Radioimmunoassay of Antiarrhythmic Peptide and Its application

To establish a specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay (RIA) for antiarrhythmic peptide (AAP) and study serum AAP levels in normal Sprague-Dawley rats (NR) and spontaneous hypertension rats (SHR), AAP-bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugate was prepared by ammonium bicarbonate method. The New Zealand rabbits were immunized by administering intradermally the conjugate. Then the rabbit anti-AAP serum was produced and iodinated AAP was made by Bolton-Hunter method. The RIA for serum AAP was set up and serum AAP levels in NR and SHR were determined. The minimal detectable range of the AAP RIA was (0.45±0.06) μg/L. The affinity constant for antiserum was 1.05×10 9 L/mol, and the rate of cross-reactivity with atrial peptide (AP) and human growth hormone (hGH) were 0.12 % and 0.20 %, respectively. The mean recovery rate of high, medium and low doses was 97.6 %, and the mean coefficients of variation for intra- and interbath-assay were (6.43±0.85) % and (9.62±1.04) %, respectively. The mean levels of AAP in NR with different age (3 months, 8-10 months and 18-20 months) were (1.75±0.13) μg/L, (1.74±0.11) μg/L and (1.79±0.15) μg/L, respectively, while those in SHR with different age (3 months, 8-10 months and 18-20 months) were (2.38±0.35) μg/L, (2.54±0.25) μg/L and (2.83±0.21) μg/L, respectively. The levels of serum AAP showed a positive correlation with blood pressure (r=0.8667, P<0.05). It was indicated that this AAP RIA had high specificity, high accuracy and good reproducibility. The levels of serum AAP had a close relation with blood pressure.

Changes in Phosphorylation of Connexin43 in Rats during Acute Myocardial Hypoxia and Effects of Antiarrhythmic Peptide on the Phosphorylation

In order to confirm the hypothesis that during acute hypoxia, the antiarrhythmic peptide (AAP10) could improve conductance by changing the phosphorylation state of connexin43 (Cx43), isolated perfused rat hearts were randomly divided into three groups: control, hypoxia and AAP10 (n=9 in each group). The change in Cx43 phosphorylation was tested by Western-blot; the distribu- tion of Cx43 was observed by confocal immunofluorescence microscopy. Western-blot analysis re- vealed that the expression of total Cx43 protein was significantly decreased during acute hypoxia, while nonphosphorylated Cx43 (NP-Cx43) was unchanged. AAP10 could increase the expression of total Cx43 protein, but had no effects on the NP-Cx43 protein. Immunofluorescence study showed that during acute hypoxia, both total Cx43 and NP-Cx43 proteins were greatly decreased, while AAP10 only increased the expression of total Cx43 protein, but had no effect of the NP-Cx43 protein expression. These findings suggested that the decrease of intercellular communication may be associ- ated with the reduction of phosphorylated Cx43 (p-Cx43) and translocation of NP-Cx43 from the surface of gap junction into intracellular pools during acute hypoxia. AAP10 can improve intercelluar communication by enhancing phosphorylation of Cx43.