Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018801 (heart failure)
 72,216 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

For further examination of the interaction of platelets with coronary endothelium in more detail, porcine platelets were infused into the coronary system of isolated, Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts. The hearts were preincubated with very low activity of collagenase inducing functional endothelial lesion characterized by 50% reduction of EDRF-dependent dilation. Platelet infusions into those hearts were accompanied by a sudden myocardial failure and a significant retention of the platelets infused. When in addition to platelets the hearts were perfused with SIN 1 or GTN the global coronary flow did not fall below critical values. Moreover, the platelet recovery was not any longer diminished. After heart passage the platelets aggregation was more inhibited with SIN 1 than with GTN. SIN 1 and GTN in concentrations applicated to the heart could not inhibit porcine platelet aggregation, thus the aggregation behaviour reflects the different availability for platelets of the liberated NO during coronary passage.
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PMID:[Interaction between thrombocytes and the coronary system in the presence of SIN 1 and nitroglycerin after endothelial damage]. 177 31

The interstitial space of the myocardium is composed of nonmyocyte cells and a highly organized collagen network which serves to maintain the architecture and mechanical behavior of the myocardial walls. It is the myocardial collagen matrix that determines myocardial stiffness in the normal and structurally remodeled myocardium. In hypertensive heart disease, the heterogeneity in myocardial structure, created by the altered behavior of nonmyocyte cells, particularly cardiac fibroblasts which are responsible for collagen synthesis and degradation, explains the appearance of diastolic and/or systolic dysfunction of the left ventricle that leads to symptomatic heart failure. Several lines of evidence suggest that circulating and myocardial renin-angiotensin systems (RAS) are involved in the regulation of the structural remodeling of the nonmyocyte compartment, including the cardioprotective effects of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition that was found to prevent myocardial fibrosis in the rat with renovascular hypertension. In cultured adult rat cardiac fibroblasts angiotensin II was shown to directly stimulate collagen synthesis and to inhibit collagenase activity, which is the key enzyme for collagen degradation, that would lead to collagen accumulation. In the spontaneously hypertensive rat, an appropriate experimental model for primary hypertension in man, left ventricular hypertrophy could be regressed and abnormal myocardial diastolic stiffness due to interstitial fibrosis could be restored to normal by inhibition of the myocardial RAS. These antifibrotic or cardioreparative effects of ACE inhibition that occurred irrespective of blood pressure normalization may be valuable in reversing left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in hypertensive heart disease.
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PMID:Renin-angiotensin system and myocardial collagen matrix remodeling in hypertensive heart disease: in vivo and in vitro studies on collagen matrix regulation. 851 39

Latent matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in normal myocardium are activated in end-stage heart failure. In vitro oxidized glutathione (GSSG) activates myocardial MMPs which contains a cysteine residue. In vivo GSSG induce the collagen lysis and cardiac dilatation. To assess whether thiol and non-thiol reducing agents have direct effect on the interstitial human heart fibroblast (HHF) proliferation and MMP expression, HHF and polyoma virus transformed fibroblast cells were cultured with or without the thiol-containing reduced (GSH) or oxidized (GSSG) glutathiones, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), and non-thiol ascorbic acid. After 100 micrograms/ml (approximately 0.3 mM) GSH or PDTC treatment the proliferative (synthetic) phenotype of transformed fibroblast cells was changed to quiescent (contractile) phenotype. Also, after GSH, PDTC, and ascorbic acid treatment the medium was then analyzed for MMP activity by zymography. The results indicate reduction in MMP expression in transformed fibroblast cells after GSH and PDTC treatments and no effect after ascorbic acid treatment. Based on reverse zymography, we observed the level of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) at a decreased level in transformed cells. The effect of the reducing agent at the gene transcription was measured by estimating mRNA (Northern blot analysis) of MMP and of TIMP in the cells that were cultured in medium in the presence and absence of GSH. These results indicate that GSH induces MMP-2 and MMP-1 expression in normal HHF and that GSH reduces MMP-2 and MMP-1 in transformed fibroblast cells. After the treatment, the TIMP-2 level was repressed in normal HHF and TIMP-2 level increased in transformed fibroblast cells. These events are dependent on the nuclear transcription factor activity on the collagenase promoter in normal HHF cells. On the other hand, in polyoma transform fibroblast cells these events are not dependent on this collagenase promoter. These results suggest that oxidative environment induces normal HHF cell proliferation, and the reducing agent decreases normal HHF cell proliferation by inducing MMP and repressing TIMP gene transcription. In transformed cells reducing agents inhibit MMP expression and increase TIMP levels, which suggests a role of antioxidants in preventing tumorigenesis.
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PMID:Reduction-oxidation (redox) state regulation of extracellular matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors in cardiac normal and transformed fibroblast cells. 872 63

