Physiological modulation of voltage-dependent inactivation in the cardiac muscle L-type calcium channel: A modelling study

The inactivation of the L-type Ca2+ current is composed of voltage-dependent and calcium-dependent mechanisms. The relative contribution of these processes is still under dispute and the idea that the voltage-dependent inactivation could be subject to further modulation by other physiological processes had been ignored. This study sought to model physiological modulation of inactivation of the current in cardiac ventricular myocytes, based upon the recent detailed experimental data that separated total and voltage-dependent inactivation (VDI) by replacing extracellular Ca2+ with Mg2+ and monitoring L-type Ca2+ channel behaviour by outward K+ current flowing through the channel in the absence of inward current flow. Calcium-dependent inactivation (CDI) was based upon Ca2+ influx and formulated from data that was recorded during β-adrenergic stimulation of the myocytes. Ca2+ influx and its competition with non-selective monovalent cation permeation were also incorporated into channel permeation in the model. The constructed model could closely reproduce the experimental Ba2+ and Ca2+ current results under basal condition where no β-stimulation was added after a slight reduction of the development of fast voltage-dependent inactivation with depolarization. The model also predicted that under β-adrenergic stimulation voltage-dependent inactivation is lost and calcium-dependent inactivation largely compensates it. The developed model thus will be useful to estimate the respective roles of VDI and CDI of L-type Ca2+ channels in various physiological and pathological conditions of the heart which would otherwise be difficult to show experimentally.