Inflammatory activation of human cardiac fibroblasts leads to altered calcium signaling, decreased connexin 43 expression and increased glutamate secretion

Heliyon

卷:3

Anders Lindahl¹  Mikael Sandstedt¹  Eva Skiöldebrand¹  Elisabeth Hansson²  Ulrika Björklund²  Lillemor Mattsson Hultén³  Annika Lundqvist³ 

[1] Department of Clinical Chemistry and Transfusion Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden;

[2] Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden;

[3] Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Wallenberg Laboratory, the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden;

关键词: Health sciences;    Internal medicine;    Medicine;    Biochemistry;    Biological sciences;    Cell biology;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Cardiac fibroblasts, which are abundant in heart tissue, are involved not only in extracellular matrix homeostasis and repair, but also in cardiac remodeling after a myocardial infarction that, in turn, can lead to loss of cardiac function and heart failure. Ca2+ signaling is functionally important in many cell types, but the roles of fibroblast signaling and inflammation in the pathogenesis of heart disease are unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that inflammatory activation affects cardiac fibroblasts, both in terms of Ca2+ signaling and their capacity for intercellular communication through the gap junction channel protein connexin 43 (Cx43). We examined Ca2+ responses induced by known modulators of cardiac function such as glutamate, ATP and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in human cardiac fibroblasts, under normal and inflammatory conditions. We showed that activation of human cardiac fibroblasts by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 h altered Ca2+ signaling, increased TLR4 and decreased Cx43 expression. In the fibroblasts, LPS treatment increased glutamate-evoked and decreased 5-HT-evoked Ca2+ signals. LPS activation also induced increased secretion of glutamate and proinflammatory cytokines from these cells. In summary, we propose that inflammatory stimuli can affect intracellular Ca2+ release, Cx43 expression, glutamate release and cytokine secretion in human cardiac fibroblasts. Inflammatory conditions may, therefore, impair intercellular network communication between fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes potentially contributing to cardiac dysfunction.

【 授权许可】

Unknown