Binding of Cytosolic Proteins to Myofibrils in Ischemic Rat Hearts

Abstract Myofibrillar proteins (MPs) were extracted from isolated and perfused rat hearts subjected to different periods of ischemia to investigate the occurrence of protein degradation and/or the association of cytosolic proteins with the myofibrillar pellet. A 23-kD band was detected by SDS-PAGE of MPs after 5 minutes of ischemia, with its density gradually increasing to a plateau after 20 minutes. Longer periods of ischemia were associated with the appearance of a 39-kD band. Irrespective of the duration of ischemia, both these bands persisted during reperfusion. A partial proteolytic degradation of troponin T (TnT) and troponin I (TnI) has been claimed to be responsible for the generation of these peptides. However, the N-terminal sequence of the 39-kD band was identical to that of GAPDH, whereas Edman sequencing after pepsin digestion showed that the 23 kD is αB-crystallin. The binding of the two cytosolic proteins to myofibrils was confirmed by immunofluorescence analysis on cryosections of ischemic...