Browsing by Author "Raisch, Tristan B."

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    The cardiolipin-binding peptide elamipretide mitigates fragmentation of cristae networks following cardiac ischemia reperfusion in rats
    Allen, Mitchell E.; Pennington, Edward Ross; Perry, Justin B.; Dadoo, Sahil; Makrecka-Kuka, Marina; Dambrova, Maija; Moukdar, Fatiha; Patel, Hetal D.; Han, Xianlin; Kidd, Grahame K.; Benson, Emily K.; Raisch, Tristan B.; Poelzing, Steven; Brown, David A.; Shaikh, Saame Raza (2020-07-17)
    Allen and Pennington et al. show that the cardiolipin-binding peptide elamipretide mitigates disease-induced fragmentation of cristae networks following cardiac ischemia reperfusion in rats. This study suggests that elamipretide targets mitochondrial membranes to sustain cristae networks, improving their bioenergetic function. Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to cardiac pathologies. Barriers to new therapies include an incomplete understanding of underlying molecular culprits and a lack of effective mitochondria-targeted medicines. Here, we test the hypothesis that the cardiolipin-binding peptide elamipretide, a clinical-stage compound under investigation for diseases of mitochondrial dysfunction, mitigates impairments in mitochondrial structure-function observed after rat cardiac ischemia-reperfusion. Respirometry with permeabilized ventricular fibers indicates that ischemia-reperfusion induced decrements in the activity of complexes I, II, and IV are alleviated with elamipretide. Serial block face scanning electron microscopy used to create 3D reconstructions of cristae ultrastructure reveals that disease-induced fragmentation of cristae networks are improved with elamipretide. Mass spectrometry shows elamipretide did not protect against the reduction of cardiolipin concentration after ischemia-reperfusion. Finally, elamipretide improves biophysical properties of biomimetic membranes by aggregating cardiolipin. The data suggest mitochondrial structure-function are interdependent and demonstrate elamipretide targets mitochondrial membranes to sustain cristae networks and improve bioenergetic function.
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    Extracellular Spaces and Cardiac Conduction
    Raisch, Tristan B. (Virginia Tech, 2019-04-22)
    Despite decades of research and thousands of studies on cardiac electrophysiology, cardiovascular disease remains among the leading causes of death in the United States today. Despite substantially beneficial advances, we have largely shifted cardiovascular disease from an acute to a chronic issue. It is therefore clear that our current understanding of the heart's functions remain inadequate and we must search for untapped therapeutic approaches to eliminate these deadly and costly ailments once and for all. This thesis will focus on the electrophysiology of the heart, specifically the mechanisms of cell-to-cell conduction. Canonically, the understood mechanism of cardiac conduction is through gap junctions (GJ) following a cable-like conduction model. While both experimentally and mathematically, this understanding of conduction has explained cardiac electrical behavior, it is also incomplete, as evidenced by recent conflicting modeling and experimental data. The overall goal of this thesis is to explore a structure modulating an ephaptic, or electric field, cellular coupling mechanism: the GJ-adjacent perinexus, with three specific aims. First, I identified the perinexus – a recently-established structure in rodent myocardium – in human atrial tissue. I also observed a significant tendency for open-heart surgery patients with pre-operative atrial fibrillation to have wider perinexi, indicating a possibly targetable mechanism of atrial fibrillation, one of the costliest, and most poorly-understood cardiac diseases. Next, I developed a high-throughput, high-resolution method for quantifying the perinexus. Finally, I sought to reconcile a major controversy in the field: whether cardiac edema could either be beneficial or harmful to cardiac conduction. Using a Langendorff perfusion model, I added osmotic agents of various sizes to guinea pig hearts and measured electrical and structural parameters. My findings suggest that while cardiac conduction is multifaceted and influenced by several parameters, the strongest correlation is an inverse relationship between conduction velocity and the width of the perinexus. This study is the first to osmotically expand and narrow the perinexus and show an inverse correlation with conduction. Importantly, my conduction data cannot be explained by factors consistent with a cable-like conduction mechanism, indicating once again that the perinexus could be a therapeutic target for a myriad of cardiac conduction diseases.
