Current therapy of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is inadequate. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) effectively treats experimental pulmonary hypertension in chronically hypoxic and monocrotaline-injected rats. Contrary to these animal models, …

RATIONALE: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by progressive increase in pulmonary artery pressure leading to right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy, RV failure, and death. Current treatments only temporarily reduce severity of the disease, and an …

The functional consequences of the familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy A57G (alanine-to-glycine) mutation in the myosin ventricular essential light chain (ELC) were assessed in vitro and in vivo using previously generated transgenic (Tg) mice expressing …

Oxidative stress plays an important role in cardiac diseases, which has been well demonstrated, whereas the role of reductive stress has been poorly investigated. We and others have shown previously that heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) plays a role as an …

Cardiac excitation-contraction coupling (EC coupling) links the electrical excitation of the cell membrane to the mechanical contractile machinery of the heart. Calcium channels are major players of EC coupling and are regulated by voltage and …

RATIONALE: The myeloid differentiation factor (MyD)88/interleukin (IL)-1 axis activates self-antigen-presenting cells and promotes autoreactive CD4(+) T-cell expansion in experimental autoimmune myocarditis, a mouse model of inflammatory heart disease. …

AIMS: Mutations in A-type nuclear lamins gene, LMNA, lead to a dilated cardiomyopathy. We have reported abnormal activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2) signalling in hearts from Lmna(H222P/H222P) mice, which develop dilated …

BACKGROUND: Ischemic cardiomyopathy is the major cause of heart failure and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. The degree of left ventricular dysfunction in this setting is often out of proportion to the amount of overtly infarcted tissue, …

AIMS: The incidence and mortality of myocardial infarction (MI) in diabetic patients are higher than in non-diabetic patients; however, the mechanisms by which diabetes results in cardiac dysfunction are poorly understood. The present study tested the …

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of cardiac microvascular disease. The mechanisms by which this damage occurs are unknown. However, research suggests that signaling through the sphingosine-1-phosphates receptor 1 and 3 (S1P1/3) by …