GCaMP2-mt was transduced into neonatal rat cardiac myocytes using a recombinant adenovirus. We confirmed that GCaMP2-mt colocalized with tetramethylrhodamine ethyl-ester, a fluorescent indicator of 螖唯m. We monitored oxidant-induced responses of [Ca2+]m and 螖唯m using time-lapse confocal microscopy. The response of [Ca2+]m was synchronous with that of cytosolic calcium and was divided into three kinetically-distinct phases; the first phase, during which [Ca2+]m maintained its baseline level; the second phase, during which [Ca2+]m showed a rapid and sudden increase; and the third phase, during which [Ca2+]m continued to increase at a slower rate until the collapse of 螖唯m. The third phase was likely to be mediated through a mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter, because it was modulated by uniporter-acting drugs. Importantly, there was a remarkable cellular heterogeneity in the third phase, and 螖唯m loss occurred in an all-or-none manner depending on the cellular [Ca2+]m level with a clear cut-off value.
Direct monitoring of [Ca2+]m using GCaMP2-mt provides deeper insight into the mechanism of cardiac myocyte death.