New microscope techniques to identify signalling compartments in the heart

cAMP/cGMP localisation in cardiac myocytes by a new nanoscale multifunctional scanning technique.

Dr Julia Gorelik from Imperial College London is studying the mechanisms that control contraction of the heart in health and in heart failure. These include proteins that regulate molecules called cAMP and cGMP which cause heart cells to contract. She believes many of these proteins are co-located in specific ‘compartments’ inside heart cells, and this co-location makes the control of the heart beat possible. Dr Gorelik has already developed state-of-the-art microscope and fluorescent sensor techniques to discover that the location of these proteins changes in heart failure, so the resulting signals become more diffuse than in healthy heart muscle. The BHF have now awarded a grant to Dr Gorelik to further study the whereabouts of the messenger proteins in heart muscle cells. She will use the microscope and sensor techniques she has developed to find out if cAMP and cGMP signalling is confined to particular areas of heart muscle cells, and if these molecules work together and depend on each other for their activity. She will also find out where other proteins are located in living heart cells, and how they influence signals within the cells. The team will compare the results from healthy heart cells with results from heart cells from mice with diseases such as hypertrophy or heart failure. This research will reveal more about the intricate detail of heart cell signalling necessary for our hearts to contract efficiently and effectively, and will develop new techniques for studying heart cell signalling. The research may also reveal new ways to treat heart failure and other heart diseases in the future.