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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Isolation of Human Atrial Myocytes for Simultaneous Measurements of Ca2+ Transients and Membrane Currents
Published on: July 3, 2013
Mechanisms of beta 3-adrenoceptor-induced eNOS activation in right atrial and left ventricular human myocardium
Klara Brixius1, Wilhelm Bloch, Christian Pott
1Laboratory of Muscle Research and Molecular Cardiology, Dept. of Internal Medicine III, University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 9, 50924 Cologne, Germany.
Abstract:
beta-Adrenoceptors are important modulators of cardiac function. The present study investigated beta(3)-adrenergic eNOS activation in human myocardium. We measured nitric oxide (NO) liberation (diaminofluorescence) and signal transduction (immunohistochemistry, phosphorylation of eNOS(Ser1177), eNOS(Thr495), eNOS(Ser114), Akt/protein kinase B (Akt/PKB), and eNOS translocation) in human right atrial (RA, aortocoronary-bypass OP) and left ventricular nonfailing (LV, rejected donor hearts) myocardium after application of BRL 37344 (BRL), a preferential beta(3)-adrenoceptor agonist. In both RA and LV, BRL (10 microl) induced a liberation of NO. An eNOS activation via translocation was only observed in RA after application of BRL (10 microM). Yet, the NO liberation in both LV and RA was accompanied by phosphorylation of eNOS(Ser1177) and Akt/PKB. BRL-induced eNOS phosphorylation was abolished by LY292004, a blocker of PI-3 kinase. eNOS-Ser(114) phosphorylation was unchanged in RA, but decreased in LV after beta(3)-adrenergic stimulation. BRL did not alter phosphorylation of eNOS(Thr495). In conclusion, receptor-dependent eNOS activation is differentially regulated in the human heart. In the left ventricle, eNOS activation via phosphorylation seems to be of major importance, whereas in human atrial myocardium eNOS translocation is the predominant mechanism induced by beta(3)-adrenergic activation.
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