Emerging evidence suggests the exercise pressor reflex is exaggerated in early stage type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Piezo channels may play a role in this exaggeration, as blocking these channels attenuates the exaggerated pressor response to tendon stretch in T1DM rats. However, tendon stretch constitutes a different mechanical and physiological stimuli than that occurring during muscle contraction. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the contribution of Piezo channels in evoking the pressor reflex during an intermittent muscle contraction in T1DM. In unanesthetized decerebrate rats, we compared the pressor and cardioaccelerator responses to intermittent muscle contraction before and after locally injecting grammostola spatulata mechanotoxin 4 (GsMTx-4, 0.25 µM) into the hindlimb vasculature. Although GsMTx-4 has a high potency for Piezo channels, it has also been suggested to block transient receptor potential cation (TRPC) channels. We, therefore, performed additional experiments to control for this possibility by also injecting SKF 96365 (10 µM), a TRPC channel blocker. We found that local injection of GsMTx-4, but not SKF 96365, attenuated the exaggerated peak pressor (ΔMAP before: 33 ± 3 mmHg, after: 22 ± 3 mmHg, P = 0.007) and pressor index (ΔBPi before: 668 ± 91 mmHg·s, after: 418 ± 81 mmHg·s, P = 0.021) response in streptozotocin (STZ) rats (n = 8). GsMTx-4 attenuated the exaggerated early onset pressor and the pressor response over time, which eliminated peak differences as well as those over time between T1DM and healthy controls. These data suggest that Piezo channels are an effective target to normalize the exercise pressor reflex in T1DM.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study to demonstrate that blocking Piezo channels is effective in ameliorating the exaggerated exercise pressor reflex evoked by intermittent muscle contraction, commonly occurring during physical activity, in T1DM. Thus, these findings suggest Piezo channels may serve as an effective therapeutic target to reduce the acute and prolonged cardiovascular strain that may occur during dynamic exercise in T1DM.
Keywords: TRPC channels; blood pressure; cardiovascular strain; neural control; piezo channels.