Endothelin (ET-1) is found at elevated concentrations in the plasma of patients with heart failure and in animal models of cardiomyopathy. The peptide is a potent positive inotropic agent, the effects of which are mediated by increases in cytosolic Ca2+ in cardiomyocytes. The object of this study was to investigate at the cellular level, the actions of ET-1 on contractile function and on Ca2+ currents in heart-failed ventricular myocardium. Male New Zealand White rabbits (8 wks) were treated with twice weekly injections of epirubicin (4 mg/kg/wk, n = 7) or with saline (n = 7) for 6 wks, followed by a washout period of 2 wks. Ventricular cardiomyocytes were isolated from rabbit hearts using Langendorff perfusion with collagenase; contractile function was examined using a video microscopy method, and L-type Ca2+ currents were recorded using a whole-cell patch-clamp technique. ET-1 produced a concentration-dependent increase in contractile response (% increase from basal value) to a maximum at 1 nM ET-1 of 69 +/- 11% (mean +/- S.D.) in control cardiomyocytes and 33 +/- 6% in heart-failed cells. However, there was no significant change in the EC50 obtained with ET-1 for healthy (0.31 +/- 0.1 nM) and for failed cardiomyocytes (0.24 +/- 0.1 nM). The effects of ET-1 on L-type Ca2+ channels were similar with a peak amplitude at 1 nM ET-1 of -3.26 +/- 0.8 nA in control cardiomyocytes and -3.32 +/- 0.9 nA in heart-failed cells. The attenuation of the contractile response to ET-1 in heart-failed cells may reflect a desensitization of ET receptors as a consequence of elevated circulating levels of ET and was not reflected by alteration of transmembrane Ca2+ conductance. It is probable, therefore, that multiple signalling pathways are involved in the actions of ET on ventricular myocardium.
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PMID:Mechanical effects of ET-1 in cardiomyocytes isolated from normal and heart-failed rabbits. 873 41

Colchicine has been demonstrated to suppress the release of fibroblast growth factors, retard collagen formation and augment collagenase activity. Trials with colchicine in patients with hepatic fibrosis have suggested clinical benefit. The development of impaired myocardial function in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is associated with a marked increase in myocardial fibrosis. The present study was carried out to test the hypothesis that chronic colchicine administration to the SHR would prevent the development of fibrosis and impaired myocardial performance. Colchicine (1 mg/l drinking water) was administered to male SHR and WKY rats from at age 13 months until 24 months or until evidence of heart failure was observed. Age-matched untreated SHR and colchicine treated and untreated WKY served as controls. At study, active and passive properties of isolated left ventricular muscle preparations were determined. Myocardial fibrosis was assessed by measuring hydroxyproline and histologic determination of interstitial cross-sectional area. Increases in LV hydroxyproline and interstitial area were found in untreated SHR relative to WKY; passive myocardial stiffness was increased and active muscle properties were depressed. In comparing colchicine treated vs untreated SHR, no differences in hydroxyproline, interstitial area or intrinsic myocardial function were found. In the WKY, colchicine increased myocardial interstitium and passive stiffness without changing hydroxyproline. Active myocardial function was not depressed. Thus, chronic colchicine administration neither attenuated the development of interstitial fibrosis nor prevented impaired myocardial function in the SHR. Colchicine treatment was associated with increased interstitium in WKY with increased passive myocardial stiffness.
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PMID:Effect of chronic colchicine administration on the myocardium of the aging spontaneously hypertensive rat. 904 20

The multiple mechanisms that bring about the decompensation of the hypertrophic remodeled myocardium are synergistic and not fully understood. Our current hypothesis is that the increased stress on the ventricle is initially offset by compensatory myocardial hypertrophy. In many instances, however, progressive ventricular dilatation and heart failure occur as a result of maladaptive hypertrophy (abnormal myosin-actin production), programmed cell death (apoptosis) and/or changes in the interstitial vasculature and collagen composition. The molecular and genetic background to these processes includes changes in myocardial gene expression, activation of the local tissue renin-angiotensin and other neurohormonal systems, increased matrix metalloproteinase activity (including collagenase), and expression of certain components of the immune system, such as TNF-alpha. Future research will hopefully provide better methods for limiting the remodeling-ventricular dilatation process by novel pharmacotherapies, gene therapy and, possibly, surgical therapy, and determine the impact of such interventions on survival.
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PMID:Ventricular remodeling: from bedside to molecule. 933 Jul 35

