AIMS: The impact of a high-fat diet on the failing heart is unclear, and the differences between polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and saturated fat have not been assessed. Here, we compared a standard low-fat diet to high-fat diets enriched with either …

BACKGROUND AND AIM: This study tested the hypothesis that obesity suppresses circulating number as well as the function of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). METHODS: High fat diet (45 Kcal% fat) was given …

AIMS: Left ventricular (LV) pressure overload leads to myocardial remodelling and reduced cardiac function. Both cardioprotective and deleterious effects have been attributed to SMAD2/3 (SMAD, small mothers against decapentaplegic) signalling, but the …

Circadian clocks are believed to provide the selective advantage of anticipation, thus allowing organisms to respond efficiently to stimuli at the appropriate moment. Disrupted circadian rhythms have been found to affect a variety of basic physiological …

Mice with three amino acid mutations in the calmodulin binding domain of type-2 ryanodine receptor ion channel (Ryr2(ADA/ADA) mice) have impaired intracellular Ca(2+) handling and cardiac hypertrophy with death at an early age. In this report, the role of …

Elastic blood vessels provide capacitance and pulse-wave dampening, which are critically important in a pulsatile circulatory system. By studying newborn mice with reduced (Eln(+/)(-)) or no (Eln(-)(/)(-)) elastin, we determined the effects of altered …

Pretreatment with a phytoestrogen genistein has been shown to attenuate the development of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Because PH is not always diagnosed early, we examined whether genistein could also reverse preexisting established PH and prevent …

Mutations in the cardiac desmosomal protein desmoglein-2 (DSG2) are associated with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). We studied the explanted heart of a proband carrying the DSG2-N266S mutation as well as transgenic mice (Tg-NS) …

The central pathway for oxygen-dependent control of red cell mass is the prolyl hydroxylase domain protein (PHD):hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway. PHD site specifically prolyl hydroxylates the transcription factor HIF-α, thereby targeting the latter …

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular failure (RVF) in pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with increased incidence of sudden death by a poorly explored mechanism. We test the hypothesis that PH promotes spontaneous ventricular fibrillation (VF) during a …