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Echocardiographic speckle-tracking based strain imaging for rapid cardiovascular phenotyping in mice.
RATIONALE: High-sensitivity in vivo phenotyping of cardiac function is essential for evaluating genes of interest and novel therapies in small animal models of cardiovascular disease. Transthoracic echocardiography is the principal method currently used …
Publication
Impact of high-fat diet on antioxidant status, vascular wall thickening and cardiac function in adult female LDLR<sup>–/–</sup> mice
Background: Western diet, rich in saturated fatty acids and cholesterol, is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. We thus investigated in female mice the influence of this diet on plasma antioxidant status, vascular wall thickening and cardiac …
Publication
Endothelial expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 protects the murine heart and aorta from pressure overload by suppression of TGF-β signaling.
Chronic systemic hypertension causes cardiac pressure overload leading to increased myocardial O(2) consumption. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a master regulator of O(2) homeostasis. Mouse embryos lacking expression of the O(2)-regulated HIF-1α …
Publication
Locally applied leptin induces regional aortic wall degeneration preceding aneurysm formation in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice.
OBJECTIVE: Leptin promotes atherosclerosis and vessel wall remodeling. As abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation involves tissue remodeling, we hypothesized that local leptin synthesis initiates and promotes this process. METHODS AND RESULTS: Human …
Publication
Ryanodine receptor type 2 is required for the development of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy.
Ryanodine receptor type 2 (RyR-2) mediates Ca(2+) release from sarcoplasmic reticulum and contributes to myocardial contractile function. However, the role of RyR-2 in the development of cardiac hypertrophy is not completely understood. Here, mice with or …
Publication
Cardiac raptor ablation impairs adaptive hypertrophy, alters metabolic gene expression, and causes heart failure in mice.
BACKGROUND: Cardiac hypertrophy involves growth responses to a variety of stimuli triggered by increased workload. It is an independent risk factor for heart failure and sudden death. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays a key role in cellular …
Publication
Cardiomyocyte-specific loss of neurofibromin promotes cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction.
RATIONALE: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a common autosomal dominant disorder with a broad array of clinical manifestations, including benign and malignant tumors, and characteristic cutaneous findings. NF1 patients also have an increased incidence of …
Publication
Cardiac response to pressure overload in 129S1/SvImJ and C57BL/6J mice: temporal- and background-dependent development of concentric left ventricular hypertrophy
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), a risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, is commonly caused by essential hypertension. Three geometric patterns of LVH can be induced by hypertension: concentric remodeling, concentric hypertrophy, and …
Publication
Accelerated development of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction in an RyR2-R176Q knockin mouse model.
In response to chronic hypertension, the heart compensates by hypertrophic growth, which frequently progresses to heart failure. Although intracellular calcium (Ca(2+)) has a central role in hypertrophic signaling pathways, the Ca(2+) source for …
Publication
Chronic creatine kinase deficiency eventually leads to congestive heart failure, but severity is dependent on genetic background, gender and age.
The creatine kinase (CK) energy transport and buffering system supports cardiac function at times of high demand and is impaired in the failing heart. Mice deficient in muscle- and mitochondrial-CK (M/Mt-CK(-/-)) have previously been described, but …