Intracellular compartmentalization of G proteins may contribute to regulating signal transduction pathways in normal and failing myocardium. To test this hypothesis, we used postembedment immunogold electron microscopy to characterize the subcellular distribution of Gs alpha in normal canine and porcine left ventricular myocytes and in myocytes from a pacing-induced heart failure model in pigs in which beta-adrenergic signaling is impaired. Gs alpha was highly compartmentalized in normal canine myocytes and was localized specifically to the sarcolemma, intercalated disks, T-tubule and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) triads, and myoplasm. The highest Gs alpha concentration was observed in the intercalated disks. Only 20 +/- 5% of total cellular Gs alpha was localized to the sarcolemma. The triads and myoplasm compartments contained 45 +/- 13 and 27 +/- 8% of total cellular Gs alpha, respectively. The distribution of Gs alpha in normal porcine and canine myocytes was similar. However, in failing porcine myocytes Gs alpha was redistributed from the sarcolemma and T-tubule and SR triads to the myoplasm. The proportion of total cellular Gs alpha in the sarcolemma fell from 22 +/- 5 in normal to 11 +/- 4% in failing myocytes (P < 0.005), and the proportion in T-tubule and SR triads fell from 55 +/- 5 to 40 +/- 5% (P < 0.01), with a quantitatively corresponding increase in the proportion in the myoplasm from 19 +/- 3 to 43 +/- 4% (P < 0.0001). Thus redistribution of Gs alpha from the sarcolemma and the T-tubule and SR triads, where it may transduce beta-adrenergic signals, to internal sites where such actions may be precluded, might contribute to the pathophysiology of heart failure.