The membrane proteins of the overloaded and senescent heart

Cardiac hypertrophy which occurs during chronic mechanical overload is one of the numerous examples of biological adaptation to environmental requirements. As such, it is obtained at random by trial and error, and adaptation represents the sum of various modifications in gene expression, including the shift in isoform of myosin or in iso Na+, K+ ATPase, the decrease in beta-adrenergic and muscarinic receptors, ryanodine channels or SR Ca2+ ATPase densities and the unchanged density in Ca2+ current. Some of these changes are beneficial at the cellular level, but are finally detrimental for the organism as a whole, as is the slowing of Vmax. It was suggested that the calcium homeostasis of the hypertrophied cardiocyte was fragile and that this modified cell was less able to buffer the changes in the intracellular calcium, thus providing a biological basis for the arrhythmogenicity of the hypertrophied heart. These various modifications may provide a new key for future pharmaceutical research.