Intracellular sodium determines frequency-dependent alterations in contractility in hypertrophied feline ventricular myocytes.

Hypertrophy and failure (H/F) in humans and large mammals are characterized by a change from a positive developed force-frequency relationship (+FFR) in normal myocardium to a flattened or negative developed force-frequency relationship (-FFR) in disease. Altered Ca(2+) homeostasis underlies this process, but the role of intracellular Na(+) concentration (Na(+)) in H/F and frequency-dependent contractility reserve is unclear. We hypothesized that altered Na(+) is central to the -FFR response in H/F feline myocytes. Aortic constriction caused left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). We found that as pacing rate was increased, contraction magnitude was maintained in isolated control myocytes (CM) but decreased in LVH myocytes (LVH-M). Quiescent LVH-M had higher Na(+) than CM (LVH-M 13.3 +/- 0.3 vs. CM 8.9 +/- 0.2 mmol/l; P < 0.001) with 0.5-Hz pacing (LVH-M 14.9 +/- 0.5 vs. CM 10.8 +/- 0.4 mmol/l; P < 0.001) but were not different at 2.5 Hz (17.0 +/- 0.7 vs. control 16.0 +/- 0.7 mmol/l; not significant). Na(+) was altered by patch pipette dialysis to define the effect of Na(+) on contraction magnitude and action potential (AP) wave shape at slow and fast pacing rates. Using AP clamp, we showed that LVH-M require increased Na(+) and long diastolic intervals to maintain normal shortening. Finally, we determined the voltage dependence of contraction for Ca(2+) current (I(Ca))-triggered and Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger-mediated contractions and showed that there is a greater Na(+) dependence of contractility in LVH-M. These data show that increased Na(+) is essential for maintaining contractility at slow heart rates but contributes to small contractions at fast rates unless rate-dependent AP shortening is prevented, suggesting that altered Na(+) regulation is a critical contributor to abnormal contractility in disease.