolic distension; titin; collagen THE REGULATORY ROLE OF FEMALE sex hormones on cardiac diastolic function has been indicated from reports showing a significant decrease in peak early diastolic velocity (E-wave) of the heart in postmenopausal women (1, 21). Of the two major factors affecting diastolic filling velocity, namely, relaxation and distension of myocardium, our previous studies in rats have demonstrated prolonged ventricular relaxation induced after chronic deprivation of ovarian sex hormones (8). A decrease in sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca 2ϩ uptake activity ultimately leads to a delayed decay of intracellular Ca 2ϩ level in cardiomyocytes of ovariectomized (OVX) rats, and Ca 2ϩ hypersensitivity of cardiac myofilament detected in such animals also impedes myocardial relaxation (7,8,41). A preventive effect of estrogen supplementation on all of these changes further supports the regulatory role of female sex hormones on ventricular relaxation (7,8)....

Cardiac output and rhythm depend on the release and the take-up of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Excessive diastolic calcium leak from the SR due to dysfunctional calcium release channels (RyR2) contributes to the formation of delayed after-depolarizations, which underlie the fatal arrhythmias that occur in heart failure and inherited syndromes. Calmodulin (CaM) is a calcium-binding protein that regulates target proteins and acts as a calcium sensor. CaM is comprised of two calcium-binding EF-hand domains and a flexible linker. CaM is an accessory protein that partially inhibits RyR2 channel activity. CaM is critical for normal cardiac function, and altered CaM binding and efficacy may contribute to defects in SR calcium release. The present paper reviews CaM binding to RyR2 and how it regulates RyR2 channel activity. It then goes on to review how mutations in the CaM amino acid sequence give rise to inherited syndromes such as Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachychardia (CPVT) and long QT syndrome (LQTS). In addition, the role of reduced CaM binding to RyR2 that results from RyR2 phosphorylation or from oxidation of either RyR2 or CaM contributes to the progression of heart failure is reviewed. Finally, this manuscript reviews recent evidence that CaM binding to RyR2 is required for the inhibitory action of a pharmaceutical agent (dantrolene) on RyR2. Dantrolene is a clinically used muscle relaxant that has recently been found to exert antiarrhythmic effects against SR Ca overload arrhythmias.

Calmodulin (CaM) is a Ca-binding protein that binds to, and can directly inhibit cardiac ryanodine receptor calcium release channels (RyR2). Animal studies have shown that RyR2 hyperphosphorylation reduces CaM binding to RyR2 in failing hearts, but data are lacking on how CaM regulates human RyR2 and how this regulation is affected by RyR2 phosphorylation. Physiological concentrations of CaM (100 nM) inhibited the diastolic activity of RyR2 isolated from failing human hearts by ~50% but had no effect on RyR2 from healthy human hearts. Using FRET between donor-FKBP12.6 and acceptor-CaM bound to RyR2, we determined that CaM binds to RyR2 from healthy human heart with a Kd = 121 ± 14 nM. Ex-vivo phosphorylation/dephosphorylation experiments suggested that the divergent CaM regulation of healthy and failing human RyR2 was caused by differences in RyR2 phosphorylation by protein kinase A and Ca-CaM-dependent kinase II. Ca2+-spark measurements in murine cardiomyocytes harbouring RyR2 phosphomimetic or phosphoablated mutants at S2814 and S2808 suggest that phosphorylation of residues corresponding to either human RyR2-S2808 or S2814 is both necessary and sufficient for RyR2 regulation by CaM. Our results challenge the current concept that CaM universally functions as a canonical inhibitor of RyR2 across species. Rather, CaM’s biological action on human RyR2 appears to be more nuanced, with inhibitory activity only on phosphorylated RyR2 channels, which occurs during exercise or in patients with heart failure.