The maintenance of intracellular Ca(2+) homeostasis in the pancreatic β-cell is closely regulated by activity of the sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) ATPase (SERCA) pump. Our data demonstrate a loss of β-cell SERCA2b expression in several models of type 2 diabetes including islets from db/db mice and cadaveric diabetic human islets. Treatment of 832/13 rat INS-1-derived cells with 25 mm glucose and the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β led to a similar loss of SERCA2b expression, which was prevented by treatment with the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ agonist, pioglitazone. Pioglitazone was able to also protect against hyperglycemia and cytokine-induced elevations in cytosolic Ca(2+) levels, insulin-secretory defects, and cell death. To determine whether PPAR-γ was a direct transcriptional regulator of the SERCA2 gene, luciferase assays were performed and showed that a -259 bp region is sufficient to confer PPAR-γ transactivation; EMSA and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments confirmed that PPAR-γ directly binds a PPAR response element in this proximal region. We next sought to characterize the mechanisms by which SERCA2b was down-regulated. INS-1 cells were exposed to high glucose and IL-1β in time course experiments. Within 2 h of exposure, activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) was observed and correlated with increased serine-273 phosphorylation of PPAR-γ and loss of SERCA2 protein expression, findings that were prevented by pioglitazone and roscovitine, a pharmacological inhibitor of CDK5. We conclude that pioglitazone modulates SERCA2b expression through direct transcriptional regulation of the gene and indirectly through prevention of CDK5-induced phosphorylation of PPAR-γ.

The sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and the contractile protein myosin play an important role in myocardial performance. Both of these systems exhibit plasticity-i.e., quantitative and/or qualitative reorganization during development and in response to stress. Recent studies indicate that SR Ca2l uptake function is altered in adaptive cardiac hypertrophy and failure. The molecular basis (genetic and phenotypic) for these changes is not understood. In an effort to determine the underlying causes of these changes, we characterized the rabbit cardiac Ca2+-ATPase phenotype by molecular cloning and ribonuclease A mapping analysis. Our results show that the heart muscle expresses only the slow-twitch SR Ca2+-ATPase isoform. Second, we quantitated the steady-state mRNA levels of two major SR Ca2+ regulatory proteins, the Ca2+-ATPase and phospholamban, to see whether changes in mRNA content might provide insight into the basis for functional modification in the SR of hypertrophied hearts. In response to pressure overload hypertrophy, the relative level of the slow-twitch/cardiac SR Ca2+-ATPase mRNA was decreased to 34% of control at 1 week. The relative Ca2+-ATPase mRNA level increased to 167% of control after 3 days of treatment with thyroid hormone. In contrast, in hypothyroid animals, the relative Ca2+-ATPase mRNA level decreased to 51% of control at 2 weeks. The relative level of phospholamban mRNA was decreased to 36% in 1-week pressure overload. Hyperthyroidism induced a decrease to 61% in the phospholamban mRNA level after 3 days of treatment, while hypothyroidism had virtually no effect on phospholamban mRNA levels. These data indicate that the expression of SR Ca2+-ATPase and phospholamban mRNA may not be coordinately regulated during myocardial adaptation to different physiological conditions.Myocardial hypertrophy is an adaptive response to sustained stress where survival depends on the increase in muscle mass. In addition to an increase in cell size there is significant reorganization of the myocardial cell that results in alteration in the function of the contractile proteins and the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). The major changes in the myocardial contractile proteins are attributable to altered phenotypic expression (1). The objective of the present study is to discover the basis for the change in myocardial SR function in hypertrophied hearts.The SR of striated muscle is a highly organized intracellular membrane system that plays a critical role in the contractionrelaxation cycle of the myocardium by regulating the cytosolic Ca2+ level (2). Ca2+ pumping by the SR membranes is mediated by a Ca2+-dependent ATPase. The Ca2+-ATPase of skeletal muscle SR has been studied extensively with respect to structure and mechanism ofaction (3, 4). The structure and function of the Ca2+-ATPase phenotype(s) expressed in the heart muscle, however, have been less well studied. Recently, MacLennan and co-workers have described the existence of four distinct Ca2+-ATPase isoforms (5-8, 40). Two of these are alternatively ...

Calsequestrin is the major Ca(2+)-binding protein localized in the terminal cisternae of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of skeletal and cardiac muscle cells. Calsequestrin has been purified and cloned from both skeletal and cardiac muscle in mammalian, amphibian, and avian species. Two different calsequestrin gene products namely cardiac and fast have been identified. Fast and cardiac calsequestrin isoforms have a highly acidic amino acid composition. The amino acid composition of the cardiac form is very similar to the skeletal form except for the carboxyl terminal region of the protein which possess variable length of acidic residues and two phosphorylation sites. Circular dichroism and NMR studies have shown that calsequestrin increases its alpha-helical content and the intrinsic fluorescence upon binding of Ca2+. Calsequestrin binds Ca2+ with high-capacity and with moderate affinity and it functions as a Ca2+ storage protein in the lumen of the SR. Calsequestrin has been found to be associated with the Ca2+ release channel protein complex of the SR through protein-protein interactions. The human and rabbit fast calsequestrin genes have been cloned. The fast gene is skeletal muscle specific and transcribed at different rates in fast and slow skeletal muscle but not in cardiac muscle. We have recently cloned the rabbit cardiac calsequestrin gene. Heart expresses exclusively the cardiac calsequestrin gene. This gene is also expressed in slow skeletal muscle. No change in calsequestrin mRNA expression has been detected in animal models of cardiac hypertrophy and in failing human heart.

Partial fatty acid oxidation inhibitors have raised great interest since they are expected to counteract a dysregulated gene expression of hypertrophied cardiocytes. Some of these compounds have been developed for treating non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and stable angina pectoris. A shift from fatty acid oxidation to glucose oxidation leads to a reduced gluconeogenesis and improved economy of cardiac work. An increased glucose oxidation can be achieved with the following enzyme inhibitors: etomoxir, oxfenicine, methyl palmoxirate, S-15176, metoprolol, amiodarone, perhexiline (carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1); aminocarnitine, perhexiline (carnitine palmitoyltransferase-2); hydrazonopropionic acid (carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase); MET-88 (gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase); 4-bromocrotonic acid, trimetazidine, possibly ranolazine (thiolases); hypoglycin (butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase); dichloroacetate (pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase). CLINICAL TRIALS with trimetazidine and ranolazine showed that this shift in substrate oxidation has an antianginal action. Etomoxir and MET-88 improved the function of overloaded hearts by increasing the density of the Ca(2+) pump of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SERCA2). The promoters of SERCA2 and alpha-myosin heavy-chain exhibit sequences which are expected to respond to transcription factors responsive to glucose metabolites and/or peroxisome proliferator-responsive element (PPAR) agonists. Further progress in elucidating novel compounds which upregulate SERCA2 expression is closely linked to the characterization of regulatory sequences of the SERCA2 promoter.

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Background: Altered sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca 2ϩ ATPase 2b (SERCA2b) expression and activity contributes to ␤ cell dysfunction in diabetes. Results: SERCA2b deficiency occurs secondary to loss of pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 (Pdx-1)-mediated transcriptional regulation. Conclusion: Pdx-1 maintains SERCA2b expression and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium levels in the ␤ cell. Significance: These findings elucidate a novel pathway that contributes to ␤ cell ER stress.

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