Functional coupling between the caffeine/ryanodine-sensitive Ca2+ store and mitochondria in rat aortic smooth muscle cells.

We investigated the role of mitochondria in the agonist-induced and/or caffeine-induced Ca2+ transients in rat aortic smooth muscle cells. We explored the possibility that proliferation modulates the coupling between mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum. Ca2+ transients induced by either ATP or caffeine were measured in presence or absence of drugs interfering with mitochondrial activity in freshly dissociated cells (day 1) and in subconfluent primary culture (day 12). We found that the mitochondrial inhibitors, rotenone or carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, as well as the permeability transition pore inhibitor, cyclosporin A, had no effect on the ATP-induced Ca2+ transient at either day 1 or day 12, but prevented caffeine-induced cytosolic Ca2+ increase at day 12 but not at day 1. Close connections between ryanodine receptors and mitochondria were observed at both day 1 and 12. Thapsigargin (TG) prevented ATP- and caffeine-induced Ca2+ transients at day 1. At day 12, where only 50% of the cells were sensitive to caffeine, TG did not prevent the caffeine-induced Ca2+ transient, and prevented ATP-induced Ca2+ transient in only half of the cells. Together, these data demonstrate that rat aortic smooth muscle cells at day 1 have an ATP- and caffeine-sensitive pool, which is functionally independent but physically closely linked to mitochondria and totally inhibited by TG. At day 12, we propose the existence of two cell populations: half contains IP3 receptors and TG-sensitive Ca2+ pumps only; the other half contains, in addition to the IP3-sensitive pool independent from mitochondria, a caffeine-sensitive pool. This latter pool is linked to mitochondria through the permeability transition pore and is refilled by both TG-sensitive and insensitive mechanisms.

Intracellular Ca(2+) handling in vascular smooth muscle cells is affected by proliferation.

Despite intensive interest in the dedifferentiation process of vascular smooth muscle cells, very little data are available on intracellular Ca(2+) signaling. The present study was designed to investigate the evolution of the intracellular Ca(2+) pools when rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMCs) proliferate and to define the mechanisms involved in the functional alterations. RASMCs were cultured in different conditions, and [Ca(2+)](i) was measured by use of fura 2. Expression of the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+) pumps (SERCA2a and SERCA2b), Ca(2+) channels, the ryanodine receptor (RyR), and the inositol trisphosphate receptor (IP3R) was studied by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunofluorescence. Antibodies specific for myosin heavy chain isoforms were used as indicators of the differentiation state of the cell, whereas an anti-proliferating cell nuclear antigen antibody was a marker of proliferation. SERCA2a, SERCA2b, RyR3, and IP3R-1 mainly were present in the aorta in situ and in freshly isolated RASMCs. These cells used the 2 types of Ca(2+) channels to release Ca(2+) from a common thapsigargin-sensitive store. Proliferation of RASMCs, induced by serum or by platelet-derived growth factor-BB, resulted in the disappearance of RyR and SERCA2a mRNAs and proteins and in the loss of the caffeine- and ryanodine-sensitive pool. The differentiated nonproliferative phenotype was maintained in low serum or in cells cultured at high density. In these conditions, RyR and SERCA2a were also present in RASMCs. Thus, expression of RyR and SERCA2a is repressed by cell proliferation, inducing loss of the corresponding Ca(2+) pool. In arterial smooth muscle, Ca(2+) release through RyRs is involved in vasodilation, and suppression of the ryanodine-sensitive pool might thus alter the control of vascular tone.

Cellular distribution of Ca2+ pumps and Ca2+ release channels in rat cardiac hypertrophy induced by aortic stenosis.

BACKGROUND: The response of ventricular myocytes to pressure overload is heterogeneous and not spatially coordinated. We investigated whether or not the alterations in SERCA and RyR gene expression are homogeneous within the myocardium. METHODS AND RESULTS: The cellular distribution of mRNAs and proteins encoding the 2 sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) isoforms (SERCA 2a and 2b) and 2 Ca2+ release channels (the ryanodine receptor, RyR, and the IP3 receptor, IP3R) were analyzed by in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence, respectively. Analyses were performed during early (1 and 5 days) and late (1 month) stages of cardiac hypertrophy induced in rat by thoracic aortic stenosis (AS). The results indicated that 1 and 5 days after AS, the cellular distribution of SERCA 2a and RyR2 mRNAs in right ventricle and atrium was similar to controls but the mRNA levels appeared to decrease in some areas of the left ventricle (LV). One month after AS, the distribution of SERCA 2a mRNA and protein became heterogeneous throughout the LV, whereas RyR2 mRNA and protein levels were decreased in a homogeneous manner. SERCA 2b, poorly expressed in both cardiomyocytes and vessels of controls, was increased 4-fold 1 month after AS in coronary arteries only. In both sham (Sh) and AS, SERCA 3 and IP3R mRNAs were mainly found in the vessels. CONCLUSIONS: In severe hypertrophy, decreased accumulation of SERCA 2a was heterogeneous and not compensated by an induction of SERCA 2b in the cardiomyocytes. Decrease in RyR2 expression was more homogeneous and not compensated by an increased IP3R expression.