RNA transcription and translation in the hearts of normal and cardiomyopathic Syrian hamsters

Abstract

The cardiomyopathic Syrian hamster has an autosomal recessive defect that results in the development of an early onset cardiac myopathy leading to cardiac dysfunction and, eventually, complete heart failure. To assess the regulatory mechanisms modulating gene expression in the normal and myopathic myocardium, we investigated both RNA transcription and translation. Our results indicated that the incorporation of [3H]UMP into myocardial cell nuclear RNA decreased 10-fold from 7 to 210 days of age in the normal Syrian hamster. The incorporation of [3H]UMP was approximately 50% lower in the cardiomyopathic as compared with the normal Syrian hamster. RNA translation, as assessed by rabbit reticulocyte lysate in vitro translation, indicated that a coordinated 50% decrease in RNA translation occurred in normal Syrian hamster from 7 to 210 days of age. A further reduction of 20% in translation was found in cardiomyopathic Syrian hamster ventricular RNA translation as compared with matched random bred control groups. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel analysis of cell-free translated protein products demonstrated two myocardial peptides that were found to be consistently altered when the normal and cardiomyopathic Syrian hamsters were compared. These results indicate that transcription and translation decrease with age and that these processes are further downregulated, in an additive manner, with the genesis of the disease process.