Cholinergic signaling impairs cardiomyocyte cohesion

Abstract

Cardiac autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation is a hallmark of cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure, arrhythmias and myocardial infarction. To understand the role of ANS in cardiomyocyte cohesion, we have previously identified that adrenergic signaling enhances cardiomyocyte cohesion via PKA‐mediated plakoglobin phosphorylation at serine 665, which we termed as positive adhesiotropy. In this study, we investigated the role of parasympathetic nervous system in cardiomyocyte cohesion, using carbachol (CCH) as a cholinergic agonist that binds to the muscarinic receptors. Dissociation assays performed in HL‐1 cells, grown in norepinephrine (NE) containing medium for baseline adrenergic stimulation, and in murine cardiac slice cultures from wild type (wt) and plakoglobin (Pg) knockout (Jup‐/‐) mice revealed an impaired cardiomyocyte cohesion after CCH treatment. Electron microscopy revealed that CCH reduced intercalated disc plaque thickness in both wt and Jup‐/‐mice. Immunostaining and atomic force microscopy in HL‐1 cells demonstrated that CCH reduced desmoglein 2 (Dsg2) localization and binding at cell borders. Immunoprecipitation showed no alterations in the interaction of Dsg2, desmoplakin, plakophilin 2 and Pg after CCH treatment. Nevertheless, knockdown of any of the above genes abrogated the loss of cardiomyocyte cohesion in response to CCH. In HL‐1 cells, CCH inhibited ERK phosphorylation but not Pg phosphorylation at serine 665 induced by forskolin/rolipram (FR) combination used for adrenergic stimulation. In addition, CCH activated the AKT/GSK‐3β axis in the presence of NE. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that cholinergic signaling antagonizes the positive effect of adrenergic signaling on cardiomyocyte cohesion and thus causes negative adhesiotropy, which is independent of Pg phosphorylation.