Abstract: In this study, we tested the hypothesis that fasudil, a Rho kinase inhibitor, would protect against contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) in a mouse model and attempted to elucidate the mechanism involved. Mice subjected to unilateral …

BACKGROUND Emerging evidence indicates that impaired angiogenesis may contribute to hypertension-induced cardiac remodeling. The nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent deacetylase Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) has the potential to modulate angiogenesis, but this …

Doxorubicin (Dox) is an anthracycline antibiotic widely used in cancer treatment. Although its antitumor efficacy appears to be dose dependent, its clinical use is greatly restricted by development of cardiotoxicity. Sirtuin-3 (Sirt3) is the major …

Hyperglycemia up-regulates intracellular angiotensin II (ANG-II) production in cardiac myocytes. This study investigated the hemodynamic and metabolic effects of azilsartan (AZL) treatment in a mouse model of diabetic cardiomyopathy and whether the …

Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion (MI/R) injury is a clinical phenomenon including myocardial structural damage, dysfunction and disorders of metabolism and electrophysiology after re-perfusion of ischemic heart tissues. It mainly occurs after myocardial …

We investigated whether CD4(+)-T cells with specificity for an antigen in cardiomyocytes promote the progression from hypertrophy to heart failure in mice with increased pressure load due to transverse aortic constriction (TAC). OT-II mice expressing a …

Apple polyphenol (AP) was found to possess the potential to prevent cancers. Previously, our study showed AP can trigger bladder transitional carcinoma cells to apoptosis and regulate its cell cycle. This study is aimed to evaluate the anticancer effect …

The detrimental effects of myocardial infarction in humans and rodents have a 24-h rhythm. In some human cohorts however, rhythmicity was absent, while the time of maximum damage differs between cohorts. We hypothesized that the type of damage influences …

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. Recent studies have demonstrated an increased level of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) in the plasma of DCM patients, and FGF21 has been proven …

Hemodynamic forces play an essential epigenetic role in heart valve development, but how they do so is not known. Here, we show that the shear-respon- sive transcription factor KLF2 is required in endocar- dial cells to regulate the mesenchymal cell …