Cardiovascular effects of bufotenin on human 5-HT(4) serotonin receptors in cardiac preparations of transgenic mice and in human atrial preparations

It is unclear whether bufotenin (= N,N-dimethyl-serotonin = 5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyl-tryptamine), a hallucinogenic drug, can act on human cardiac serotonin 5-HT(4) receptors. Therefore, the aim of the study was to examine the cardiac effects of bufotenin and for comparison tryptamine in transgenic mice that only express the human 5-HT(4) receptor in cardiomyocytes (5-HT(4)-TG), in their wild-type littermates (WT) and in isolated electrically driven (1 Hz) human atrial preparations. In 5-HT(4)-TG, we found that both bufotenin and tryptamine enhanced the force of contraction in left atrial preparations (pD2 = 6.77 or 5.5, respectively) and the beating rate in spontaneously beating right atrial preparations (pD2 = 7.04 or 5.86, respectively). Bufotenin (1 µM) increased left ventricular force of contraction and beating rate in Langendorff perfused hearts from 5-HT(4)-TG, whereas it was inactive in hearts from WT animals, as was tryptamine. The positive inotropic and chronotropic effects of bufotenin and tryptamine were potentiated by an inhibitor of monoamine oxidases (50 µM pargyline). Furthermore, bufotenin concentration- (0.1–10 µM) and time-dependently elevated force of contraction in isolated electrically stimulated musculi pectinati from the human atrium and these effects were likewise reversed by tropisetron (10 µM). We found that bufotenin (10 µM) increased the phosphorylation state of phospholamban in the isolated perfused hearts, left and right atrial muscle strips of 5-HT(4)-TG but not from WT and in isolated human right atrial preparations. In summary, we showed that bufotenin can increase the force of contraction via stimulation of human 5-HT(4) receptors transgenic mouse cardiac preparations but notably also in human atrial preparations.