Development of dilated cardiomyopathy in patients with congenital complete atrioventricular block with or without pacemaker is well described. We report a case of dilated cardiomyopathy in a child with congenital complete atrioventricular block, long-QT syndrome, and VVI pacemaker. Temporary pacing in the right ventricular outflow tract demonstrated a 63% increase ...

Atrial septal defect (ASD) is one of the most common congenital heart defects, accounting for 7%-10% of all congenital heart disease (CHD) in children and 30%-33% of defects diagnosed in adults with CHD. This review highlights the evolution of transcatheter ASD closure, indications, follow-up, outcomes, and complications with a focus ...

Expanded surgical options and improved outcomes for children born with structural heart defects have ushered a greater clinical interest in the normal and abnormal development of the coronary circulation. Anatomic variations of the coronary system may impact surgical candidacy or operative technique during neonatal life, while others may impact long-term ...

The segmental classification of congenital heart disease, first conceptualized nearly 50 years ago, is now well established. The Van Praagh classification system, in particular, is commonly used throughout North America to facilitate communication between physicians from various specialties who are involved in diagnosing and managing congenital cardiovascular abnormalities. In the ...

Congenital left ventricular diverticulum is a rare condition. When found, it is usually accompanied by other intracardiac malformations, so that again further examination is indicated. Furthermore, it is usually associated with thoracoabdominal wall defect, as seen in the spectrum of Cantrell's pentalogy, a congenital anomaly consisting of a lower sternal ...

Cardiac surgery in neonates with congenital heart disease has progressed dramatically in the past three decades. However, low-birth-weight neonates with congenital heart disease continue to challenge the intellectual and technical skills of healthcare professionals. We present a case of a low-birth-weight neonate with pulmonary atresia and a ventricular septal defect, ...

In the year 2012, 3 scientific sections-heart failure and transplant, congenital heart disease, and clinical cardiology-are presented together in the same article. The most relevant development in the area of heart failure and transplantation is the 2012 publication of the European guidelines for heart failure. These describe new possibilities for ...

Isolated left ventricular noncompaction (ILVNC) is a rare cardiomyopathy with a genetic background characterized by numerous prominent trabeculations and deep intertrabecular recesses. It occurs in the absence of any coexisting congenital lesion or hemodynamic abnormality and is rare in the adult population. Heart failure, ventricular arrhythmias, and embolic events are ...

Kabuki syndrome (KS) is an entity of multiple congenital malformations with mental retardation with undetermined etiology. Congenital heart defects are one of the clinical manifestations of KS with insuffi cient elucidations. Literature of congenital heart defects associated with KS was comprehensively retrieved, collected and reviewed. The clinical features of the ...

Noninvasive injection of pro-angiogenic compounds such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has shown promising results in regenerating cardiac microvasculature. However, these results have failed to translate into successful clinical trials in part due to the short half-life of VEGF in circulation. Increasing the dose of VEGF may increase its ...

The incidence of congenital atrioventricular (AV) block is between 1 in 15000 and 1 in 20000 births. It may occur in isolation or as a consequence of anomalous development of the conduction tissue in the context of a cardiac malformation. In this review, we use the term "congenital AV bock" ...

The population of adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) now exceeds that of children with congenital heart disease. Within this relatively young population of adults in their third decade of life exist a population of patients with heart failure (HF) who, in functional status, closely resemble patients in their fifth ...

The ventricular mass extends from the atrioventricular to the ventriculo-arterial junctions. The junctions are obvious anatomic entities and provide discrete boundaries for the ventricles, which can then be subdivided into inlet, apical, and outlet components. The apical trabecular components are most constantly present when hearts are congenitally malformed. Abnormal ventricles, ...

This study aimed at determining the frequencies and pattern of congenital heart lesions among patients who had echocardiographic scan for various cardiovascular-related complaints at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. All patients referred for echocardiography between May 2004 and April 2007 for various cardiovascular complaints were reviewed. Patients diagnosed ...

Aortico-left ventricular tunnel is a rare congenital heart defect. Reports on successful device closure of these defects are scarce. We are reporting the first case of device closure of aortico-left ventricular tunnel using an Amplatzer vascular plug III.

Congenital atresia of the left main coronary artery (LMCA) is an extremely rare cardiac anomaly, and no cases have been reported from the mainland of China. The diagnosis for the 20-month-old boy in the reported case highlights the essentiality of comprehensive diagnostic measures. To avoid a misdiagnosis, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic ...

We report a case of congenital inferior wall left ventricular diverticulum (LVD), atrial septal defect and mental retardation detected by intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography. The combination of three features strongly suggests that genetic factors play important role in the pathogenesis of the disorder. Most LVDs are asymptomatic. Echocardiographers and cardiac anesthesiologists ...

