Omecamtiv mecarbil (OM) is a pharmacological agent that augments cardiac contractile function by enhancing myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity. Given that interventions that increase myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity have the potential to alter length-dependent activation (LDA) of cardiac myofilaments, we tested the influence of OM on this fundamental property of the heart. This is significant not only because LDA is prominent in cardiac muscle but also because it contributes to the Frank-Starling law, a mechanism by which the heart increases stroke volume in response to an increase in venous return. We measured steady-state and dynamic contractile indices in detergent-skinned guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) cardiac muscle fibers in the absence and presence of 0.3 and 3.0 μM OM at two different sarcomere lengths (SLs), short SL (1.9 μm) and long SL (2.3 μm). Myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity, as measured by pCa50 (-log of [Ca2+]free concentration required for half-maximal activation), increased significantly at both short and long SLs in OM-treated fibers when compared to untreated fibers; however, the magnitude of increase in pCa50 was twofold greater at short SL than at long SL. A consequence of this greater increase in pCa50 at short SL was that pCa50 did not increase any further at long SL, suggesting that OM abolished the SL dependency of pCa50. Furthermore, the SL dependency of rate constants of cross-bridge distortion dynamics (c) and force redevelopment (ktr) was abolished in 0.3-μM-OM-treated fibers. The negative impact of OM on the SL dependency of pCa50, c, and ktr was also observed in 3.0-μM-OM-treated fibers, indicating that cooperative mechanisms linked to LDA were altered by the OM-mediated effects on cardiac myofilaments.
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