Background Atrial fibrillation is a growing public health problem without adequate therapies. Angiotensin II (Ang II) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are validated risk factors for atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients, but the molecular pathway(s) connecting ROS and AF is unknown. The Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) has recently emerged as a ROS activated proarrhythmic signal, so we hypothesized that oxidized CaMKIIδ(ox-CaMKII) could contribute to AF. Methods and Results We found ox-CaMKII was increased in atria from AF patients compared to patients in sinus rhythm and from mice infused with Ang II compared with saline. Ang II treated mice had increased susceptibility to AF compared to saline treated WT mice, establishing Ang II as a risk factor for AF in mice. Knock in mice lacking critical oxidation sites in CaMKIIδ (MM-VV) and mice with myocardial-restricted transgenic over-expression of methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MsrA TG), an enzyme that reduces ox-CaMKII, were resistant to AF induction after Ang II infusion. Conclusions Our studies suggest that CaMKII is a molecular signal that couples increased ROS with AF and that therapeutic strategies to decrease ox-CaMKII may prevent or reduce AF.

Understanding relationships between heart failure and arrhythmias, important causes of suffering and sudden death, remains an unmet goal for biomedical researchers and physicians. Evidence assembled over the last decade supports a view that activation of the multifunctional Ca2+ and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) favors myocardial dysfunction and cell membrane electrical instability. CaMKII activation follows increases in intracellular Ca2+ or oxidation, upstream signals with the capacity to transition CaMKII into a Ca2+ and calmodulin-independeant, constitutively active enzyme. Constitutively active CaMKII appears poised to participate in disease pathways by catalyzing the phosphorylation of classes of protein targets important for excitation-contraction coupling and cell survival, including ion channels and Ca2+ homeostatic proteins, and transcription factors that drive hypertrophic and inflammatory gene expression. This rich diversity of downstream targets helps to explain the potential for CaMKII to simultaneously affect mechanical and electrical properties of heart muscle cells. Proof of concept studies from a growing number of investigators show that CaMKII inhibition is beneficial for improving myocardial performance and reducing arrhythmias. Here we review the molecular physiology of CaMKII, discuss CaMKII actions at key cellular targets and results of animal models of myocardial hypertrophy, dysfunction and arrhythmias that suggest CaMKII inhibition may benefit myocardial function while reducing arrhythmias.

Sinus node dysfunction (SND) is a major public health problem that is associated with sudden cardiac death and requires surgical implantation of artificial pacemakers. However, little is known about the molecular and cellular mechanisms that cause SND. Most SND occurs in the setting of heart failure and hypertension, conditions that are marked by elevated circulating angiotensin II (Ang II) and increased oxidant stress. Here, we show that oxidized calmodulin kinase II (ox-CaMKII) is a biomarker for SND in patients and dogs and a disease determinant in mice. In wild-type mice, Ang II infusion caused sinoatrial nodal (SAN) cell oxidation by activating NADPH oxidase, leading to increased ox-CaMKII, SAN cell apoptosis, and SND. p47 --mice lacking functional NADPH oxidase and mice with myocardial or SAN-targeted CaMKII inhibition were highly resistant to SAN apoptosis and SND, suggesting that ox-CaMKII-triggered SAN cell death contributed to SND. We developed a computational model of the sinoatrial node that showed that a loss of SAN cells below a critical threshold caused SND by preventing normal impulse formation and propagation. These data provide novel molecular and mechanistic information to understand SND and suggest that targeted CaMKII inhibition may be useful for preventing SND in high-risk patients. IntroductionEach normal heart beat is initiated as an electrical impulse from a small number of highly specialized sinoatrial node (SAN) pacemaker cells that reside in the lateral right atrium. There is now general agreement that physiological SAN function requires a pacemaker current (I f ) (1) and spontaneous release of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) intracellular Ca 2+ that triggers depolarizing current through the Na + /Ca 2+ exchanger (I NCX ) (2, 3). The multifunctional Ca 2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is essential for increasing SR Ca 2+ release in SAN cells in response to stress to cause physiological "fight-or-flight" heart rate (HR) increases (4). Although the physiological basis for SAN behavior is increasingly understood, very little is known about SAN disease. Severe SAN dysfunction (SND) is marked by irregular prolonged pauses between heart beats, pathologically slow HRs at rest, and inadequate activity-related increases in HR. At present, surgical implantation of permanent pacemakers is required for treatment of SND and costs $2 billion annually in the United States (5). SND commonly occurs in the setting of heart failure and hypertension (6-8), conditions characterized by excessive activation of renin-Ang II signaling (9) and elevated levels of ROS (10). Ang II increases ROS in ventricular myocardium by stimulating NADPH oxidase to cause activation of CaMKII (ox-CaMKII) by oxidation of Met281/282 in the CaMKII regulatory domain (11).

