Abstract
Caveolins are structural scaffolding proteins that allow for organization of signalling molecules in caveolae, membrane invaginations enriched in lipids. Caveolin‐3 (Cav‐3) is a heart specific isoform that is modulated by volatile anesthetics and is required for cardiac protection. We hypothesized that the cardioprotective noble gases Helium (He) and Xenon (Xe) also influence the enrichment of Cav‐3 to caveolae in vivo. Sprague‐ Dawley rats underwent 25 minutes of myocardial ischemia and 2 hours of reperfusion. Rats where left untreated (Con) or underwent different preconditioning (PC) protocols: in He late PC (HeLPC), rats inhaled He for 3×5 min a day before the experiment, the He postconditioning (HePost) group inhaled 70% He for 15 min at the onset of reperfusion. The Xe‐PC rats inhaled 70% Xe for 3×5 min before ischemia. Hearts were processed for sucrose density gradient centrifugation to purify caveolae. Cav‐3 and 1 expression were determined by immunoblotting. HeLPC and HePost increased Cav‐3 localization from 0.2±0.1 in Con to 0.4±0.1 and 0.4±0.2 (arbitrary units), respectively, in buoyant caveolar fractions indicative of increased caveolae formation. Xe‐PC had no effect on Cav‐3 localization. We found no effect on Cav‐1 localization.These data suggest that He might exert its cardioprotective effect by augmenting Cav‐3 localization to caveolae to further enhance cardioprotective signaling.
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