Persistent Regional Downregulation in Mitochondrial Enzymes and Upregulation of Stress Proteins in Swine With Chronic Hibernating Myocardium

Abstract
Hibernating myocardium is accompanied by a downregulation in energy utilization that prevents the immediate development of ischemia during stress at the expense of an attenuated level of regional contractile function. We used a discovery based proteomic approach to identify novel regional molecular adaptations responsible for this phenomenon in subendocardial samples from swine instrumented with a chronic LAD stenosis. After 3 months (n=8), hibernating myocardium was present as reflected by reduced resting LAD flow (0.75±0.14 versus 1.19±0.14 mL · min−1 · g−1 in remote) and wall thickening (1.93±0.46 mm versus 5.46±0.41 mm in remote, P<0.05). Regionally altered proteins were quantified with 2D Differential-in-Gel Electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) using normal myocardium as a reference with identification of candidates using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Hibernating myocardium developed a significant downregulation of many mitochondrial proteins and an upregulation of stress proteins. Of particular note, the major ...