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    Heart Rate and Extracellular Sodium and Potassium Modulation of Gap Junction Mediated Conduction in Guinea Pigs
    Entz, Michael, II; George, Sharon A.; Zeitz, Michael J.; Raisch, Tristan B.; Smyth, James W.; Poelzing, Steven (Frontiers, 2016-02-02)
    Background: Recent studies suggested that cardiac conduction in murine hearts with narrow perinexi and 50% reduced connexin43 (Cx43) expression is more sensitive to relatively physiological changes of extracellular potassium ([K+](o)) and sodium ([Na+](o)). Purpose: Determine whether similar [K+](o) and [Na+](o) changes alter conduction velocity (CV) sensitivity to pharmacologic gap junction (GJ) uncoupling in guinea pigs. Methods: [K+](o) and [Na+](o) were varied in Langendorff perfused guinea pig ventricles (Solution A: [K+](o) = 4.56 and [N+](o) = 153.3 mM. Solution B: [K+](o) = 6.95 and [Na+](o) = 145.5 mM). Gap junctions were inhibited with carbenoxolone (CBX) (15 and 30 mu M). Epicardial CV was quantified by optical mapping. Perinexal width was measured with transmission electron microscopy. Total and phosphorylated Cx43 were evaluated by western blotting. Results: Solution composition did not alter CV under control conditions or with 15 mu M CBX. Decreasing the basic cycle length (BCL) of pacing from 300 to 160 ms decreased CV uniformly with both solutions. At 30 mu M CBX, a change in solution did not alter CV either longitudinally or transversely at BCL = 300 ms. However, reducing BCL to 160 ms caused CV to decrease more in hearts perfused with Solution B than A. Solution composition did not alter perinexal width, nor did it change total or phosphorylated serine 368 Cx43 expression. These data suggest that the solution dependent CV changes were independent of altered perinexal width or GJ coupling. Action potential duration was always shorter in hearts perfused with Solution B than A. independent of pacing rate and/or CBX concentration. Conclusions: Increased heart rate and GJ uncoupling can unmask small CV differences caused by changing [K+](o) and [Na+](o). These data suggest that modulating extracellular ionic composition may be a novel anti-arrhythmic target in diseases with abnormal GJ coupling, particularly when heart rate cannot be controlled.
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    Intercalated Disk Extracellular Nanodomain Expansion in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation
    Raisch, Tristan B.; Yanoff, Matthew S.; Larsen, Timothy R.; Farooqui, Mohammed A.; King, D. Ryan; Veeraraghavan, Rengasayee; Gourdie, Robert G.; Baker, Joseph W.; Arnold, William S.; AlMahameed, Soufian T.; Poelzing, Steven (Frontiers, 2018-05-04)
    Aims: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia. Previous evidence in animal models suggests that the gap junction (GJ) adjacent nanodomain - perinexus - is a site capable of independent intercellular communication via ephaptic transmission. Perinexal expansion is associated with slowed conduction and increased ventricular arrhythmias in animal models, but has not been studied in human tissue. The purpose of this study was to characterize the perinexus in humans and determine if perinexal expansion associates with AF. Methods: Atrial appendages from 39 patients (pts) undergoing cardiac surgery were fixed for immunofluorescence and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Intercalated disk distribution of the cardiac sodium channel Nav1.5, its beta 1 subunit, and connexin43 (C x 43) was determined by confocal immunofluorescence. Perinexal width (Wp) from TEM was manually segmented by two blinded observers using ImageJ software. Results: Nav1.5, beta 1, and C x 43 are co-adjacent within intercalated disks of human atria, consistent with perinexal protein distributions in ventricular tissue of other species. TEM revealed that the GJ adjacent intermembrane separation in an individual perinexus does not change at distances greater than 30 nm from the GJ edge. Importantly, Wp is significantly wider in patients with a history of AF than in patients with no history of AF by approximately 3 nm, and Wp correlates with age (R = 0.7, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Human atrial myocytes have voltage-gated sodium channels in a dynamic intercellular cleft adjacent to GJs that is consistent with previous descriptions of the perinexus. Further, perinexal width is greater in patients with AF undergoing cardiac surgery than in those without.