A remarkable adaptive paradigm of heart performance and protection emerges in response to marked cardiac-specific overexpression of ADCY8

Adult (3 month) mice with cardiac-specific overexpression of adenylyl cyclase (AC) type VIII (TG(AC8)) adapt to an increased cAMP-induced cardiac workload (similar to 30% increases in heart rate, ejection fraction and cardiac output) for up to a year without signs of heart failure or excessive mortality. Here, we show classical cardiac hypertrophy markers were absent in TG(AC8), and that total left ventricular (LV) mass was not increased: a reduced LV cavity volume in TG(AC8) was encased by thicker LV walls harboring an increased number of small cardiac myocytes, and a network of small interstitial proliferative non-cardiac myocytes compared to wild type (WT) littermates; Protein synthesis, proteosome activity, and autophagy were enhanced in TG(AC8) vs WT, and Nrf-2, Hsp90 alpha, and ACC2 protein levels were increased. Despite increased energy demands in vivo LV ATP and phosphocreatine levels in TG(AC8) did not differ from WT. Unbiased omics analyses identified more than 2,000 transcripts and proteins, comprising a broad array of biological processes across multiple cellular compartments, which differed by genotype; compared to WT, in TG(AC8) there was a shift from fatty acid oxidation to aerobic glycolysis in the context of increased utilization of the pentose phosphate shunt and nucleotide synthesis. Thus, marked overexpression of AC8 engages complex, coordinate adaptation circuity that has evolved in mammalian cells to defend against stress that threatens health or life (elements of which have already been shown to be central to cardiac ischemic pre-conditioning and exercise endurance cardiac conditioning) that may be of biological significance to allow for proper healing in disease states such as infarction or failure of the heart.

Automated summary

This study found that overexpression of AC8 in mice enables them to adapt to an increased cardiac workload and triggers various adaptive changes. Compared to wild type mice, TG(AC8) mice showed increased number of cardiac myocytes, proliferation of non-cardiac myocytes, enhanced protein synthesis, and metabolic pathway shifts.