ABSTRACT: Myocardial depression in septic shock is well-known but its pathophysiological genesis is incompletely understood. To assess the incidence and extent of stress-induced histologic myocardial alterations in septic shock a prospective, observational, clinical and post-mortem study was conducted and twenty patients dying from septic shock were included. Exclusion criteria were ...

ABSTRACT: Various strategies have been devised to reduce the clinical consequences of myocardial infarction including acute medical care, revascularization, stem cell transplantations and, more recently, prevention of cardiomyocyte cell death. Activation of embryonic signaling pathways is a particularly interesting option to complement these strategies and to improve the functional performance ...

While secretory-leukocyte-protease-inhibitor (SLPI) may promote skin wound healing, its role in infarct healing after reperfused myocardial infarction (RMI) remains unclear. Short-term intravenous angiotensin II (AngII) receptor blocker therapy with candesartan (CN) attenuates increased SLPI and markers of early matrix/left ventricular (LV) in acute RMI. To determine whether reducing effects of ...

BACKGROUND: Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) comprises of 4% of malignancies diagnosed in children from birth to 14 years of age. While overall survival rates have increased, HL survivors can be at risk of late cardiovascular complications from radiotherapy. HL survivors with a history of mediastinal RT have been found to have ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether thioredoxin 1 (Trx1) mediates the cardioprotective effects of hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) in a model of ischemic-induced heart failure (HF).Approach and Results-Mice with a cardiac-specific overexpression of a dominant negative mutant of Trx1 and wild-type littermates were subjected to ischemic-induced HF. ...

Stress cardiomyopathy, also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is a rapidly reversible form of acute heart failure classically triggered by stressful events. It is associated with a distinctive left ventricular contraction pattern described as apical akinesis/ballooning with hyperdynamic contraction of the basal segments in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease. ...

ER stress triggers myocardial contractile dysfunction while effective therapeutic regimen is still lacking. Mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2), an essential mitochondrial enzyme governing mitochondrial and cardiac function, displays distinct beneficial effect on the heart. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of ALDH2 on ER stress-induced cardiac anomalies and the ...

Cardiac sympathetic hyperinnervation after myocardial infarction (MI) is associated with a high incidence of lethal arrhythmia. However, the mechanisms of nerve sprouting induced by MI are unclear. In this study, we showed a nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway involved in cardiac sympathetic hyperinnervation after MI in rabbit hearts. An MI ...

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a clinical disorder characterized by a transient dilatation and akynesis or dyskinesis of the left ventricular (LV) apex, mimicking an anterior wall acute myocardial infarction in the absence of significant coronary artery disease (CAD). It typically occurs during an episode of severe emotional or physical stress. Recent ...

Chagas' myocardiopathy, caused by the intracellular protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is characterized by microvascular alterations, heart failure and arrhythmias. Ischemia and arrythmogenesis have been attributed to proteins shed by the parasite, although this has not been fully demonstrated. The aim of the present investigation was to study the effect of substances ...

Quinidine is a class Ia Na(+) channel blocker that prolongs cardiac repolarization owing to the inhibition of IKr, the rapid component of the delayed rectifier current. Although quinidine may induce proarrhythmia, the contributing mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This study examined whether quinidine may set proarrhythmic substrate by inducing spatiotemporal abnormalities ...

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia (ILVT) is a common form of VT in structurally normal heart. Different methods have been proposed for radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of ILVT that have good short term results but recurrence is higher. Termination of tachycardia during RFA and/or non-induciblity have been the procedural endpoints. We ...

 INTRODUCTION: Prior reports demonstrate prognostic value in noninducibility of atrial arrhythmias after atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation and suggest their utility in guiding additional ablation lesion sets. The type and mechanism of induced atrial arrhythmias, their relationship to the underlying atrial substrate, and prognostic significance of induced organized atrial a'rrhythmias are ...

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is known to be triggered by some stress. We report the first case of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy induced by hypothermia and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). A 59-year-old woman was brought to our emergency department. Upon examination, she was found to be lethargic and disoriented. The body temperature was 30.9°C, blood ...

Carvedilol has beneficial effects on cardiac function in patients with heart failure but its effect on ovariectomy-induced myocardial contractile dysfunction remains unclear. Estrogen deficiency induces myocardial contractile dysfunction and increases cardiovascular disease risk in postmenopausal women. Our aim was to investigate whether carvedilol, a beta receptor blocker, would prevent ovariectomy-induced ...

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the most important causes of mortality in humans(1-3). In order to improve morbidity and mortality in patients with MI we need better knowledge about pathophysiology of myocardial ischemia. This knowledge may be valuable to define new therapeutic targets for innovative cardiovascular therapies(4). Experimental MI ...

Insufficient angiogenesis and arteriogenesis in cardiac tissue after myocardial infarction (MI) is a significant factor hampering the functional recovery of the heart. To overcome this problem we screened for compounds capable of stimulating angiogenesis, and herein investigate the most active molecule, 5-Methoxyleoligin (5ML), in detail. 5ML potently stimulated endothelial tube ...

