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These results suggest that in the failing human heart, there is an increase in functional activity rather than in amount of Gi, and an important part of functional expression of Gi-alpha may be regulated at the post-translational level.

Prevention of cardiotoxicity without interfering with the therapeutic efficacy of adriamycin is a very crucial question. We have investigated the activity of beta-adrenoceptor coupled to guanine nucleotide binding regulatory proteins (G-proteins) and Ca(2+)-ATPase activity in experimental adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity and the influence of metoprolol treatment on these variables. Adriamycin was administered to rats intravenously as a single dose of 6 mg/kg, and metoprol was continuously given by means of implanted osmotic pumps. beta-Adrenoceptor characteristics were measured by radioligand-binding experiments and by basal and stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity. Northern blot and dot blot analysis was used to quantify G-protein mRNA. It was shown that adriamycin did not induce any change in the total beta-adrenoceptor density, nor did the high affinity agonist binding to beta-adrenoceptor change. Adriamycin did not induce any alteration in the amount of mRNA encoding for stimulatory (Gs) or inhibitory (Gi) G-proteins. Also, basal and stimulated adenylyl cyclase activities were identical in the different experimental groups. In contrast, the Ca(2+)-ATPase was shown to increase in adriamycin-treated rats compared to control rats (45 +/- 3.8 versus 23 +/- 1.2 mumol Pi/mg/h, P less than .01). Metoprolol was shown to normalize this increase (29 +/- 2.1 mumol Pi/mg/h). Thus, it may be concluded that in experimental adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity, despite Ca(2+)-overloading, the beta-adrenoceptor-G protein-adenylyl cyclase system remains intact. Metoprolol seems to prevent Ca(2+)-overloading independently of the beta-adrenoceptors studied here.

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The experimental chronic failing heart due to myocardial ischaemia showed a depressed myocardial adenylyl cyclase signalling system. This may be due to the hypersensitivity of the Gi protein mediated muscarinic receptor-adenylyl cyclase system as shown by the increased inhibition of Gpp(NH)p mediated adenylyl cyclase, more potent inhibition of stimulated adenylyl cyclase by carbachol, and the superhigh affinity of the muscarinic receptors for carbachol.

The inhibitory guanine nucleotide binding regulatory protein (Gi)-mediated muscarinic receptor-adenylyl cyclase system was studied in myocardium from adult male Wistar rats with 10 weeks of diabetes induced by a single intravenous injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg). Neither the messenger ribonucleic acid level nor the amount of Gi was changed in the streptozotocin diabetic group as compared to the control group. The activity of the adenylyl cyclase stimulated by guanyliminodiphosphate was decreased by 48% in the streptozotocin diabetic group whereas stimulated activities of adenylyl cyclase by sodium fluoride and forskolin remained unchanged. The inhibition of forskolin-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity by carbachol was more potent in membranes from the streptozotocin diabetic group than that in membranes from the control group. The competition binding curve between (3H)- quinuclidinyl benzilate and carbachol obtained from the streptozotocin diabetic group was shifted to the left as compared to the control group. These results suggest that the myocardium of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats exhibited an increase in Gi function as demonstrated by the increased inhibition of guanyliminodiphosphate-mediated adenylyl cyclase and the superhigh affinity for carbachol of the muscarinic receptors. As there were signs, similar to those seen in clinical heart failure, in the streptozotocin diabetic group, these results demonstrate that functional alteration of Gi might underlie, at least in part, the cardiac dysfunction that is associated with diabetes.