Li Yuxin, Zhang Zhang, Hao Xuezeng, Yu Tingting, Li Sen
School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022 Aug 30;2022:9361077. doi: 10.1155/2022/9361077. eCollection 2022.
The therapeutic effects of Qiliqiangxin capsule (QLQX), a Chinese patent medicine, in patients with chronic heart failure are well established. However, whether QLQX modulates cardiac calcium (Ca) signals, which are crucial for the heart function, remains unclear. . This study aimed to evaluate the role of QLQX in modulating Ca signals in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs).
Fluorescence imaging was used to monitor Ca signals in the cytosol and nuclei of hiPSC-CMs. For Ca spark measurements, the line-scan mode of a confocal microscope was used.
The QLQX treatment substantially decreased the frequency of spontaneous Ca transients, whereas the amplitude of Ca transients elicited by electrical stimulation did not change. QLQX increased the Ca spark frequency in both the cytosol and nuclei without changing the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca content. Interestingly, QLQX ameliorated abnormal Ca transients in CMs differentiated from hiPSCs derived from patients with long-QT syndrome.
Our findings provide the first line of evidence that QLQX directly modulates cardiac Ca signals in a human cardiomyocyte model.
中成药芪苈强心胶囊（QLQX）对慢性心力衰竭患者的治疗效果已得到充分证实。然而，QLQX是否调节对心脏功能至关重要的心脏钙（Ca）信号仍不清楚。本研究旨在评估QLQX在调节人诱导多能干细胞衍生心肌细胞（hiPSC-CMs）中Ca信号的作用。
采用荧光成像监测hiPSC-CMs细胞质和细胞核中的Ca信号。对于Ca火花测量，使用共聚焦显微镜的线扫描模式。
QLQX处理显著降低了自发Ca瞬变的频率，而电刺激引发的Ca瞬变幅度没有变化。QLQX增加了细胞质和细胞核中的Ca火花频率，而不改变肌浆网Ca含量。有趣的是，QLQX改善了长QT综合征患者来源的hiPSC分化的心肌细胞中的异常Ca瞬变。
我们的研究结果提供了首个证据，表明QLQX在人心肌细胞模型中直接调节心脏Ca信号。
