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(Circulation Research. 2002;90:497.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Reduced Transient Outward K⁺ Current and Cardiac Hypertrophy

Causal Relationship or Epiphenomenon?

Michael C. Sanguinetti

From the Department of Physiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Correspondence to Michael C. Sanguinetti, Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, 15 N 2030 E, Room 4220, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. E-mail michael.sanguinetti{at}hmbg.utah.edu

Key Words: potassium channels • heart failure • calcineurin

Action potentials coordinate contraction and relaxation of the heart. The long plateau phase of the action potential ensures sufficient Ca²⁺ entry into the cytoplasm via L-type Ca²⁺ channels to invoke Ca²⁺-induced Ca²⁺ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum and activation of the contractile filaments. Action potentials are initiated by opening of voltage-gated Na⁺ channels that in turn rapidly depolarize the membrane and open voltage-gated Ca²⁺ and K⁺ channels. Some K⁺ channels activate immediately in response to depolarization, then inactivate within tens of milliseconds later, and mediate a current called the transient outward K⁺ current (I_to). In many mammalian hearts, including human, I_to is responsible for the initial rapid phase of action potential repolarization, discernible as a notch preceding the plateau phase, but has little role in terminal repolarization. In contrast, I_to in rodents is a major repolarizing current throughout the comparatively short cardiac action potential (Figure, panel A) necessary to maintain extremely high heart rates. I_to is composed of at least two components in the mammalian ventricle. One component is characterized by a slow recovery from inactivation (I_tos), another by a relatively fast recovery from inactivation (I_tof). Comparison of native currents and heterologously expressed channels indicates that I_tof is mediated by Kv4.2 and/or Kv4.3 channels, whereas I_tos is mediated by Kv1.4 channels.

View larger version (28K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Reduction of Itof prolongs APD and may induce hypertrophy via a calcineurin-dependent signaling pathway. A, At physiologically relevant heart rates, Itof is the major repolarizing current of the ventricular action potential in rodents. Pharmacological block of Itof or functional knockout of Kv4.2 channel subunits lengthens the plateau phase of the action potential. B, Reduction of Itof (Kv4.2 channels) but not Itos (Kv1.4 channels) prolongs action potentials and increases Ca2+ entry via L-type Ca2+ channels. Calcium activates calcineurin phosphatase activity in the cytosol. Calcineurin dephosphorylates NFAT, allowing it to translocate into the nucleus, where, together with other factors such as GATA4, it activates transcription of hypertrophic response (HR) genes.

Prolongation of ventricular action potentials is a common finding in many cardiac disorders, including pathological hypertrophy, heart failure, myocardial infarction, and long-QT syndromes. Two of these diseases, hypertrophy and heart failure, are associated with a decrease of I_to in the human heart and in animal models. Without experimental data to address the question, it might seem reasonable that pathological hypertrophy and heart failure somehow cause a reduction in I_to rather than the opposite. Recently, the relationship between I_to and disease was directly examined with Kv4 and Kv1.4 knockout mouse models.

In 1999, Wickenden et al¹ reported the surprising finding that cardiac-specific (driven by -MHC promoter) overexpression of a dominant-negative Kv4.2 K⁺ channel subunit in mice caused dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure, in addition to prolongation of action potential duration (APD). This finding was provocative because an earlier study by Barry et al² reported that cardiac-specific functional knockout of I_tof in mice did not induce hypertrophy. Several differences between the two studies might explain why reduction of I_tof in one model but not the other resulted in heart failure. In the earlier study, Barry et al² overexpressed a Kv4.2 channel subunit that had a single missense mutation (W362F) located in the pore region. In a heterologous expression system, these mutant subunits can fold, coassemble into tetramers, and insert into the plasma membrane normally, but the channels are nonconducting. However, when coexpressed with wild-type Kv4.2 channel subunits, the mutant subunits have a dominant-negative effect, meaning they coassemble with wild-type subunits to form nonfunctional tetrameric channels. In contrast, Wickenden et al¹ functionally knocked out I_tof by overexpressing an N-terminal fragment of Kv4.2 channel subunits. This partial channel subunit would, of course, have no channel function on its own but could coassemble with wild-type Kv4.2 subunits and have a dominant-negative effect. It is possible that overexpression of the N-terminal fragment of Kv4.2 has toxic effects leading to heart failure. Barry et al² also noted that knockout of I_tof was associated with an increase in Kv1.4 channel expression, perhaps as a compensatory response. However, upregulation of Kv1.4 channel expression was not responsible for the lack of hypertrophy or failure in mice overexpressing Kv4.2W362F because crossbreeding of Kv1.4^-/- and Kv4.2W362F transgenic mice produced offspring that had structurally normal hearts despite significant QT prolongation and frequent ventricular tachycardia.³

KChIP2 (Kv channel interacting protein 2) is an auxiliary K⁺ channel subunit that binds to the N-terminal of Kv4 channel subunits in the heart and increases the number of channels in the plasma membrane and the rate of Kv4 channel recovery from inactivation.⁴ Regional differences in the expression of KChIP2 are responsible for the transmural gradient in I_tof density in the canine heart.⁵ Recently, Kuo et al⁶ found that knockout of KChIP in mice nearly eliminated I_to and increased their susceptibility to arrhythmia but did not cause any changes in heart volume, ventricular wall thickness, or contractility.

