Metabolic Phenotyping of Murine Hearts Overexpressing Constitutively Active Soluble Guanylate Cyclase
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METABOLIC PHENOTYPING OF MURINE HEARTS OVEREXPRESSING CONSTITUTIVELY ACTIVE SOLUBLE GUANYLATE CYCLASE Ramzi Khairallah Department of Experimental Medicine Faculty of Medicine McGill University, Montreal Quebec, Canada A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master’s in Science August 2007 ©Ramzi Khairallah, 2007 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 Résumé ......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter I ‐ Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 8 Cardiac hypertrophy and its progression to failure .................................................................................. 8 Molecular pathways leading to cardiomyocyte hypertrophy ............................................................. 11 Calcineurin‐ Nuclear Factor of Activated T‐cells (NFAT) signaling .................................................. 11 PI3K/Akt/GSK‐3‐dependent signaling ............................................................................................. 12 GPCR signaling ................................................................................................................................. 14 MAPK Pathways .............................................................................................................................. 16 Antihypertrophic pathways ................................................................................................................ 17 The Nitric Oxide (NO) signaling pathway ........................................................................................ 18 The natriuretic peptide signaling pathway ..................................................................................... 19 The cGMP signaling pathway .......................................................................................................... 19 Cardiac energy metabolism .................................................................................................................... 20 Cardiac energy substrate utilization pathways and its acute regulation ............................................ 20 General overview ............................................................................................................................ 20 Carbohydrate metabolism .............................................................................................................. 21 Fatty acid metabolism ..................................................................................................................... 25 The citric acid cycle ......................................................................................................................... 27 Control of cardiac metabolic phenotype through signaling pathways ........................................... 27 Metabolic remodeling in the healthy and diseased heart .................................................................. 28 The normal metabolic switch from fetal to adult state .................................................................. 28 2 Metabolic remodeling in disease .................................................................................................... 28 Role of the NO/cGMP pathway in metabolic remodeling .................................................................. 30 Chapter II ‐ Manuscript ............................................................................................................................... 32 Cyclic GMP signaling in cardiomyocytes modulates fatty acid trafficking and prevents triglyceride accumulation ........................................................................................................................................... 33 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 34 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 35 Experimental Procedures .................................................................................................................... 36 Materials and animal model ........................................................................................................... 36 Working mouse heart perfusion ..................................................................................................... 36 Tissue processing ............................................................................................................................ 37 Levels and activity of factors involved in triglyceride hydrolysis .................................................... 38 Statistical Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 39 Results ................................................................................................................................................. 40 Perfused GC+/0 hearts show decreased contribution of exogenous oleate to acetyl‐CoA and enhanced glycolysis ........................................................................................................................ 40 Lack of alteration in mechanisms regulating β‐oxidation for perfused GC+/0 hearts ...................... 40 Perfused GC+/0 hearts shuttle more exogenous 13C‐labeled oleate into triglycerides .................... 41 GC+/0 hearts exhibit alterations in factors influencing triglyceride lipolysis ................................... 41 GC+/0hearts are resistant to fasting‐induced triglyceride accumulation ......................................... 41 Discussion............................................................................................................................................ 43 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. 46 Figure Legends .................................................................................................................................... 50 References .......................................................................................................................................... 52 Methodological Considerations .............................................................................................................. 62 Working heart perfusion system ........................................................................................................ 62 3 Measurements of myocardial triglyceride turnover and lipolysis ...................................................... 64 Conceptual considerations ..................................................................................................................... 65 The mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) and PKCε .................................................... 66 Other mechanisms ‐ potential involvement of calcium, calcineurin‐NFAT, lipotoxicity and MAPK signalling ............................................................................................................................................. 67 Broader relevance of this study and clinical perspectives ...................................................................... 69 Conclusion and future perspectives ........................................................................................................... 71 Reference .................................................................................................................................................... 72 4 Abstract Although enhanced cGMP signaling can prevent hypertrophy, mechanisms underlying this cardioprotective effect are not well understood. In this study, we assessed the potential involvement of alterations in myocardial energy substrate metabolism, a parameter known to be determinant in the development of hypertrophy. We used mice overexpressing a constitutively active soluble guanylate cyclase in a cardiomyocyte‐specific manner (GC+/0) and ex vivo heart perfusion at physiological workload with 13C‐labeled substrates. Compared to controls, hearts from GC+/0 mice displayed a 38±9% lower contribution of exogenous fatty acids to acetyl‐CoA formation, while that of carbohydrates remained unchanged despite a two‐fold increase in glycolysis. The lower contribution of exogenous fatty acids to energy production was not associated with changes in energy demand or supply (contractile function, oxygen consumption, tissue acetyl‐CoA or CoA levels, citric acid cycle flux rate) or the regulation of β‐ oxidation (acetyl‐CoA carboxylase activity, tissue malonyl‐CoA levels). However, GC+/0 hearts showed a two‐fold increase in the incorporation of exogenous oleate into triglycerides. Furthermore, a concomitant increase in triglyceride hydrolysis