Project description:Heart disease remains the leading cause of death globally. Although reperfusion following myocardial ischemia can prevent death by restoring nutrient flow, ischemia/reperfusion injury can cause significant heart damage. The mechanisms that drive ischemia/reperfusion injury are not well understood; currently, few methods can predict the state of the cardiac muscle cell and its metabolic conditions during ischemia. Here, we explored the energetic sustainability of cardiomyocytes, using a model for cellular metabolism to predict the levels of ATP following hypoxia. We modeled glycolytic metabolism with a system of coupled ordinary differential equations describing the individual metabolic reactions within the cardiomyocyte over time. Reduced oxygen levels and ATP consumption rates were simulated to characterize metabolite responses to ischemia. By tracking biochemical species within the cell, our model enables prediction of the cell’s condition up to the moment of reperfusion. The simulations revealed a distinct transition between energetically sustainable and unsustainable ATP concentrations for various energetic demands. Our model illustrates how even low oxygen concentrations allow the cell to perform essential functions. We found that the oxygen level required for a sustainable level of ATP increases roughly linearly with the ATP consumption rate. An extracellular O2 concentration of ~0.007 mM could supply basic energy needs in non-beating cardiomyocytes, suggesting that increased collateral circulation may provide an important source of oxygen to sustain the cardiomyocyte during extended ischemia. Our model provides a time-dependent framework for studying various intervention strategies to change the outcome of reperfusion.
Project description:Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is the primary factor that counteracts the beneficial effects of reperfusion therapy. However, the distinct pathophysiological processes and underlying mechanisms that govern the ischemic and reperfusion phases of myocardial I/R injury remain incompletely understood. Time-series RNA-seq analyses were conducted on myocardial samples from the ischemic regions of wild-type (WT) mice after being subjected to either sham surgery or 30 minutes of ischemia followed by reperfusion (duration: 0, 1, 6, and 24 hours). Principal component analysis (PCA) demonstrated a clear segregation of gene-expression profiles between the ischemic and reperfusion stages of myocardial I/R injury. Zbp1 remained unchanged at 0 hours post-I/R injury but were consistently upregulated at 1, 6, and 24 hours post-I/R injury.