Rat models of photochemically induced cerebral infarction have been readily studied, but to date there are no reports of transcranial photochemically induced infarctions in the marmoset. In this report, we used this non-human primate as a model of cerebral thrombosis and observed the recovery process. Five common marmosets were used. ...

Stress-induced cardiomyopathy (SIC), also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is characterized by severe but potentially reversible regional left ventricular wall motion abnormalities, ie, akinesia, in the absence of explanatory angiographic evidence of a coronary occlusion. The typical pattern is that of an akinetic apex with preserved contractions in the base, but ...

Hyperuricemia is a risk factor for contrast-induced acute kidney injury in patients with chronic kidney disease. This study evaluated the value of hyperuricemia for predicting the risk of contrast-induced acute kidney injury in patients with relatively normal serum creatinine who were undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions. A total of 788 patients ...

Flecainide is a class 1C antiarrhythmic drug especially used for the management of supraventricular arrhythmia. In overdose cases, flecainide can induce life treating ventricular arrhythmias and cardiogenic shock. We report the case of a 72-year-old woman admitted to our intensive care unit for a regular monomorphic wide complex tachycardia (QRS ...

CGEN-856S is a novel Mas agonist. Herein, we examined the effects of this peptide on isoproterenol (ISO)-induced cardiac remodeling and myocardial infarction (MI) injury. We also sought to determine whether CGEN-856S activates the underlying mechanisms related to Mas receptor activation. Heart hypertrophy and fibrosis were induced by ISO (2 mg·kg·day) ...

Peri-infarct border zone (BZ) as quantified by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been proposed as a risk stratification tool, and is associated with increased mortality. BZ has been measured by various methods in the literature. We assessed which BZ analysis best predicts inducible arrhythmia ...

Cardiac troponin is a specific biomarker for cardiomyocyte necrosis in acute coronary syndromes. Troponin release from the coronary circulation remains to be determined because of the lower sensitivity of the conventional assay. We sought to determine basal and angina-induced troponin release using a highly sensitive troponin assay. The cardiac troponin ...

Glucagon-like peptide-1 and its receptor agonist-exendin-4 (Ex-4) have been shown to provide beneficial effects for cardiovascular diseases. This study investigated the effects of Ex-4 on ischemia-induced ventricular arrhythmias in rats. Anesthetized male rats were once treated with Ex-4 (5 μg/kg, i.v.) 1 h before ischemia in the absence and/or presence ...

Ventricular premature complexes (VPCs) are commonly encountered in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Frequent ventricular ectopy can be associated with deterioration of cardiac function and may lead to VPC-induced cardiomyopathy. VPC-induced inter- and/or intraventricular dyssynchrony has been postulated as the main mechanism underlying VPC-induced left ventricular dysfunction. For risk ...

Carbon dioxide (CO(2)) is a recognized vasodilator of myocardial blood vessels that leads to changes in myocardial oxygenation through the recruitment of the coronary flow reserve. Yet, it is unknown whether changes of carbon dioxide induced by breathing maneuvers can be used to modify coronary blood flow and thus myocardial ...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of sabiporide, a potent and selective NHE1 inhibitor, on myocardial ischemia-induced arrhythmias and myocardial infarction and the possible pathways related to the cardioprotection afforded by sabiporide treatment. Anesthetized rats were subjected to myocardial ischemia via left main coronary artery ...

BACKGROUND: -Exercise related ventricular tachycardia (VT) and high burden of premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are common in arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C). We hypothesized that VT in ARVD/C shows a high degree of association with the PVC at baseline. METHODS AND RESULTS: -The study population included 16 consecutive ARVD/C patients ...

The role of testosterone in cardiovascular (CV) homeostasis is in controversy, and the exact effects of testosterone on the cardiovascular system remain poorly understood. Testosterone is metabolized by aromatase into 17β-estradiol and by 5α-reductase into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Thus, identification of these metabolites in the heart may help to explain the ...

This study investigates the impact of pressure overload on vascular changes after myocardial infarction (MI) in rats. To evaluate the effect of pressure overload, MI was induced in three groups: 1) left coronary artery ligation for 1 mo (MI-1m), 2) ischemia 30 min/reperfusion for 1 mo (I/R-1m), and 3) ischemia-reperfusion ...

BACKGROUND: Repolarization alternans (RA), a pattern of ventricular repolarization which repeats on an every other beat basis, has been closely linked with the substrate associated with ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a novel method to suppress RA. METHODS: We have developed a novel method to dynamically (upon R-wave ...

We report the case of a 14-year-old boy patient admitted to our outpatient clinic with palpitations and documented supraventricular tachycardia. Electrophysiological study and ablation were planned. In the electrophysiological study, two tachycardias with different cycle lengths and morphologies were induced. After elimination of the slow pathway, left posterior accessory pathway ...

Differential tissue hypoxia drives normal cardiogenic events including coronary vessel development. This requirement renders cardiogenic processes potentially susceptible to teratogens that activate a transcriptional pathway that intersects with the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1) pathway. The potent toxin 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is known to cause cardiovascular defects by way of reduced myocardial hypoxia, ...

