Acute exhaustive aerobic exercise training impair cardiomyocyte function and calcium handling in Sprague-Dawley rats

Introduction Recent data from long-distance endurance participants suggest that cardiac function is impaired after completion. Existing data further indicate that right ventricular function is more affected than left ventricular function. The cellular mechanisms underpinning cardiac deterioration are limited and therefore the aim of this study was to examine cardiomyocyte and molecular responses of the right and left ventricle to an acute bout of exhaustive endurance exercise. Materials and methods Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to sedentary controls or acute exhaustive endurance exercise consisting of a 120 minutes long forced treadmill run. The contractile function and Ca2+ handling properties in isolated cardiomyocytes, protein expression levels of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase and phospholamban including two of its phosphorylated states (serine 16 and threonine 17), and the mitochondrial respiration in permeabilized cardiac muscle fibers were analyzed. Results The exercise group showed a significant reduction in cardiomyocyte fractional shortening (right ventricle 1 Hz and 3 Hz p<0.001; left ventricle 1 Hz p<0.05), intracellular Ca2+ amplitude (right ventricle 1 and 3 Hz p<0.001; left ventricle 1 Hz p<0.01 and 3 Hz p<0.05) and rate of diastolic Ca2+ decay (right ventricle 1 Hz p<0.001 and 3 Hz p<0.01; left ventricle 1 and 3 Hz p<0.01). Cardiomyocyte relaxation during diastole was only significantly prolonged at 3 Hz in the right ventricle (p<0.05) compared to sedentary controls. We found an increase in phosphorylation of phospholamban at serine 16 and threonine 17 in the left (p<0.05), but not the right, ventricle from exhaustively exercised animals. The protein expression levels of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase and phospholamban was not changed. Furthermore, we found a reduction in maximal oxidative phosphorylation and electron transport system capacities of mitochondrial respiration in the right (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively), but not the left ventricle from rats subjected to acute exhaustive treadmill exercise. Conclusion Acute exhaustive treadmill exercise is associated with impairment of cardiomyocyte Ca2+ handling and mitochondrial respiration that causes depression in both contraction and diastolic relaxation of cardiomyocytes.