Altered β-adrenergic signal transduction in nonfailing hypertrophied myocytes from Dahl salt-sensitive rats

Abstract

Desensitization of the β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) response is well documented in hypertrophied hearts. We investigated whether β-AR desensitization is also present at the cellular level in hypertrophied myocardium, as well as the physiological role of inhibitory G (Gi) proteins and the L-type Ca2+channel in mediating β-AR desensitization. Left ventricular (LV) myocytes were isolated from hypertrophied hearts of hypertensive Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) rats and nonhypertrophied hearts of normotensive salt-resistant (DR) rats. Cells were paced at a rate of 300 beats/min at 37°C, and myocyte contractility and intracellular Ca2+concentration ([Ca2+]i) were simultaneously measured. In response to increasing concentrations of isoproterenol, DR myocytes displayed a dose-dependent augmentation of cell shortening and the [Ca2+]i transient amplitude, whereas hypertrophied DS myocytes had a blunted response of both cell shortening and the [Ca2+]i transient amplitude. Interestingly, inhibition of Gi proteins did not restore β-AR desensitization in DS myocytes. The responses to increases in extracellular Ca2+ and an L-type Ca2+ channel agonist were also similar in both DS and DR myocytes. Isoproterenol-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity, however, was blunted in hypertrophied myocytes. We concluded that compensated ventricular hypertrophy results in a blunted contractile response to β-AR stimulation, which is present at the cellular level and independent of alterations in inhibitory G proteins and the L-type Ca2+ channel.