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Effects of Long-Term High-Altitude Hypoxia and Troponin I Phosphorylation on Cardiac Myofilament Calcium Responses in Fetal and Nonpregnant Sheep

Vaughn A. Browne, MD

Satoshi Kono, MD

Virginia M. Stiffel

Raymond D. Gilbert, PhD

Center for Perinatal Biology, Department of Physiology and Ostetrics and Gynecology, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, California

Objective: We studied the effects of long-term high-altitude hypoxia and protein kinase A (PKA) phosphorylation on calcium (Ca²⁺) responses of skinned cardiac papillary muscles from fetal and adult sheep.

Methods: Fetal and nonpregnant adult sheep were exposed to high-altitude (3820 m), long-term (approximately 110 days) hypoxia. Papillary muscles were isolated and mounted in well-oxygenated, temperature-controlled baths. After the papillary muscles were stimulated electrically to establish the diastolic tension that produced the maximum active contraction, the electrical stimulation was stopped, and the muscles were skinned with 1% vol/vol Triton-X-100. In protocol 1, the skinned muscles were exposed to activating solutions containing different calcium concentrations (pCa; from pCa 8.0 to pCa 4.0), which were prepared by varying the Ca-EGTA/EGTA ratio, and the steady-state tension was measured at each pCa. In protocol 2, the skinned muscles were contracted with activating solution containing a pCa of 5.0. After equilibration, the solution in some baths was changed to activating solution at the same pCa of 5.0 but also containing the catalytic subunit of PKA. The other baths were exchanged with activating solution at a pCa of 5.0 containing PKA. We then measured the degree of tension reduction caused by PKA until tension reached a new steady state.

Results: In the long-term hypoxic fetal heart, the maximum tension response of right, but not left, ventricular skinned papillary muscle to Ca²⁺ was significanlty less than that in control muscles. In the long-term hypoxic adult heart, the left ventricle, but not the right ventricle, displayed an increased maximum tension response to Ca²⁺ compared with control. Phosphorylation of troponin I (TnI) with PKA reduced active tension in both fetal ventricles of the long-term hypoxic group more than in hearts from control fetuses. In the adult, phosphorylation with PKA resulted in a larger decrease in tension in the left venitricle and a smaller decrease in tension in the right ventricle in the long-term hypoxic group, although the differences were small.

Conclusion: In the long-term hypoxic fetal right ventricle, the decreased maximum tension response to Ca²⁺ is consistent with the decrease in myofibrillar magnesium-activated adenosine triphophatase activity observed previously. The larger decrease in tension after PKA phosphroylation of TnI in the long-term hypoxic fetal left ventricle indicates a larger reduction in Ca²⁺ binding to troponin C.

Key Words: Heart • myocardium • troponin C • papillary muscle • ß-adrenergic

Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1-8 (2004)
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsgi.2003.07.003


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