OPINION STATEMENT: Ebstein anomaly (EA) is a rare congenital heart defect that may not be detected until late in adolescence or adulthood. Since the original description in a 19-year-old laborer with severe tricuspid valve (TV) regurgitation in 1866, our understanding of this rare condition has increased to the recognition that ...

Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are well-established markers for heart failure in the general population. However, the value of BNP as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for patients with structural congenital heart disease (CHD) is still unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to ...

Backgrounds: sulfur dioxide (SO2) could relieve isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial injury, while the mechanism is unclear. This study aims to explore whether the protective effect of SO2 on ISO-induced myocardial injury was mediated by the restoration of calcium homeostasis disturbance in cardiomyocyte. Methods and results: Rats were randomly divided into four ...

The objective of this study was to examine the therapeutic effect of osthol, a coumarin compound isolated from the fruit of Cnidium monnieri (L.) Cusson, on cardiac hypertrophy in rats and investigate its potential mechanisms. The rats with cardiac hypertrophy induced by renovascular hypertension were given osthol orally by gavage ...

d-Propranolol (d-Pro: 2-8 mg·(kg body mass)(-1)·day(-1)) protected against cardiac dysfunction and oxidative stress during 3-5 weeks of iron overload (2 mg Fe-dextran·(g body mass)(-1)·week(-1)) in Sprague-Dawley rats. At 3 weeks, hearts were perfused in working mode to obtain baseline function; red blood cell glutathione, plasma 8-isoprostane, neutrophil basal superoxide production, lysosomal-derived plasma N-acetyl-β-galactosaminidase (NAGA) ...

Dexrazoxane (DEX), an inhibitor of topoisomerase II and intracellular iron chelator, is believed to reduce the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and protects the heart from the toxicity of anthracycline antineoplastics. As ROS also play a role in the pathogenesis of cardiac ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, the aim was to ...

OBJECTIVE: The present study was designed to evaluate whether CP was beneficial for alleviating myocardial fibrosis following I/R injury. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to 30 min occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery, followed by reperfusion. CP (0.4 or 0.8 g/kg) was daily administrated starting from 3 h ...

The combination of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and heart failure (HF) is associated with adverse prognosis. Although clinical studies hint at a specific bidirectional interaction between HF and CKD, insight in the pathogenesis of the cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) remains limited. We review available evidence on cardiorenal interactions from animal models ...

BACKGROUND: Cardiac dysfunction is one of the possible causes of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Therefore, it was the objective of this study to evaluate the cardiac and electrocardiographic parameters after seizures induced by maximal electroshock (MES) in Wistar rats. METHODS: Electroshock seizures were induced in Wistar rats through ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether electroacupuncture (EA) can promote cell survival and enhance heart function of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) therapy. METHODS: MSCs were isolated from bone marrow and expanded in Minimum Essential Medium Alpha (α-MEM). MI was induced in 72 Sprague-Dawley (S-D) rats by ligation of the left anterior descending ...

Triorganotins, such as tributyltin (TBT), are environmental contaminants that are commonly used as antifouling agents for boats. However, TBT is also known to alter mammalian reproductive functions. Although the female sex hormones are primarily involved in the regulation of reproductive functions, 17 β -estradiol also protects against cardiovascular diseases, in ...

Diadenosine triphosphate (Ap3A) is a vasoactive mediator stored in platelet granules that may be released during coronary ischemia-reperfusion. To study its coronary effects in such circumstances, rat hearts were perfused in a Langendorff preparation and the coronary response to Ap3A (10(-7)-10(-5) mol/L) was recorded. Both at basal coronary resting tone ...

Tissue engineering-based approaches have the potential to improve stem cell engraftment by increasing cell delivery to the myocardium. Our objective was to develop and characterize a naturally-derived, autologous, biodegradable hydrogel in order to improve acute stem cell retention in the myocardium. HA-blood hydrogels (HA-BL) were synthesized by mixing in a ...

INTRODUCTION: Hypertonic saline (HS) can treat cerebral edema arising from a number of pathologic conditions. However, physicians are reluctant to use it during the first 24 h after stroke because of experimental evidence that it increases infarct volume when administered early after reperfusion. Here, we determined the effect of HS on ...

Background: Remote ischemic conditioning (RCond) induced by short periods of ischemia and reperfusion of an organ or tissue before myocardial reperfusion is an attractive strategy of cardioprotection in the context of acute myocardial infarction. Nonetheless, its mechanism remains unknown. A humoral factor appears to be involved, although its identity is ...

BACKGROUND: A new supercooling system using a variable magnetic field has been recently developed. Subzero nonfreezing preservation has been believed to be a beneficial method because of the lower metabolic rate. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hemodynamic and metabolic effects of rat heart preservation in a ...