The KChIP study and most of the I_to knockout mice studies demonstrate that a decrease in I_to does not necessarily result in cellular hypertrophy or heart failure. Conversely, and contrary to most reports, hypertrophy is also not always associated with a change in I_to. Wang et al⁷ reported in 2001 that pressure-overload hypertrophy induced by thoracic aortic banding in mice resulted in an increase in L-type Ca²⁺ channel density but no significant alteration in I_to. Cyclosporin A prevented the hypertrophy and increase in Ca²⁺ current in aortic-banded mice, indicating a central role for calcineurin, a Ca²⁺/calmodulin–activated serine/threonine protein phosphatase.

The mechanism by which calcineurin mediates cardiac hypertrophy in mice was first demonstrated in 1999.^8,9 NFAT3 (nuclear factors in activated T cells) is normally heavily phosphorylated when in the cytoplasm. When NFAT3 is dephosphorylated by calcineurin, it translocates into the nucleus where it can interact with GATA4 to activate transcription of hypertrophic response genes. The importance of the calcineurin pathway in pressure-overload hypertrophy has also been demonstrated using transgenic mice overexpressing a dominant-negative mutant of calcineurin.¹⁰ It is important to note that other signaling pathways such as the protein kinase C pathway or the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade have also been shown to mediate the hypertrophic response in the heart.^11,12

Taken together, the majority of published evidence suggests that activation of the calcineurin signaling pathway, but not a reduction in I_to density, is causally related to cardiac hypertrophy. Just when it seemed the matter was settled, Kassiri et al¹³ report in this issue of Circulation Research that reduction of I_tof in cultured neonatal rat ventricular myocytes causes hypertrophy via a calcineurin-dependent pathway. Two approaches were used. First, I_tof was blocked by heteropodatoxin, a spider toxin that specifically blocks Kv4.2 channels without any effect on Kv1.4 channels.¹⁴ Treatment with toxin for 30 to 70 hours of spontaneously contracting cultured myocytes reduced I_tof by 50%, increased cell capacitance (an electrical measure of cell size) by 30%, and increased protein synthesis (measured by ³H-leucine incorporation) by 23%. For unknown reasons, reduction of I_tof by the spider toxin also reduced the expression of Kv4.2 channels. The second approach used adenoviral-mediated infection to overexpress dominant-negative Kv4.2 channel subunits, either the N-truncated Kv4.2 subunit previously used by Backx’s group,¹ or the Kv4.2W362F mutant subunit previously used in the transgenic mouse studies by Barry et al.² I_to was reduced by 50% in myocytes infected with either transgene, and biophysical analyses revealed that I_tof was selectively abolished. The reduction in I_tof caused more than a doubling of APD₉₀, a 47% increase in cell capacitance, and a 38% increase in ³H-leucine incorporation, changes that were suppressed by simultaneous overexpression of wild-type Kv4.2 channel subunits. In contrast, elimination of Kv1.4 channel current by overexpression of a dominant-negative transgene did not alter these measures of cell size or growth. This was an expected finding given the slow rate of I_tos recovery from inactivation.

Overexpression of the dominant-negative Kv4.2 subunits also caused about a 70% increase in NFAT activity and a similar increase in calcineurin phosphatase activity.¹³ Coinfection with a specific noncompetitive inhibitor of calcineurin prevented the increase in cell capacitance and ³H-leucine uptake but did not prevent the decrease in I_tof. The authors concluded that prolongation of APD caused by suppression of I_tof increases [Ca²⁺]_i, which activates calcineurin and subsequent transcription of hypertrophic response genes (Figure, panel B). In support of this hypothesis, prevention of spontaneous contractions and the associated increase in [Ca²⁺]_i by treatment of cells with the L-type Ca²⁺ channel blocker verapamil or depolarization of cells with high [K⁺]_o eliminated calcineurin activation and the measures of cell growth but did not prevent the reduction of I_tof or prolongation of APD in electrically paced myocytes.

There is clearly a need to understand why some rodent models show an association between prolonged action potentials and hypertrophy or heart failure and others do not. Equally important is the question of whether studies in rodents provide significant insight into human disorders of cardiac repolarization. For example, despite the presence of markedly prolonged action potentials in human long-QT syndrome, there is no evidence of hypertrophy.¹⁵

Footnotes

The opinions expressed in this editorial are not necessarily those of the editors or of the American Heart Association.

References

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