Ranolazine improved tolerance to high workload in mouse HCM cardiomyocytes, not by blocking late Na(+) current, but by antagonizing β-adrenergic stimulation and slightly desensitizing myofilaments to Ca(2+). This effect did not translate in therapeutic efficacy in vivo.

Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) may serve as a new assay for drug testing in a human context, but their validity particularly for the evaluation of inotropic drug effects remains unclear. In this blinded analysis, we compared the effects of 10 indicator compounds with known inotropic effects in electrically stimulated (1.5 Hz) hiPSC-CM-derived 3-dimensional engineered heart tissue (EHT) and human atrial trabeculae (hAT). Human EHTs were prepared from iCell hiPSC-CM, hAT obtained at routine heart surgery. Mean intra-batch variation coefficient in baseline force measurement was 17% for EHT and 49% for hAT. The PDE-inhibitor milrinone did not affect EHT contraction force, but increased force in hAT. Citalopram (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor), nifedipine (LTCC-blocker) and lidocaine (Na+ channel-blocker) had negative inotropic effects on EHT and hAT. Formoterol (beta-2 agonist) had positive lusitropic but no inotropic effect in EHT, and positive clinotropic, lusitropic, and inotropic effects in hAT. Tacrolimus (calcineurin-inhibitor) had a negative inotropic effect in EHTs, but no effect in hAT. Digoxin (Na+-K+-ATPase-inhibitor) showed a positive inotropic effect only in EHTs, but no effect in hAT probably due to short incubation time. Ryanodine (ryanodine receptor-inhibitor) reduced contraction force in both models. Rolipram and acetylsalicylic acid showed noninterpretable results in hAT. Contraction amplitude and kinetics were more stable over time and less variable in hiPSC-EHTs than hAT. HiPSC-EHT faithfully detected cAMP-dependent and -independent positive and negative inotropic effects, but limited beta-2 adrenergic or PDE3 effects, compatible with an immature CM phenotype.

Food-derived aminoimidazoazarenes have been shown to be mutagenic and carcinogenic and to form covalent DNA adducts. 32P-Post-labelling analysis of DNA modified with these heterocyclic amines (HA), including 2-amino-3-methyl-imidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ), 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo [4,5-f]quinoline (MeIQ), 2-amino-3,7,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (7,8-DiMeIQx) and 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) has resulted in considerable interlaboratory variation in the characteristic patterns of DNA adduct spots, with up to six being detected for each compound. Similar complex patterns were observed when azido-derivatives of HA were photoreacted with calf thymus DNA. When deoxyguanosine 3'-monophosphate was modified with the azido derivatives and analysed using the 32P-post-labelling procedure, one major spot was observed for IQ, 4,8-DiMeIQx, 7,8-DiMeIQx or PhIP and two major spots for MeIQ or MeIQx. In each case, these adducts were chromatographically indistinguishable from the major adducts formed with DNA. No major adduct spots were observed when 3'-phosphate derivatives of deoxyadenosine, deoxycytidine or thymidine were reacted with the azido-derivatives of HA. In an attempt to identify the additional spots, azido derivatives of PhIP or IQ were reacted with the synthetic homopolymer poly(dG).poly(dC), the alternating copolymer poly(dC-dG) or a synthetic oligonucleotide (TTT-GTTTTTTCTTTCCCT): in each case a reduced number of adduct spots were detected. The introduction of an additional nuclease P1 hydrolysis step following the labelling reaction further reduced the number of adduct spots to only one or two major spots. Reversed-phase HPLC analysis showed that the number of peaks of radioactivity was also reduced to one or two, presumably corresponding to the [32P]-5'-monophosphate deoxyguanosine adducts. We suggest that many of the additional spots commonly observed in conventional 32P-post-labelling analysis of HA-modified DNA are adducted oligonucleotides that are partly resistant to hydrolysis by micrococcal nuclease and spleen phosphodiesterase but are susceptible to hydrolysis by nuclease P1.