The Role of Phospholamban and Sarcolipin in Skeletal Muscle Disease
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The Role of Phospholamban and Sarcolipin in Skeletal Muscle Disease by Val Andrew M. Fajardo A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2015 ©Val Andrew M. Fajardo AUTHOR’S DECLARATION This thesis consists of material all of which I authored or co-authored: see Statement of Contributions included in the thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. Val Andrew M. Fajardo ii Statement of Contributions Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of this thesis are presented as manuscripts published or currently in submission, and all manuscripts were a joint effort across several co-authors. The contributions from every author for each of the chapters are listed below. Chapter 2 – Thesis Study I: Phospholamban overexpression in mice causes a centronuclear myopathy-like phenotype Val A. Fajardo1§, Eric Bombardier1§, Elliott McMillan1, Khanh Tran1, Brennan J. Wadsworth1, Daniel Gamu1, Andrew Hopf, Chris Vigna1, Ian C. Smith1, Catherine Bellissimo1, Robin N. Michel2, Mark A. Tarnopolsky3,4,5, Joe Quadrilatero1, A. Russell Tupling1* From the 1Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2Department of Exercise Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 3Departement of Kinesiology, 4Department of Pediatrics, and 5Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. A.R.T., V.A.F., and E.B. conceived the study idea. V.A.F. coordinated Western blot experiments and with K.T. performed the Western blot analyses. E.B. and C.B. performed the histological and histochemical analysis. E.B., C.B, and E.M performed the immunofluorescence staining experiments. V.A.F., D.G., and A.H., performed SERCA ATPase activity. V.A.F. and C.V. performed Ca2+ uptake measures. E.M. performed proteolytic activity and oxidative stress assays. V.A.F. and E.B. performed plasma creatine kinase analysis. B.J.W. and I.C.S. conducted soleus contractile analysis. V.A.F. conducted treadmill running. J.Q. and A.R.T. contributed reagents, materials, and analysis tools. M.T. provided the muscle biopsies from CNM patients. A.R.T. and V.A.F. wrote the manuscript that was reviewed by all authors. iii Chapter 3 – Thesis Study II (currently in submission in Brain and Behaviour as of Sept. 11, 2015): Diaphragm assessment in mice overexpressing phospholamban in slow-twitch type I muscle fibres Val Andrew Fajardo1, Ian Curtis Smith1, Eric Bombardier1, Paige J Chambers1, Joe Quadrilatero1, A. Russell Tupling1 From the 1Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada V.A.F. and A.R.T. conceived the study idea. V.A.F. performed Western blot analyses on SERCA isoforms, SLN, PLN, and dynamin 2. V.A.F. performed SERCA activity and Ca2+ uptake assays on diaphragm, gluteus minimus and soleus muscles. I.C.S. conducted the in vitro contractility experiments. V.A.F. performed the histological/histochemical/immunofluorescence experiments and E.B. analyzed the images. P.J.C. performed nuclear fraction isolation and NFAT Western blots. J.Q. provided materials and equipment. V.A.F. and A.R.T. wrote the manuscript that was approved by all authors. iv Chapter 4 – Thesis Study IV (currently in submission in Journal of Biological Chemistry as of Dec. 14, 2015): Sarcolipin is vital for muscle growth and remodelling and counters disease pathology Val A. Fajardo, Dan Gamu, Bradley A. Rietze, Catherine Bellissimo, Andrew Mitchell, Darin Bloemberg, Paige J. Chambers, Frenk Kwon, Eric Bombardier, Joe Quadrilatero, A. Russell Tupling* Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave., Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1 Canada A.R.T. and V.A.F. conceived the study idea. V.A.F., D.G, D.B., P.J.C., and F.K. performed Western blot analyses. V.A.F. performed SERCA ATPase, Ca2+ uptake, TEM, serum creatine kinase, and in vitro contractility experiments. D.G. performed CLAMS analyses for daily food intake and ambulation. A.M. performed the proteolytic activity assays. V.A.F., B.A.R., and C.B. performed histological, histochemical, and immunofluorescent staining. B.A.R. and E.B. analyzed fibre type distribution and cross-sectional area. V.A.F. and P.J.C. performed the simultaneous plantaris mechanical overload and soleus tenotomy surgeries, and C.B. conducted the cardiotoxin injections. V.A.F. designed the breeding strategy for generating the PlnOE/SlnKO and mdx/SlnKO mice, which was carried out by V.A.F., C.B., F.K., and P.J.C. J.Q. and A.R.T contributed reagents, materials, and analysis tools. A.R.T. and V.A.F. wrote the manuscript that was reviewed by all authors. v Abstract Sarcolipin (SLN) and phospholamban (PLN) are two small proteins that physically interact with and inhibit the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) pump. Results from our laboratory and others have shown that, under conditions of high-fat feeding, SLN is