Stretch-activated channel activation promotes early afterdepolarizations in rat ventricular myocytes under oxidative stress

Abstract

Mechanical stretch and oxidative stress have been shown to prolong action potential duration (APD) and produce early afterdepolarizations (EADs). Here, we developed a simulation model to study the role of stretch-activated channel (SAC) currents in triggering EADs in ventricular myocytes under oxidative stress. We adapted our coupling clamp circuit so that a model ionic current representing the actual SAC current was injected into ventricular myocytes and added as a real-time current. This current was calculated as ISAC = GSAC * ( Vm − ESAC), where GSAC is the stretch-activated conductance, Vm is the membrane potential, and ESAC is the reversal potential. In rat ventricular myocytes, application of GSAC did not produce sustained automaticity or EADs, although turn-on of GSAC did produce some transient automaticity at high levels of GSAC. Exposure of myocytes to 100 μM H2O2 induced significant APD prolongation and increase in intracellular Ca2+ load and transient, but no EAD or sustained automaticity was generated in the absence of GSAC. However, the combination of GSAC and H2O2 consistently produced EADs at lower levels of GSAC (2.6 ± 0.4 nS, n = 14, P < 0.05). Pacing myocytes at a faster rate further prolonged APD and promoted the development of EADs. SAC activation plays an important role in facilitating the development of EADs in ventricular myocytes under acute oxidative stress. This mechanism may contribute to the increased propensity to lethal ventricular arrhythmias seen in cardiomyopathies, where the myocardium stretch and oxidative stress generally coexist.