Single Rabbit Sinoatrial Node Research Articles

Mechanisms of Beat-to-Beat Regulation of Cardiac Pacemaker Cell Function by Ca2+ Cycling Dynamics

Whether intracellular Ca2+ cycling dynamics regulate cardiac pacemaker cell function on a beat-to-beat basis remains unknown. Here we show that under physiological conditions, application of low concentrations of caffeine (2–4 mM) to isolated single rabbit sinoatrial node cells acutely reduces their spontaneous action potential cycle length (CL) and increases Ca2+ transient amplitude for several cycles. Numerical simulations, using a modified Maltsev-Lakatta coupled-clock model, faithfully reproduced these effects, and also the effects of CL prolongation and dysrhythmic spontaneous beating (produced by cytosolic Ca2+ buffering) and an acute CL reduction (produced by flash-induced Ca2+ release from a caged Ca2+ buffer), which we had reported previously. Three contemporary numerical models (including the original Maltsev-Lakatta model) failed to reproduce the experimental results. In our proposed new model, Ca2+ releases acutely change the CL via activation of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger current. Time-dependent CL reductions after flash-induced Ca2+ releases (the memory effect) are linked to changes in Ca2+ available for pumping into sarcoplasmic reticulum which, in turn, changes the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ load, diastolic Ca2+ releases, and Na+/Ca2+ exchanger current. These results support the idea that Ca2+ regulates CL in cardiac pacemaker cells on a beat-to-beat basis, and suggest a more realistic numerical mechanism of this regulation.

Model for the respiratory modulation of the heart beat-to-beat time interval series

In this study we present a model for the respiratory modulation of the heart beat-to-beat interval series. The model consists of a set of differential equations used to simulate the membrane potential of a single rabbit sinoatrial node cell, excited with a periodic input signal with added correlated noise. This signal, which simulates the input from the autonomous nervous system to the sinoatrial node, was included in the pacemaker equations as a modulation of the i NaK current pump and the potassium current i K . We focus at modeling the heart beat-to-beat time interval series from normal subjects during meditation of the Kundalini Yoga and Chi techniques. The analysis of the experimental data indicates that while the embedding of pre-meditation and control cases have a roughly circular shape, it acquires a polygonal shape during meditation, triangular for the Kundalini Yoga data and quadrangular in the case of Chi data. The model was used to assess the waveshape of the respiratory signals needed to reproduce the trajectory of the experimental data in the phase space. The embedding of the Chi data could be reproduced using a periodic signal obtained by smoothing a square wave. In the case of Kundalini Yoga data, the embedding was reproduced with a periodic signal obtained by smoothing a triangular wave having a rising branch of longer duration than the decreasing branch. Our study provides an estimation of the respiratory signal using only the heart beat-to-beat time interval series.

Parasympathetic modulation of sinoatrial node pacemaker activity in rabbit heart: a unifying model.

We have extended our compartmental model [Am. J. Physiol. 266 (Cell Physiol. 35): C832-C852, 1994] of the single rabbit sinoatrial node (SAN) cell so that it can simulate cellular responses to bath applications of ACh and isoprenaline as well as the effects of neuronally released ACh. The model employs three different types of muscarinic receptors to explain the variety of responses observed in mammalian cardiac pacemaking cells subjected to vagal stimulation. The response of greatest interest is the ACh-sensitive change in cycle length that is not accompanied by a change in action potential duration or repolarization or hyperpolarization of the maximum diastolic potential. In this case, an ACh-sensitive K+ current is not involved. Membrane hyperpolarization occurs in response to much higher levels of vagal stimulation, and this response is also mimicked by the model. Here, an ACh-sensitive K+ current is involved. The well-known phase-resetting response of the SAN cell to single and periodically applied vagal bursts of impulses is also simulated in the presence and absence of the beta-agonist isoprenaline. Finally, the responses of the SAN cell to longer continuous trains of periodic vagal stimulation are simulated, and this can result in the complete cessation of pacemaking. Therefore, this model is 1) applicable over the full range of intensity and pattern of vagal input and 2) can offer biophysically based explanations for many of the phenomena associated with the autonomic control of cardiac pacemaking.

Elevation of intracellular Ca 2+ concentration by protein kinase C stimulation in isolated single rabbit sino-atrial node cells

1. Effects of phorbol esters (stimulators of protein kinase C, PK-C) on the L-type Ca 2+ current ( I Ca) and the intracellular Ca 2+ level ([Ca] i) were investigated using single rabbit sino-atrial (SA) node cells. 2. In whole-cell patch-clamp experiments, both phorbol esters (1 μM). 4-β-phorbol-12, 13-dibutyrate (PDB) and 12- O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), inhibited the I Ca. Phorbol esters did not affect the voltages of half-maximum activation and inactivation for I Ca. 3. The time-course of inactivation phase for I Ca was two exponentials. The fast component was decreased, whereas the slow component was increased by phorbol esters. 4. Addition of H-7 (10 μM), an inhibitor of PK-C, did not antagonize, but rather increased both components. In contrast, 4-α-phorbol-12, 13-didecanoate (PDD), an inactive analog, did not affect the I Ca amplitude and the inactivation process. 5. The phorbol esters elicited a transient inward current by repetitive clamp pulses. 6. In SA node cells loaded with fura-2 (a Ca 2+-sensitive fluorescent dye), both TPA and PDB at 0.3 μM in the presence of isoproterenol (ISP, 0.2 μM) elevated the [Ca] i. PDD did not affect [Ca] i. 7. These results indicate that PK-C stimulation by phorbol esters elevates [Ca] i (which is potentiated by ISP), possibly resulting in cellular calcium overload.

