ANG II modifies cardiomyocyte function via extracardiac and intracardiac neurons: in situ and in vitro studies.

To determine whether angiotensin II (ANG II) affects cardiac performance via neurons in intrathoracic cardiac ganglia, studies were performed on anesthetized dogs. To exclude possible vascular regulatory effects of ANG II, experiments were also performed using long-term cultures of adult guinea pig ventricular cardiomyocytes with or without intrathoracic neurons. 1) In in situ experiments in 10 anesthetized dogs, cardiac augmentation occurred when ANG II (10 microl or 0.1 ml; 10-100 microM) was administered into limited loci within acutely decentralized stellate or middle cervical ganglia that were neurally connected to, but not those disconnected from, the heart. In another 18 dogs, ANG II increased intrinsic cardiac neuronal activity when administered adjacent to such neurons or into their local arterial blood supply. Ventricular ionotropic effects elicited by ANG II were eliminated by timolol, whereas increases in intrinsic cardiac neuronal activity were not affected. Effects elicited by ANG II were eliminated by administration of a selective AT1 receptor antagonist (losartan) but not by a selective AT2 receptor antagonist (PD-123319). 2) In in vitro experiments, ANG II (100 nM) induced positive chronotropic effects on cultured adult guinea pig cardiomyocytes innervated with adult extrinsic or intrinsic cardiac neurons, but not those cultured without neurons. The frequency of calcium inward current (Ca(i)) transients (recorded by fura 2 fluorescence) increased in innervated cocultures but not in the noninnervated cardiomyocyte cultures; however, the amplitude of Ca(i) transients was not affected by ANG II in cultures or in freshly isolated adult guinea pig cardiomyocytes. ANG II-induced effects in cocultures were blocked by losartan but not PD-123319 or timolol. Thus 1) ANG II-sensitive neurons exist in intrathoracic extracardiac and intrinsic cardiac ganglia; 2) these neurons possess AT1 receptors; and 3) these neurons appear to act directly and indirectly via adrenergic neurons to enhance cardiomyocyte function.