Cardiac dysfunction in terms of left ventricular mechanical work and energetics in hypothyroid rats

We hypothesized that cardiac dysfunction in hypothyroidism is mainly caused by the impairment of Ca2+ handling in excitation-contraction coupling. To prove this hypothesis, we investigated left ventricular (LV) mechanical work and energetics without interference of preload and afterload in an excised, blood-perfused whole heart preparation from hypothyroid rats. We found that LV inotropism and lusitropism were significantly depressed, and these depressions were causally related to decreased myocardial oxygen consumption for Ca2+ handling and for basal metabolism. The oxygen costs of LV contractility for Ca2+ and for dobutamine in the hypothyroid rats did not differ from those in age-matched normal rats. The expression of sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2) significantly decreased and that of phospholamban significantly increased. The present results revealed that changes in LV energetics associated with decreased mechanical work in hypothyroid rats are mainly caused by the impairment of Ca2+ uptake via SERCA2. We conclude that the impairment of Ca2+ uptake plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiac dysfunction in hypothyroidism.