Background Timothy Syndrome (TS) is a disease of excessive cellular Ca2+ entry and life-threatening arrhythmias due to a mutation in the primary cardiac L-type Ca2+ channel (CaV1.2). The TS mutation causes loss of normal voltage-dependent inactivation (VDI) of CaV1.2 current (ICa). During cellular Ca2+ overload the calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) causes arrhythmias. We hypothesized that CaMKII is a part of the proarrhythmic mechanism in TS. Methods and Results We developed an adult rat ventricular myocyte model of TS (G406R) by lenti virus-mediated transfer of wild type (WT) and TS CaV1.2. The exogenous CaV1.2 contained a mutation (T1066Y) conferring dihydropyridine resistance, so we could silence endogenous CaV1.2 with nifedipine and maintain peak ICa at control levels in infected cells. TS CaV1.2 infected ventricular myocytes exhibited the signature VDI loss under Ca2+ buffering conditions, not permissive for CaMKII activation. In physiological Ca2+ solutions, TS CaV1.2 expressing ventricular myocytes exhibited increased CaMKII activity and a proarrhythmic phenotype that included action potential prolongation, increased ICa facilitation and afterdepolarizations. Intracellular dialysis of a CaMKII inhibitory peptide, but not a control peptide, reversed increases in ICa facilitation, normalized the action potential and prevented afterdepolarizations. We developed a revised mathematical model that accounts for CaMKII-dependent and CaMKII-independent effects of the TS mutation. Conclusions In TS the loss of VDI is an upstream initiating event for arrhythmia phenotypes that are ultimately dependent on CaMKII activation.

Rationale The sodium-calcium exchanger 1 (NCX1) is predominantly expressed in the heart and is implicated in controlling automaticity in isolated sinoatrial nodal (SAN) pacemaker cells, but the potential role of NCX1 in determining heart rate in vivo is unknown. Objective Determine the role of Ncx1 in heart rate. Methods and Results We employed global myocardial and SAN-targeted conditional Ncx1 knockout (Ncx1−/−) mice to measure the effect of the NCX current (INCX) in pacemaking activity in vivo, ex vivo and in isolated SAN cells. We induced conditional Ncx1−/− using a Cre/loxP system. Unexpectedly, in vivo and ex vivo hearts and isolated SAN cells showed that basal rates in Ncx1−/− (retaining ~20% of control level INCX) and control mice were similar, suggesting that physiological NCX1 expression is not required for determining resting heart rate. However, heart rate and SAN cell automaticity increases in response to isoproterenol or the dihydropyridine Ca2+ channel agonist BayK8644 were significantly blunted or eliminated in Ncx1−/− mice, indicating that NCX1 is important for fight or flight heart rate responses. In contrast the ‘pacemaker’ current (If) and L-type Ca2+ currents were equivalent in control and Ncx1−/− SAN cells under resting and isoproterenol-stimulated conditions. Ivabradine, an If antagonist with clinical efficacy, reduced basal SAN cell automaticity similarly in control and Ncx1−/− mice. However, ivabradine decreased automaticity in SAN cells isolated from Ncx1−/− mice more effectively than in control SAN cells after isoproterenol, suggesting that the importance of INCX in fight or flight rate increases is enhanced after If inhibition. Conclusion Physiological Ncx1 expression is required for increasing sinus rates in vivo, ex vivo and in isolated SAN cells but not for maintaining resting heart rate.

The serotonin 5-HT(6) receptor, a G-protein-coupled receptor, displays high affinity for antipsychotic, antidepressant, and psychotropic drugs. We created a constitutively active form of the human 5-HT(6) receptor in order to probe the molecular domains of receptor activation and to determine if inverse agonist activities of antipsychotic drugs contribute to their clinical profile. Previous studies from our laboratory support a critical role for the c-terminal region of the third intracellular loop (il3) in the activation of G(q)-coupled serotonin receptors. In the present study, PCR-based mutagenesis was used to mutate serine 267 (S6.34) in the c-terminal region of il3 to lysine (S267K). The native and S267K 5-HT(6) receptors were expressed in COS-7 cells to study the functional effects of the mutation. The S267K receptor shows 10-fold higher affinity for serotonin than the native receptor and demonstrates agonist-independent activity. Clozapine decreased the basal activity of the S267K receptor to vector control levels. Therefore, we can conclude that the S267K mutation renders the 5-HT(6) receptor constitutively active and that clozapine is an inverse agonist at the mutant 5-HT(6) receptor. These results indicate that the c-terminal region of il3 of the G(s)-coupled 5-HT(6) receptor is a key domain for G-protein coupling, similar to the G(q)-coupled 5-HT receptors. The inverse agonist action of clozapine indicates that drugs displaying competitive antagonist activity at native 5-HT(6) receptors may display inverse agonist activity at the constitutively activated form of the receptor.

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Site-specific mutations in the third intracellular loop of the G(s)-coupled h5HT6 and h5HT7 receptors produce constitutive activation. Antipsychotic drugs display inverse agonist activity at the activated receptors. The inverse agonist mechanism-of-action of the atypical antipsychotic drugs at the h5HT7 receptors may be different from the typical antipsychotic drugs as these drugs displayed far higher potencies as inverse agonists at the h5HT7 receptor.