Decrease in $Ca^{2+}$ Storage in the Cardiac Sarcoplasmic Reticulum of Diabetic Rat

In order to elucidate the molecular mechanism of the intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ overload frequently reported from diabetic heart, diabetic rats were induced by the administration of streptozotocin, the membrane vesicles of junctional SR (heavy SR, HSR) were isolated from the ventricular myocytes, and SR $Ca^{2+}$ uptake and SR $Ca^{2+}$ release were measured. The activity of SR $Ca^{2+}-ATPase$ was $562{\pm}14$ nmol/min/mg protein in control heart. The activity was decreased to $413{\pm}30$ nmol/min/mg protein in diabetic heart and it was partially recovered to $485{\pm}18$ nmol/min/mg protein in insulin-treated diabetic heart. A similar pattern was observed in SR $^{45}Ca^{2+}$ uptakes; the specific uptake was the highest in control heart and it was the lowest in diabetic heart. In SR $^{45}Ca^{2+}$ release experiment, the highest release, 45% of SR $^{45}Ca^{2+}$, was observed in control heart. The release of diabetic heart was 20% and it was 30% in insulin-treated diabetic heart. Our results showed that the activities of both SR $Ca^{2+}-ATPase$ and SR $Ca^{2+}$ release channel were decreased in diabetic heart. In order to evaluate how these two factors contribute to SR $Ca^{2+}$ storage, the activity of SR $Ca^{2+}-ATPase$ was measured in the uncoupled leaky vesicles. The uncoupling effect which is able to increase the activity of SR $Ca^{2+}-ATPase$ was observed in control heart; however, no significant increments of SR $Ca^{2+}-ATPase$ activities were measured in both diabetic and insulin-treated diabetic rats. These results represent that the $Ca^{2+}$ storage in SR is significantly depressed and, therefore, $Ca^{2+}-sequestering$ activity of SR may be also depressed in diabetic heart.