CARP Plays a Key Role in Cellular Growth Under Hypertrophic Stimuli in Neonatal Rat Ventricular Myocytes

Abstract

Cardiac hypertrophy is a growth process that occurs in response to stress stimuli or injury, and leads to the induction of several pathways to alter gene expression. Under hypertrophic stimuli, sarcomeric structure is disrupted, both as a consequence of gene expression and local changes in sarcomeric proteins. Cardiac-restricted ankyrin repeat protein (CARP) is one such protein that function both in cardiac sarcomeres and at the transcriptional level. We postulate that due to this dual nature, CARP plays a key role in maintaining the cardiac sarcomere. GATA4 is another protein detected in cardiomyocytes as important in hypertrophy, as it is activated by hypertrophic stimuli, and directly binds to DNA to alter gene expression. Results of GATA4 activation over time were inconclusive; however, the role of CARP in mediating hypertrophic growth in cardiomyocytes was clearly demonstrated. In this study, Neonatal Rat Ventricular Myocytes were used as a model to detect changes over time in CARP and GATA4 under hypertrophic stimulation by phenylephrine and high serum media. Results were detected by analysis of immunoblotting. The specific role that CARP plays in mediating cellular growth under hypertrophic stimuli was studied through immunofluorescence, which demonstrated that cardiomyocyte growth with hypertrophic stimulation was significantly blunted when NRVMs were co-treated with CARP siRNA. These data suggest that CARP plays an important role in the hypertrophic response in cardiomyocytes.