Effects of ATP-sensitive K+ channel openers on pacemaker activity in isolated single rabbit sino-atrial node cells.

Electrophysiologic effects of ATP-sensitive K+ channel openers (cromakalim, pinacidil, and nicorandil) in single rabbit sino-atrial (SA) node cells were examined by a whole-cell voltage- and current-clamp technique. Cromakalim (> 30 microM), pinacidil (> 1 microM), and nicorandil (> 500 microM) caused a negative chronotropic effect. At low concentrations, the maximum diastolic potential was hyperpolarized and the maximum rate of depolarization was enhanced, but at high concentrations, both were reversed and action potential amplitude (APA) was decreased significantly. Pinacidil (> 30 microM) and nicorandil (> 3 microM) prolonged AP duration (APD), but cromakalim did not affect it. In whole-cell voltage-clamp experiments, cromakalim (100 microM), pinacidil (> 30 microM), and nicorandil (> 300 microM) inhibited the Ca2+ current significantly but had little or no effect on the delayed rectifying K+ current and the hyperpolarization-activated inward current. Glibenclamide (1 microM) did not antagonize the effects of K+ channel openers on Ca2+ current and APs. These results indicate that the K+ channel openers have direct inhibitory actions on spontaneous APs and Ca2+ current in rabbit SA node cells (but K+ current was unaffected), resulting in decreased pacemaker activity.

Desensitization to acetylcholine in single sinoatrial node cells isolated from rabbit hearts.

The negative chronotropic effect of acetylcholine (ACh) on the sinoatrial node fades in the continuous presence of ACh as a result of desensitization. We have investigated the mechanism underlying desensitization in single rabbit sinoatrial node cells using the whole cell patch clamp technique. The negative chronotropic effect resulting from the injection of a constant hyperpolarizing current faded. ACh activated an inwardly rectifying potassium current (iK,ACh), which faded in the continuous presence of ACh. ACh had no effect on "basal" L-type calcium current (iCa), but ACh decreased iCa, which had been potentiated by isoprenaline. This effect did not fade during a 2-min exposure to ACh. ACh decreased the hyperpolarization-activated current (i(f)). This effect again did not fade. These results suggest that desensitization of the negative chronotropic response to ACh is, in part, the result of the membrane hyperpolarization and, in part, the result of the fade of iK,ACh. These results also suggest that, whereas the activation of potassium current by ACh rapidly fades, the effects resulting from the inhibition of adenylate cyclase do not.

Delayed rectification in single cells isolated from guinea pig sinoatrial node.

We have studied delayed rectifier K+ currents (IK) in cells isolated from the sinoatrial node (SAN) region of the guinea pig. Using whole cell patch-clamp procedures, we measured the voltage dependence of IK activation and IK kinetics and the IK equilibrium potential in 4.8 mM extracellular K concentration solutions. Experiments were designed to contrast properties of guinea pig SAN IK with those of IK recorded from SAN cells of the rabbit. We find that guinea pig SAN IK differs from IK recorded from single rabbit SAN cells in its activation threshold, and in the absence of inactivation of whole cell currents recorded over a wide voltage range. These results, along with the relative insensitivity of guinea pig SAN IK to E-4031 and lanthanum, suggest that under our experimental conditions, a strongly rectifying IK component (IK,r) is not the major component of delayed rectification in the guinea pig SAN, as it appears to be in SAN cells of the rabbit.

Rabbit sino‐atrial node cells: isolation and electrophysiological properties.

1. A method has been developed for isolating calcium-tolerant, single rabbit sinoatrial node cells which maintain their natural shape following isolation. The majority of viable, spontaneously active cells were elongated and measured about 100 microns in length. 2. Staining fixed cells with Haematoxylin-Eosin revealed that a 'cell' with projections was usually an aggregate of more than one cell. 3. Single, elongated, spontaneously active cells were current and voltage clamped using the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp recording technique. The spontaneous activity and time-dependent currents recorded were similar to those reported previously in multicellular nodal preparations and in single cells. 4. An assessment was made of the time course of L-type calcium current run-down: a stable period of between 10 and 20 min followed by a rapid run-down (over about 2 min) was typically observed. 5. In most cells, a fast, TTX-sensitive Na+ current component was seen. A few cells showed a transient outward K+ current (iA). 6. The activation range for the hyperpolarization-activated current, if, varied from cell to cell. In the majority of actively beating cells, the threshold for if was near the maximum diastolic potential (about -65 mV in most cells) but in other cells, no if could be recorded within the pacemaker range. 7. Millimolar concentrations of MnCl2 caused a marked increase in if, but only when the pipette solution did not contain EGTA. Inclusion of EGTA (to buffer Ca2+ to about pCa 8) significantly reduced the effect of Mn2+ which therefore probably occurs through inhibition of Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange and consequent rise in intracellular Ca2+ concentration.