Ischemia-reperfusion injury is a common complication of heart disease that is the leading cause of death worldwide. Here, we plan to elucidate oxytocin cardioprotection effects against ischemia-reperfusion via nitric oxide (NO), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and protein kinase C (PKC) in anesthetized rat preconditioned myocardium. Forty-eight Sprague-Dawley rats were equally ...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are effective in treating myocardial infarction and previous reports demonstrated that hypoxia improves MSC self-renewal and therapeutics. Considering that HIF-1α is a master regulator of the adaptative response to hypoxia, we hypothesized that HIF-1α overexpression in MSC could mimic some of the mechanisms triggered by hypoxia ...

We investigated whether β(2) -adrenoceptor overexpression could promote angiogenesis and improve blood perfusion and left ventricular (LV) remodeling of the failing heart. We explored the angiogenic effects of β(2) -adrenoceptor overexpression in a rat model of post-myocardial infarction (MI) heart failure (HF). Cardiac adenoviral-mediated β(2) -adrenoceptor overexpression was obtained via ...

Cardiac arrest and acute myocardial infarction are leading causes of death in the middleaged and elderly, whereas trauma primarily affects the younger segment of the population. The three conditions are all characterized by a period of reduced blood flow either regionally in the heart or globally, and treatment strategies target ...

Ultrasound (US)-mediated cavitation of microbubbles has evolved into a new tool for organ-specific gene and drug delivery. This paper was to investigate the feasibility of acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) intravenous delivery to the ischemic myocardium of rats by ultrasonic microbubbles modified with heparin. Heparin modified microbubbles (HMB) were prepared ...

Water-soluble polymeric 3-alkylpyridinum salts (poly-APS), isolated from the marine sponge Reniera sarai, are natural products with promising biomedical applications. However, their ability to form nonspecific cell membrane pores raises safety issues. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the direct toxic effects of poly-APS on the cardiovascular ...

AIM: We have demonstrated that short-term angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition in adult spontaneously hypertensive rats produces cardiac changes that persist following cessation of treatment that result in a reduced inflammatory, proliferative and fibrotic response to the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N(ω) -Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). The present study examines ...

Cardiac fibrosis is a hallmark of heart disease and plays a vital role in cardiac remodeling during heart diseases including hypertensive heart disease. Hexarelin is one of a series of synthetic growth hormone secretagogues (GHS) possessing a variety of cardiovascular effects via action on GHS receptors (GHS-R). However, the role ...

It is known that the ratio, the level of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P)/the level of ceramide (CER) determines survival of the cells. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of myocardial infarction on the level of different sphingolipids in the uninfarcted area. The experiments were carried out on ...

Chromogranin A (CgA), a major component of the chromaffin granules, is co-stored and co-released with catecholamines. It is also expressed in extra-adrenal sites, including the heart. In the rat, CgA localizes in atrial myoendocrine cells, associated with Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP), and in the conduction system. In the human heart ...

The opening of unapposed connexin 43 hemichannels (Cx43Hc) under ischemic stress leads to cell death and irreversible tissue injury. Here, we investigate for the first time in vivo the cardioprotective potentials of two unique Cx43 structural-mimetic peptides (Cx43MPs) presumed specific blockers of Cx43Hc, Gap26 and Gap27, when injected intravenously using ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess effects of postconditioning with the vagal stimulation (VS) on the local and systematic inflammatory responses to acute myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI). METHODS: Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated into three groups: sham group, ischemia reperfusion group (IR group), and postconditioning with the VS group (POVS ...

Ischemic heart disease is a leading cause of death, with few options to retain ventricular function following myocardial infarction. Hematopoietic-derived progenitor cells contribute to angiogenesis and tissue repair following ischemia reperfusion injury. Motivated by the role of bone marrow extracellular matrix (BM-ECM) in supporting the proliferation and regulation of these ...

BACKGROUND: Cardiac interstitial fibrosis is a major cause of the deteriorated performance of the heart in patients with chronic myocardial infarction. MicroRNAs have recently been proven a novel class of regulators of cardiovascular diseases, including those associated with cardiac fibrosis. This study aimed to explore the role of miR-101 in ...

AIMS: The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family contains four major isoforms and three receptor subtypes. The expressions of each VEGF isoform and receptor subtype in cardiac repair/remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI) remain uncertain and are investigated in the current study. METHODS AND RESULTS: Temporal and spatial expressions of VEGF ...

The present study was carried out to examine whether acute experimental myocardial infarction affects the sympathetic transmission to vessels and to the heart of pithed rats via a presynaptic mechanism and, if so, to check whether inhibitory presynaptic cannabinoid receptor(s) and endocannabinoids are involved in this response. In pithed and ...

BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial dysfunction is critical following ischemic disorders. Our goal was to determine whether mild hypothermia could limit this dysfunction through per-ischemic inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. METHODS: First, ROS production was evaluated during simulated ischemia in an vitro model of isolated rat cardiomyocytes at hypothermic (32°C) vs ...