ABSTRACT
Hypoglycemicagents have been shown to reduce the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with diabetes mellitus. Azoramide is a novel anti-diabetic agent which protects cells against endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress; however, the cardioprotective effect of azoramide against AF is not clear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the protective effect of azoramide in human iPS-derived atrial myocytes (a-iCMs) against injury induced by high-frequency electrical stimulation. Human-induced pluripotent stem cells were differentiated into a-iCMs by treatment of retinoic acid. The tachypacing group was subjected to 7 Hz tachypacing for 48 h. Azoramide was preconditioned 2-hours before tachypacing. a-iCMs expressed atria-specific genes and the characteristics of the action potential were analogous to those of human atrial myocytes. Tachypacing induced disorder of intracellular calcium homeostasis, apoptosis, depressed ATP level, and severer myofilament dissolution. MetaboAnalysis revealed that tachypacing induced remarkable changes in metabolites involved in energy, amino acid, and glucose metabolism, whereas there was no significant effect on lipid metabolism. Azoramide pretreatment partly alleviated tachypacing-induced calcium dyshomeostasis, ATP consumption, and accelerated apoptosis, which was likely achieved by regulating the PERK/CHOP/CaMKII pathway. Azoramide protected atrial myocytes against injury induced by high-frequency electrical stimulation by regulating ER stress, which may inhibit cell apoptosis and calcium dyshomeostasis via the PERK/CHOP/CaMKII pathway.