Defects in myocyte contraction and relaxation are key features of human heart failure. Sodium/calcium exchanger-mediated contribution to contraction and relaxation were separated from other mechanisms [L-type calcium current, sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+)-ATPase] based on voltage, temperature, and selective blockers. Rod-shaped left ventricular myocytes were isolated from failed human explants (n = 29) via perfusion with collagenase-containing Krebs solution. Action potentials using perforated patch and contractions using an edge detector were recorded at 0.5-1.5 Hz in Tyrode solution at 25 degrees C and 37 degrees C. Contraction duration was dependent on action potential (AP) duration at 37 degrees C but not at 25 degrees C, suggesting the role of the exchanger in relaxation and linking myocyte relaxation to the repolarization phase of the AP. Voltage-clamp experiments from -50 to +10 mV for 1,500 ms in Tyrode or Na(+)- and K(+)-free solutions after conditioning pulses triggered biphasic contractions that included a rapid SR-mediated component and a slower voltage-dependent exchanger-mediated component. We used thapsigargin to block the SR, which eliminated the rapid component, and we used an exchanger blocker, Kanebo 7943, which eliminated the slow component. The exchanger was shown to contribute to contraction through reverse-mode exchange, as well as to play a key role in relaxation of human ventricular myocytes.
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PMID:Sodium/calcium exchange contributes to contraction and relaxation in failed human ventricular myocytes. 1044 98

The myocardium contains a collagen matrix composed primarily of collagen and fibronectin, which are major determinants of the myocardial architecture, structural integrity and mechanical properties. The present study was undertaken to determine the age-related changes of the accumulation and degradation of the collagen matrix in Syrian myopathic hamsters, of the Bio 14.6 and Bio 53.58 strains. Those hamsters were used as models for hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy, respectively. The heart to body weight ratio in the Bio 14.6 strains was higher (P<0.05) than that in the age-matched F1b strains. In the Bio 53.58 strains, the heart to body weight ratio was higher at 8 and 42 weeks of age than that in the F1b strains. The collagen content increased from 22 weeks of age in both Bio hamsters compared with age-matched F1b hamsters (P<0.05). In both cardiomyopathic hamsters, the mRNA expressions for type I and type III collagen and fibronectin all increased with aging; however, the fibronectin expression in the Bio 14.6 strains increased more at 22 weeks of age than at 42 weeks of age. The left ventricular MMP-1, MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities in Bio 53.58 strains increased with aging. However, in the Bio 14.6 strains, although MMP-1 activities increased with aging, MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities decreased at 42 weeks of age in comparison to those at 22 weeks of age. Thus, the MMP activation differed between two cardiomyopathic models at the stage of heart failure, although the collagen synthesis was elevated in both models. In conclusion, it would seem that the relative balance between the synthesis and the removal of collagen may contribute to the changes in the left ventricular geometry in two different types of cardiomyopathy.
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PMID:Extracellular matrix regulation in the development of Syrian cardiomyopathic Bio 14.6 and Bio 53.58 hamsters. 1047 45

We tested the hypothesis that the inflammatory cytokines can regulate fibroblast extracellular matrix metabolism. Neonatal and adult rat cardiac fibroblasts cultures in vitro were exposed to interleukin (IL)-1beta (4 ng/mL), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha; 100 ng/mL), IL-6 (10 ng/mL), or interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma; 500 U/mL) for 24 hours. IL-1beta, and to a lesser extent TNF-alpha, decreased collagen synthesis, which was measured as collagenase-sensitive [(3)H]proline incorporation, but had no effect on cell number or total protein synthesis. IL-1beta decreased the expression of procollagen alpha(1)(I), alpha(2)(I), and alpha1(III) mRNA, but increased the expression of procollagen alpha(1)(IV), alpha(2)(IV), and fibronectin mRNA, indicating a selective transcriptional downregulation of fibrillar collagen synthesis. IL-1beta and TNF-alpha each increased total matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity as measured by in-gel zymography, causing specific increases in the bands corresponding to MMP-13, MMP-2, and MMP-9. IL-1beta increased the expression of proMMP-2 and proMMP-3 mRNA, suggesting that increased metalloproteinase activity is due, at least in part, to increased transcription. The effects of IL-1beta were not dependent on NO production. Thus, IL-1beta and TNF-alpha decrease collagen synthesis and activate MMPs that degrade collagen. These observations suggest that IL-1beta and TNF-alpha may contribute to ventricular dilation and myocardial failure by promoting the remodeling of interstitial collagen.
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PMID:Interleukin-1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha decrease collagen synthesis and increase matrix metalloproteinase activity in cardiac fibroblasts in vitro. 1086 17

MMP activity with disruption of structural collagen has been implicated in the pathophysiology of dilated cardiomyopathy. To examine the role of this enzyme in cardiac function, a transgenic mouse was created that constitutively expressed human collagenase (MMP-1) in the heart. At 6 months of age, these animals demonstrated compensatory myocyte hypertrophy with an increase in the cardiac collagen concentration due to elevated transcription of type III collagen. Chronic myocardial expression of MMP-1 produced loss of cardiac interstitial collagen coincident with a marked deterioration of systolic and diastolic function at 12 months of age. This is the first animal model demonstrating that direct disruption of the extracellular matrix in the heart reproduces the changes observed in the progression of human heart failure.
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PMID:Disruption of the myocardial extracellular matrix leads to cardiac dysfunction. 1101 69


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