Contraction regulates myosin synthesis and myosin content of cultured heart cells.

Cultured neonatal rat heart cells are a useful model for studying the regulation of myocyte growth. The myosin content of heart cells increases between days 1 and 4 in culture. To determine if contraction per se can regulate myocyte growth, myosin content and protein synthesis were compared in spontaneously contracting and noncontracting cultured heart cells. Myosin content, assayed as the total myosin ATPase activity per culture dish, was significantly increased in contracting cells after 3, 4, and 5 days in culture. Protein synthesis was measured by incorporation of [14C]lysine into total cell protein and into sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis resolved myosin. Contraction stimulated both total cell protein content and protein synthesis by day 3 in culture. Compared with heart cells arrested with 50 mM KCl, myosin synthesis was significantly increased by 96, 112, and 46% at days 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Similar results were observed when myosin content and protein synthesis in contracting myocytes were compared with cells arrested with either 25 mM KCl or 10(-5) M verapamil. The present studies suggest that contraction increases the myosin content in cultured heart cells and that this increase is mediated via a stimulation of myosin synthesis in association with cell growth.