Notch signaling modulates the electrical behavior of cardiomyocytes

Notch receptor signaling is active during cardiac development and silenced in myocytes after birth. Conversely, outward K⁺ Kv currents progressively appear in postnatal myocytes leading to shortening of the action potential (AP) and acquisition of the mature electrical phenotype. In the present study, we tested the possibility that Notch signaling modulates the electrical behavior of cardiomyocytes by interfering with Kv currents. For this purpose, the effects of Notch receptor activity on electrophysiological properties of myocytes were evaluated using transgenic mice with inducible expression of the Notch1 intracellular domain (NICD), the functional fragment of the activated Notch receptor, and in neonatal myocytes after inhibition of the Notch transduction pathway. By patch clamp, NICD-overexpressing cells presented prolonged AP duration and reduced upstroke amplitude, properties that were coupled with reduced rapidly activating Kv and fast Na⁺ currents, compared with cells obtained from wild-type mice. In cultured neonatal myocytes, inhibition of the proteolitic release of NICD with a γ-secretase antagonist increased transcript levels of the Kv channel-interacting proteins 2 (KChIP2) and enhanced the density of Kv currents. Collectively, these results indicate that Notch signaling represents an important regulator of the electrophysiological behavior of developing and adult myocytes by repressing, at least in part, repolarizing Kv currents. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We investigated the effects of Notch receptor signaling on the electrical properties of cardiomyocytes. Our results indicate that the Notch transduction pathway interferes with outward K⁺ Kv currents, critical determinants of the electrical repolarization of myocytes.