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Loss of Smooth Muscle α-Actin Leads to NF-κB–Dependent Increased Sensitivity to Angiotensin II in Smooth Muscle Cells and Aortic EnlargementNovelty and Significance
RATIONALE Mutations in ACTA2, encoding the smooth muscle isoform of α-actin, cause thoracic aortic aneurysms, acute aortic dissections, and occlusive vascular diseases. OBJECTIVE We sought to identify the mechanism by which loss of smooth muscle α-actin …
Publication
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator mediates tenogenic differentiation of tendon-derived stem cells and tendon repair: accelerating tendon injury healing by intervening in its downstream signaling
Tendons are a mechanosensitive tissue, which enables them to transmit to bone forces that are derived from muscle. Patients with tendon injuries, such as tendinopathy or tendon rupture, were often observed with matrix degeneration, and the healing of …
Publication
Ultrasound-based Pulse Wave Velocity Evaluation in Mice
Arterial stiffness can be evaluated by calculating pulse wave velocity (PWV), i.e., the speed with which the pulse wave travels in a conduit vessel. This parameter is being increasingly investigated in small rodent models in which it is used for assessing …
Publication
Essential light chain S195 phosphorylation is required for cardiac adaptation under physical stress
AIMS: Regulatory proteins of the sarcomere are pivotal for normal heart function and when affected by mutations are frequently causing cardiomyopathy. The exact function of these regulatory proteins and how mutations in these translate into distinct …
Publication
Functional assessment of cardiac responses of adult zebrafish (danio rerio) to acute and chronic temperature change using high-resolution echocardiography
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is an important organism as a model for understanding vertebrate cardiovascular development. However, little is known about adult ZF cardiac function and how contractile function changes to cope with fluctuations in ambient …
Publication
Pulmonary Flow as an Improved Method for Determining Cardiac Output in Mice after Myocardial Infarction
Background Echocardiography is a valuable noninvasive technique to estimate cardiac output (CO) from the left ventricle (LV) not only in clinical practice but also in small-animal experiments. CO is used to grade cardiac function and is especially …
Publication
High-Frequency 4-Dimensional Ultrasound (4DUS): A Reliable Method for Assessing Murine Cardiac Function
In vivo imaging has provided a unique framework for studying pathological progression in various mouse models of cardiac disease. Although conventional short-axis motion-mode (SAX MM) ultrasound and cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are two of the …
Publication
Cardiac and respiratory-gated volumetric murine ultrasound
Current cardiovascular ultrasound mainly employs planar imaging techniques to assess function and physiology. These techniques rely on geometric assumptions, which are dependent on the imaging plane, susceptible to inter-observer variability, and may be …
Publication
Lung cancer–associated pulmonary hypertension: Role of microenvironmental inflammation based on tumor cell–immune cell cross-talk
Dyspnea is a frequent, devastating, and poorly understood symptom of advanced lung cancer. In our cohort, among 519 patients who underwent a computed tomography scan for the diagnosis of lung cancer, 250 had amean pulmo- nary artery diameter of > 28mm, …
Publication
Photoacoustic imaging for in vivo quantification of placental oxygenation in mice
Accurate analysis of placental and fetal oxygenation is critical during pregnancy. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) combines laser technology with ultrasound in real time. We tested the sensitivity and accuracy of PAI for analysis of placental and fetal O2 …