BACKGROUND: Aberrant Ca(2+) handling is a prominent feature of heart failure. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms responsible for aberrant Ca(2+) handling is essential for the development of strategies to blunt pathological changes in calcium …
RATIONALE: Cardiac hypertrophy results from the complex interplay of differentially regulated cascades based on the phosphorylation status of involved signaling molecules. Although numerous critical regulatory kinases and phosphatases have been …
RATIONALE: Cardioprotective signaling mediates antiapoptotic actions through multiple mechanisms including maintenance of mitochondrial integrity. Pim-1 kinase is an essential downstream effector of AKT-mediated cardioprotection but the mechanistic …
The cytosolic small heat shock protein alphaB-crystallin (alphaBC) is a molecular chaperone expressed in large quantities in the heart, where it protects from stresses such as ischemia-reperfusion (I/R). Upon I/R, p38 MAP kinase activation leads to …
Pathological conditions such as hypertension and hyperglycemia as well as abrasions following balloon angioplasty all lead to endothelial dysfunction that impacts disease morbidity. These conditions are associated with the elaboration of a variety of …
Recent evidence indicates that sphingolipids are produced by the heart during hypoxic stress and by blood platelets during thrombus formation. It is therefore possible that sphingolipids may influence heart cell function by interacting with …
In ventricular myocytes, phenylephrine (PE) and endothelin (ET) stimulate phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis, cell growth, and expression of several genes [e.g., atrial natriuretic factor (ANF)] often associated with cardiac hypertrophy. In this study …
Previous studies have shown that cultured rat intermediate pituitary lobe cells lose the ability to form ACTH-(1-13)NH2-related molecules (alpha MSH) and instead produce ACTH-(1-14)-related peptides. In vitro studies have shown that peptidylglycine …