Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 114, Issue 12, Pages 3240-3245Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1619484114
Keywords
myosin filament mechanosensing; heart regulation; small-angle X-ray diffraction; cardiac muscle; Frank-Starling mechanism
Categories
Funding
- Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze Project (Italy) [2015.0902]
- Telethon Project (Italy) [GGP12282]
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
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The mammalian heart pumps blood through the vessels, maintaining the dynamic equilibrium in a circulatory system driven by two pumps in series. This vital function is based on the fine-tuning of cardiac performance by the Frank-Starling mechanism that relates the pressure exerted by the contracting ventricle (end systolic pressure) to its volume (end systolic volume). At the level of the sarcomere, the structural unit of the cardiac myocytes, the Frank-Starling mechanism consists of the increase in active force with the increase of sarcomere length (length-dependent activation). We combine sarcomere mechanics and micrometer-nanometer-scaleX-ray diffraction from synchrotron light in intact ventricular trabeculae from the rat to measure the axial movement of the myosin motors during the diastole-systole cycle under sarcomere length control. We find that the number of myosin motors leaving the off, ATP hydrolysis-unavailable state characteristic of the diastole is adjusted to the sarcomere length-dependent systolic force. This mechanosensing-based regulation of the thick filament makes the energetic cost of the systole rapidly tuned to the mechanical task, revealing a prime aspect of the Frank-Starling mechanism. The regulation is putatively impaired by cardiomyopathy-causing mutations that affect the intramolecular and intermolecular interactions controlling the off state of the motors.
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