recruited in skeletal muscles to uncouple SERCA-mediated Ca2+ transport from ATP hydrolysis thereby increasing energy expenditure by the SERCA pumps and combating obesity. Since, PLN is considered structurally and functionally homologous with SLN, we initially questioned whether PLN could also uncouple the SERCA pump, increase energy expenditure, and combat the obesigenic effects of a high-fat diet. To this end, we purchased commercially available mice that overexpressed PLN (PlnOE); however, the surprising discovery of pathology within their soleus muscles shifted the focus from metabolism to myopathy. In the first study of this thesis, the overall objectives were to characterize the PlnOE mouse model with respect to SERCA and muscle function, and to diagnose the disease found in their skeletal muscles. Since the PlnOE mice were designed to overexpress PLN specifically in their type I skeletal muscle fibres, the analyses of this study was restricted to the postural muscles, soleus and gluteus minimus, that normally contain approximately 55- 65% and 27% type I fibre proportions, respectively. As a result of the 6-to-7-fold upregulation in the inhibitory PLN protein, reductions in SERCA’s apparent affinity for Ca2+ 2+ (-0.16 KCa in pCa units, P < 0.05), maximal activity (-15-28%, P < 0.05), and Ca uptake (- 20-74%, P < 0.05) in the soleus and gluteus minimus muscles from PlnOE mice were observed. Reductions in the rates of relaxation (-dF/dt, -60%, P < 0.05) in isolated soleus muscles assessed in vitro further support the decrements in SERCA function. With respect to vi the myopathy, the soleus muscles exhibited muscle weakness and progressive atrophy, which was associated with an overall enhancement of all the major proteolytic pathways existing in skeletal muscle (caspase-3, cathepsin, calpain, and proteasome, P < 0.05) and oxidative stress revealed with dichlorofluoroscein fluorescence assays (P < 0.05) and protein nitrosylation (P < 0.05). Moreover, results from histological, histochemical, and immunofluorescent analyses of the PlnOE soleus and gluteus minimus muscles revealed greater central nuclei, type I fibre predominance and hypotrophy, and central aggregation of oxidative activity, suggesting that the myopathy found in these muscles resembled the rare congenital disease centronuclear myopathy (CNM). Interestingly, preliminary findings from muscle biopsies from three CNM patients and five healthy controls revealed that, in CNM, SERCA function is significantly impaired (-53% maximal activity, P < 0.05) and is associated with a trending increase in PLN expression (P = 0.08); however future experiments with more CNM patients that are genetically related are required to further examine PLN’s potential role in CNM. Nevertheless, the results from study I demonstrate, for the first time, the importance of PLN in skeletal muscle health and disease, and have uncovered a novel model for CNM to test novel mechanisms and therapeutic strategies. In study II, the diaphragm muscles from PlnOE mice were examined because these types of investigations that assess respiratory function in animal models of CNM are limited. Since the diaphragm muscles typically comprise of 10% type I fibres, it was hypothesized that the diaphragm muscles would also display impaired SERCA function, muscle weakness, and CNM pathology. The results from this study; however, indicate that although SERCA’s affinity for Ca2+ was significantly lower in the PlnOE diaphragm compared with wild-type (- 0.07 KCa in pCa units, P < 0.05), SERCA function was not impaired to the extent seen in the vii PlnOE soleus and gluteus minimus muscles with no differences in maximal SERCA activity and only a 15% reduction in Ca2+ uptake that did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.08). Moreover, there was very little pathology in the PlnOE diaphragm with no impairments in in vitro force contractility and only type I fibre hypotrophy being evident with no central nuclei, type I fibre predominance, or central aggregation of oxidative activity. Thus, the diaphragm muscles appear to confer resistance to PlnOE-induced myopathy and understanding the underlying mechanisms may lead to novel therapeutic strategies. One interesting possibility that was tested in this thesis involved the potential role of SLN, which was upregulated according to disease severity in the PlnOE mice as SLN was increased 7-9 fold (P < 0.05) in the PlnOE gluteus minimus and soleus muscles; but only increased 2.5-fold (P < 0.05) in the PlnOE diaphragm. Similar patterns of SLN expression were previously observed in the dystrophic mdx and mdx/utrophin-null mouse models where SLN was found upregulated to a greater extent in the mdx/utrophin-null mouse which exhibits far worse dystrophic pathology. The question of whether this increase in SLN represents a maladaptive or adaptive role in myopathy was the focus of study III in this thesis.