Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
SPring-8, Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Hyogo, Japan.
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2023 Sep 1;325(3):H585-H591. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00369.2023. Epub 2023 Jul 28.
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a naturally occurring heart failure condition in humans and dogs, notably characterized by a reduced contractility and ejection fraction. As the identification of its underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms remain incomplete, the aim of the present study was to assess whether the molecular motor myosin and its known relaxed conformational states are altered in DCM. For that, we dissected and skinned thin cardiac strips from left ventricle obtained from six DCM Doberman Pinschers and six nonfailing (NF) controls. We then used a combination of Mant-ATP chase experiments and X-ray diffraction to assess both energetic and structural changes of myosin. Using the Mant-ATP chase protocol, we observed that in DCM dogs, the amount of myosin molecules in the ATP-conserving conformational state, also known as superrelaxed (SRX), is significantly increased when compared with NF dogs. This alteration can be rescued by applying EMD-57033, a small molecule activating myosin. Conversely, with X-ray diffraction, we found that in DCM dogs, there is a higher proportion of myosin heads in the vicinity of actin when compared with NF dogs (1,0 to 1,1 intensity ratio). Hence, we observed an uncoupling between energetic (Mant-ATP chase) and structural (X-ray diffraction) data. Taken together, these results may indicate that in the heart of Doberman Pinschers with DCM, myosin molecules are potentially stuck in a nonsequestered but ATP-conserving SRX state, that can be counterbalanced by EMD-57033 demonstrating the potential for a myosin-centered pharmacological treatment of DCM. The key finding of the present study is that, in left ventricles of dogs with a naturally occurring dilated cardiomyopathy, relaxed myosin molecules favor a nonsequestered superrelaxed state potentially impairing sarcomeric contractility. This alteration is rescuable by applying a small molecule activating myosin known as EMD-57033.
扩张型心肌病(DCM)是人类和犬类中一种自然发生的心力衰竭病症,其特征主要为收缩力和射血分数降低。由于其潜在的细胞和分子机制尚未完全阐明,本研究旨在评估分子马达肌球蛋白及其已知的松弛构象状态是否在 DCM 中发生改变。为此,我们从六只患有 DCM 的杜宾犬和六只非衰竭(NF)对照犬的左心室中分离和去皮了薄的心肌条带。然后,我们使用 Mant-ATP 追逐实验和 X 射线衍射的组合来评估肌球蛋白的能量和结构变化。使用 Mant-ATP 追逐方案,我们观察到在 DCM 犬中,处于 ATP 保存构象状态(也称为超级松弛(SRX)的肌球蛋白分子的数量与 NF 犬相比显著增加。这种改变可以通过应用 EMD-57033 ,一种激活肌球蛋白的小分子来挽救。相反,通过 X 射线衍射,我们发现与 NF 犬相比,在 DCM 犬中,肌球蛋白头部在肌动蛋白附近的比例更高(1.0 至 1.1 强度比)。因此,我们观察到能量(Mant-ATP 追逐)和结构(X 射线衍射)数据之间的解偶联。总之,这些结果可能表明,在患有 DCM 的杜宾犬的心脏中,肌球蛋白分子可能潜在地卡在非隔离但 ATP 保存的 SRX 状态中,这可以通过 EMD-57033 来平衡,这表明肌球蛋白为中心的 DCM 药物治疗的潜力。本研究的关键发现是,在自然发生的扩张型心肌病犬的左心室中,松弛的肌球蛋白分子有利于非隔离的超级松弛状态,这可能会损害肌节的收缩力。这种改变可以通过应用一种已知的激活肌球蛋白的小分子 EMD-57033 来挽救。