Enhanced NMDA receptor-mediated intracellular calcium signaling in magnocellular neurosecretory neurons in heart failure rats

An enhanced glutamate excitatory function within the hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricluar nuclei is known to contribute to increased neurosecretory and pre-sympathetic neuronal activity, and hence, neurohumoral activation, during heart failure (HF). Still, the precise mechanisms underlying enhanced glutamate-driven neuronal activity in HF remain to be elucidated. Here, we performed simultaneous electrophysiology and fast confocal Ca²⁺ imaging to determine whether altered N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated changes in intracellular Ca²⁺ levels (NMDA-ACa²⁺) occurred in hypothalamic magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) in HF rats. We found that activation of NMDA receptors resulted in a larger ACa²⁺ in MNCs from HF when compared with sham rats. The enhanced NMDA-ACa²⁺ was neither dependent on the magnitude of the NMDA-mediated current (voltage clamp) nor on the degree of membrane depolarization or firing activity evoked by NMDA (current clamp). Differently from NMDA receptor activation, firing activity evoked by direct membrane depolarization resulted in similar changes in intracellular Ca²⁺ in sham and HF rats. Taken together, our results support a relatively selective alteration of intracellular Ca²⁺ homeostasis and signaling following activation of NMDA receptors in MNCs during HF. The downstream functional consequences of such altered ACa²⁺ signaling during HF are discussed.