A water-soluble polysaccharide, named as SCPW, was extracted and fractioned from the fruits of Schisandra chinensis by DEAE-cellulose anion exchange and a Sepharose CL-6B column chromatography. The monosaccharide composition of SCPW determined by gas chromatography (GC) was identified that it was composed of arabinose, xylose, glucose and galactose with a ...

Cardiac mitochondrial damage plays an important role in the pathology of myocardial infarction. The protective effects of (-) epicatechin on cardiac mitochondrial damage in isoproterenol induced myocardial infarction were evaluated in rats. Rats were pretreated with (-) epicatechin (20mg/kg body weight) daily for a period of 21days. After the pretreatment ...

The pH (low) insertion peptide (pHLIP) family enables targeting of cells in tissues with low extracellular pH. Here, we show that ischemic myocardium is targeted, potentially opening a new route to diagnosis and therapy. The experiments were performed using two murine ischemia models: regional ischemia induced by coronary artery occlusion ...

The current therapeutic options for acute decompensated heart failure are limited to afterload reducers and positive inotropes. The latter increases myocardial contractility through changes in myocyte calcium (Ca(2+)) handling (mostly through stimulation of the β-adrenergic pathways [β-ADR]) and is associated with paradoxical effects of arrhythmias, cell death, and subsequently increased ...

AimsReperfusion injury following acute myocardial infarction impacts not only on the myocardium but also on the coronary microcirculation, and microembolization from the culprit lesion contributes to microvascular obstruction. Prior experimental studies have not accounted for microembolization in ischaemia/reperfusion injury and not considered microembolization as a confounder and target of protection ...

BACKGROUND:Mechanisms of local anesthetic cardiac toxicity are still not completely understood. In this study, we analyzed whether concentrations of local anesthetics found in clinical toxicity affect myocardial mitochondrial structure and oxygen consumption.METHODS:Guinea pig isolated heart Langendorff preparations were exposed to bupivacaine (3.0 and 7.5 μg/mL) and ropivacaine (3.6 and 9.0 ...

AIMS: We have reported that either Toll-like receptor 4 deficiency (TLR4(-/-)) or TLR2 modulation protects against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. The mechanisms involve attenuation of I/R-induced nuclear factor KappaB (NF-κB) activation. MicroRNA-146a has been reported to target interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 (IRAK1) and TNF receptor associated factor 6 (TRAF6), resulting ...

Ranolazine inhibits late Na(+) and K(+) currents. Earlier studies have reported an antiarrhythmic effect. The aim of the present study was to understand whether ranolazine could still preserve its antiarrhythmic properties in the settings of chronic heart failure (CHF). In 12 female rabbits, CHF was induced by 4 weeks of ...

Lipids and lipoproteins play a vital role in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction. There are no studies reported on the protective effects of sinapic acid on changes in electrocardiogram, lipids and lipoproteins in myocardial infarction. This study aims to evaluate the protective effects of sinapic acid on cardiac hypertrophy, dyslipidemia ...

Wenxin Keli is the first state‑sanctioned traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-based antiarrhythmic drug. The present study aimed to examine whether long‑term treatment with Wenxin Keli reduces ischemia‑induced ventricular arrhythmias in rats in vivo, and if so, which mechanisms are involved. Male rats were treated with either saline (control group) or Wenxin Keli ...

The present study was designed to evaluate the preventive effects of p-coumaric acid on lysosomal dysfunction and myocardial infarct size in isoproterenol induced myocardial infarcted rats. Male albino Wistar rats were pretreated with p-coumaric acid (8mg/kg body weight) daily for a period of 7 days after which isoproterenol (100mg/kg body ...

Background: Effectiveness of functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) in heart failure patients is of growing importance for patient prognosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether regional myocardial contractile function as assessed by tissue Doppler strain rate imaging can predict reduction in FMR caused by dobutamine. Methods: Fifty-one patients ...

Nebivolol is a novel beta1-selective beta-blocker with vasodilator properties mediated through activation of the l-arginine-nitric oxide pathway. There is no published report of coronary artery spasm associated with nebivolol. We describe a 64-year-old female patient who developed unstable angina secondary to nebivolol-induced vasospastic angina which was also visible during coronary ...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Distension of the ischemic region has been related to an increased incidence of spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias following coronary occlusion. This study analyzed whether regional ischemic distension predicts increased ventricular fibrillation inducibility after coronary occlusion in swine. METHODS: In 18 anesthetized, open-chest pigs, the left anterior descending coronary ...

Dilated cardiomyopathy resulting from pheochromocytoma-mediated catecholamine excess poses a unique challenge to heart failure management. Although early screening of patients with familial neoplastic syndromes at risk for pheochromocytoma may facilitate early resection, the resultant manifestations of prolonged catecholamine excess among patients with undiagnosed pheochromocytoma may lead to myocardial fibrosis with ...

Apparent Acute Reversible Right Ventricular Pacing-Induced Left Ventricular Dysfunction. We report the case of a 70-year-old Caucasian male with a dual chamber (right atrium/right ventricle) pacemaker implanted for sinus node dysfunction and not pacemaker (PM) dependent who was found to have an apparent acute worsening of left ventricular (LV) function ...