Maintenance of resting tension in the American eel (Anguilla rostrata L.) heart is dependent upon exogenous fuel and the sarcoplasmic reticulum

Abstract

The relationship between extracellular glucose and management of cell Ca(2+) in the heart of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) was indirectly assessed by monitoring the performance of isolated ventricular strips at 20 degrees C. Twitch force increased in ventricular strips under specific conditions of 30 bpm pacing and an extracellular Ca(2+) challenge from 1.5 to 9.5 mM. The response was independent of any exogenous metabolic fuel in the medium. Resting tension was maintained when glucose was available, but in the absence of a metabolic fuel, resting tension increased in response to the increase in extracellular Ca(2+) level. When ventricular strips were treated with iodoacetate to inhibit glycolysis, a Ca(2+) challenge resulted in a decrease in twitch force in association with an approximately equivalent increase in resting tension even in the presence of exogenous glucose. However, when pyruvate (5 mM) was substituted as a metabolic fuel, twitch force increased as a function of extracellular Ca(2+), and resting tension was maintained in the presence of iodoacetate. Therefore, there is a need for an extracellular fuel but not a specific metabolic requirement for glucose to maintain the performance characteristics, which are presumably related to the management of intracellular Ca(2+) levels. Ventricular strips were treated with ryanodine to inhibit Ca(2+) release and uptake by the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Ryanodine treatment impaired postrest potentiation at high extracellular Ca(2+) levels. In the presence of ryanodine, the protective effect of glucose on the increase in resting tension in the face of an extracellular Ca(2+) challenge was eliminated. Considered together, the results reveal that the heart of the American eel has a requirement for an extracellular fuel to manage intracellular Ca(2+) at high Ca(2+) loads, and that the SR plays a role in the beat-to-beat regulation of Ca(2+) at a frequency of 30 bpm, high Ca(2+) load, and 20 degrees C.