Abstract P443: Loss Of Pkm2 Alters Myocardial Metabolism And Increases Oxidative Stress After Infarction

Introduction: Pyruvate kinase (Pkm1) directs pyruvate to the TCA cycle for oxidative metabolism in the healthy heart. Our lab described a hypoxia-mediated switch to the alternatively spliced isoform Pkm2, enhancing pyruvate to lactate conversion. Recently, we have also found that Pkm2 knockout (KO) mice had profound depletion of basal glucose in the heart compared to control mice. Pkm2 has also been shown to reduce oxidative damage and promote cardiomyocyte cell proliferation after myocardial infarction (MI). We hypothesize that the upregulation of Pkm2 alters metabolic pathways after injury to promote glycolysis and preserve ATP production in hypoxia, which protects the heart from the stresses of hypoxia and injury. Methods: Global Pkm2 KO mice were subjected to permanent ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery to mimic an MI. RNA-seq analysis of left ventricles from control (n=8) and Pkm2 KO mice (n=8) before and 3 days after sham or MI surgery was performed. Semiquantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was used to confirm changes in selected genes of interest. Results: Loss of Pkm2 did not alter gene expression substantially at baseline. 68 genes were differentially expressed in Pkm2 KO hearts after MI (q<0.05, FDR<0.05) not observed in control MI hearts. MI in Pkm2 KO hearts resulted in considerable reduction of transcripts of enzymes in the insulin signaling pathway, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid metabolism, and increase in transcripts encoding enzymes in the pentose phosphate pathway, response to oxidative stress, and apoptotic signaling. qPCR of selected genes involved in glucose metabolism confirmed RNA-seq results. Conclusions: RNA-seq analysis of Pkm2 KO hearts demonstrated that loss of Pkm2 altered gene expression of metabolic and mitochondrial enzymes. Conversely, Pkm2 KO hearts showed increased abundance of pro-apoptotic markers which may be a result of increased oxidative stress.