Abstract 11855: Disruption of β-arrestin-2 Signaling Resulted in Impaired Systolic and Diastolic Function During Aging

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Introduction: Angiotensin II (ang II) signaling at ang II receptor type 1 (AT1R), which is a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR), promotes both G-protein signaling as well as β-arrestin-2 signaling. β-arrestin-2 participates in GPCR desensitization, internalization, but also acts a scaffold for adaptive signal transduction that may occur independently or in parallel to G-protein signaling. Hypothesis: We tested the hypothesis that β-arrestin-2 is an important element in the preservation of cardiac function during aging. Methods: We tested this hypothesis by aging β-arrestin-2 knock-out (KO) mice, and wild-type equivalent (WT) to 12-16 months. We performed echocardiography studies, and Western blot analysis. Results: By echocardiography we found that compared to controls aged KO mice exhibited enlarged left atria (2.2±0.1 vs 2.5±0.1 mm) and left ventricular diameters (4.2±0.2 vs 4.5 ±0.1mm) as well as depressed contractility parameters such as s’ (23.2±1.4 vs 21.4±0.8 mm/s) and decreased circumferential fiber shortening velocity (5.5±0.4 vs 4.5±0.2) with preserved ejection fraction (EF>50%). Aged KO also exhibited depressed relaxation parameters such as e’ (29.2±1.4 vs 21.4±0,6 mm/s) and E/e’ (27.4±1.6 vs 35.6±2.0) when compared to WT controls at the same age. Cardiac dysfunction in aged KO mice was correlated with decreased phosphorylation of RLC and increased phosphorylation of cMyBP-C at Ser302. Among other kinases, cMyBP-C phosphorylation at Ser302 is a PKCε target which activation is negatively regulated by β-arrestin-2 signaling. To determine the direct effects of PKCε over-activation on cMyBP-C phosphorylation, we used mice that over-expresses constitutively active PKC ε in the heart. We found that similarly to our aged KO mice, PKCε overexpression model exhibited significantly higher levels of cMyBP-C phosphorylation at Ser302, when aged to 12 - 15 months. Conclusions: Deletion of β-arrestin-2 signaling in KO mice affected aged mice, resulting in changes in the phosphorylation of myofilament proteins consisting of decreased phosphorylation of RLC and increased phosphorylation of cMyBP-C at Ser302 through the unrestricted activity of PKCε. These changes negatively affected systolic and diastolic function in aged KO mice.