Klotho modulates electrical activity and calcium homeostasis in pulmonary vein cardiomyocytes via PI3K/Akt signalling

Klotho, a potential antiageing protein has remarkable cardiovascular effects, which is lower in the patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Chronic kidney disease increases the risk of atrial fibrillation, majorly triggered by pulmonary vein (PV) arrhythmogenesis. This study investigated whether klotho protein can modulate PV electrical activity and the underlying potential mechanisms.

A conventional microelectrode and whole-cell patch clamp were used to investigate the action potentials and ionic currents in isolated rabbit PV tissue preparations and single cardiomyocytes before and after klotho administration. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signalling was studied using western blotting. Klotho significantly reduced PV spontaneous beating rates in PV tissue preparations at 1.0 and 3.0 ng/mL (but not at 0.1 and 0.3 ng/mL). In the presence of the Akt inhibitor (10 µM), klotho (1.0 and 3.0 ng/mL) did not change PV electrical activities. Klotho (1.0 ng/mL) significantly decreased the late sodium current (I_Na-Late) and L-type calcium current (I_Ca-L), similar to the Akt inhibitor (10 µM). Western blots demonstrated that klotho (1.0 ng/mL)-treated PV cardiomyocytes had less phosphorylation of Akt (Ser473) compared with klotho-untreated cardiomyocytes. Compared with control PVs, klotho at relatively lower concentrations (0.1 and 0.3 ng/mL) significantly reduced beating rates and decreased the amplitudes of delay afterdepolarizations in CKD PVs.

Klotho modulated PV electrical activity by inhibiting PI3K/Akt signalling, which may provide a novel insight into CKD-induced arrhythmogenesis.