Abstract
Adenovirus-mediated gene transfer into adult cardiac myocytes in primary culture is a potentially useful method to study the structure and function of the contractile apparatus. However, the consequences of adenovirus infection on the highly differentiated state of the cultured myocyte have not been determined. We report here a detailed analysis of myofilament structure and function over time in primary culture and after adenovirus infection. Adult rat ventricular myocytes in primary culture were infected with a recombinant adenovirus vector expressing either the LacZ or alkaline phosphatase reporter gene. Control and infected myocytes were collected at days 0-7 post-isolation/infection, and myofilament isoform expression was determined by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Laser scanning densitometry showed that the α- to β-myosin heavy chain ratio, the stoichiometry of the myosin light chains and the expression of the adult troponin T isoform did not change over time in culture or with adenovirus treatment. Importantly, examination of Ca2+-activated tension in single myocytes showed no change in the shape or position of the tension-pCa relationship in the control and adenovirus infected myocytes during primary culture. These results indicate that the structure and function of adult cardiac myocytes are stable in short term primary culture and are not affected by adenovirus infection per se, and therefore provide the foundation for the use of adenovirus-mediated myofilament gene transfer to study contractile apparatus structure and function in adult cardiac myocytes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 143-155 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Molecular and cellular biochemistry |
Volume | 181 |
Issue number | 1-2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1998 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was also funded by NIH grant # HL07853 to MVW. A preliminary report of this work has been previously published in abstract form: Rust EM, Westfall MV, Samuelson LC and Metzger JM: Efficient gene transfer into primary ventricular myocytes mediated by recombinant adenovirus. Biophysical Journal. 70: A170, 1996.
Funding Information:
This study was funded by grants from the NIH and the American Heart Association to JMM. J.M. Metzger is an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association.
Keywords
- Cardiac muscle
- Contractility
- Myofilament
- Virus