Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0264733 (ventricular dilatation)
 2,163 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Infarct expansion remains an important sequela of myocardial infarction. Both angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and intravenous nitrates reduce early infarct expansion in humans. This is believed to be caused by the reduction in left ventricular systolic wall stress that results from the arteriolar vasodilatation they produce. Patients are frequently already receiving calcium channel blockers at the time of infarction or these drugs are sometimes administered in the perimyocardial infarction period. The calcium blockers of the dihydropyridine class might be expected to modify infarct expansion. However, their effect on this process has not been studied. We therefore evaluated the effect of early treatment with the calcium blocker amlodipine, a potent arteriolar vasodilator with minimal negative inotropic properties, on chronic myocardial infarction in the rat. Permanent left coronary occlusion was created after pretreatment with amlodipine, 0.25 mg/kg (low dose) or 1.0 mg/kg (high dose), or placebo, intravenously twice a day, and continued for 7 days after infarction. Hearts (n = 50) were perfusion fixed 21 days after infarction and analyzed for infarct extent, scar thickness, left ventricular shape and size, and expansion index. Both doses decreased mean blood pressure (119 +/- 3 to 99 +/- 5 mm Hg low dose, p = 0.004; 110 +/- 5 to 84 +/- 4 mm Hg high dose, p = 0.0003), with reflex tachycardia only after the high dose (heart rate 395 +/- 9 to 434 +/- 11, p = 0.001). Infarct extent was equal in the three groups (39 +/- 2%, 41 +/- 2%, and 41 +/- 3% of left ventricular circumference for control, low, and high doses, respectively). The three groups did not differ significantly with regard to left ventricular cavity cross-sectional area (80 +/- 4, 77 +/- 3, and 87 +/- 3 mm2, control, low, and high doses, respectively; p = 0.07 high dose vs control), mean scar thickness (0.74 +/- 0.06, 0.73 +/- 0.05, and 0.65 +/- 0.06 mm, control, low, and high doses, respectively; p = NS), and expansion index (1.52 +/- 0.10, 1.58 +/- 0.12, and 1.95 +/- 0.19, control, low, and high doses, respectively; p = 0.08 high dose vs control). In the subgroup with larger infarcts (infarct extent greater than 0.39 of left ventricle), the expansion index was higher in the high-dose group (2.37 +/- 0.23 vs 1.64 +/- 0.17 control; p = 0.04). In this model, treatment with amlodipine does not limit infarct extent or reduce early infarct expansion and left ventricular dilatation, even when initiated before infarction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Effects of amlodipine on myocardial infarction, infarct expansion, and ventricular geometry in the rat. 138 6

Exophthalmos and clinical signs of heart failure occurred sporadically in 3- to 12-month-old cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) in a colony originally derived from three male and four female littermates. Macroscopic lesions in severely affected animals included subcutaneous edema, hydrothorax, right ventricular dilatation, unilateral or bilateral atrial thrombosis, and exophthalmos. Hearts from 17 cotton rats that were found dead or were euthanatized because of exophthalmos or dyspnea and 33 control cotton rats were examined microscopically. Myocardial lesions were present in 46 of 46 cotton rats > or = 1 month of age and consisted of multifocal cardiac myocyte necrosis, mineralization, and mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltration. Cotton rats > 5 months of age also had foci of interstitial fibrosis and myocyte atrophy. Twelve of 24 (50%) necropsied cotton rats had chronic pulmonary congestion, and livers from eight of 24 (33%) had chronic periacinar congestion and atrophy. Thrombi were present in one or both cardiac atria in nine of 50 (18%) hearts, and in at least one orbital venous sinus in 14 of 24 (58%) necropsied cotton rats and in 12 of 14 (86%) with exophthalmos. Exophthalmos in this colony of cotton rats appears to have resulted predominantly from orbital venous sinus thrombosis caused by stasis of venous blood secondary to right heart failure associated with a heritable cardiomyopathy.
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PMID:Spontaneous cardiomyopathy and exophthalmos in cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus). 881 34

Recent recognition that an autoimmune myocarditis may precede, and result in, dilated cardiomyopathy has focused attention on immune mechanisms of myocardial injury. In this paper, we describe a model of chronic autoimmune myocarditis in the Lewis rat. The production of myocarditis has been previously described by this group and in brief is accomplished by a single tail vein infusion of activated T cells specific for a 17-amino acid peptide from rat cardiac myosin. In this report, animals were followed for approximately 6 months post-T-cell infusion. Hearts from animals which received cardiac myosin specific T cells all showed extensive fibrosis associated with ongoing inflammation. Apoptosis, identified by TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL), was identified as a mode of myocyte death in hearts with acute and chronic myocarditis but not in age- and sex-matched controls. Immunohistochemistry was used to characterize the immune infiltrate and adhesion molecules in hearts with chronic myocarditis and these findings were compared to hearts with acute myocarditis. We propose that this rat model of chronic myocarditis mimics human disease, since inflammation results in ventricular dilatation and myocyte hypertrophy reminiscent of dilated cardiomyopathy. This model offers potential for further investigation of immune, functional and possible therapeutic aspects of autoimmune related cardiomyopathies.
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PMID:Chronic myocarditis induced by T cells reactive to a single cardiac myosin peptide: persistent inflammation, cardiac dilatation, myocardial scarring and continuous myocyte apoptosis. 1104 76

Therapeutic angiogenesis is a potential treatment modality for myocardial ischemia. phVEGF-A(165), phPDGF-BB, or a combination of the two were injected into the myocardial infarct border zone in rats 7 days after ligation of the coronary left anterior descending artery. Cardiac function was measured by echocardiography. Hearts were harvested 1 and 4 weeks after plasmid injection. phVEGF-A(165) increased capillary density more than phPDGF-BB, and phPDGF-BB preferentially stimulated arteriolar growth. The combination increased both capillaries and arterioles but did not enhance angiogenesis any more than single plasmid treatments did. VEGF-A(165) and the combination of phVEGF-A(165) and phPDGF-BB counteracted left ventricular dilatation after 1 week but did not counteract further deterioration.
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PMID:Angiogenic and cardiac functional effects of dual gene transfer of VEGF-A165 and PDGF-BB after myocardial infarction. 1531 5

Changes in creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoform expression occur in residual tissue after myocardial infarction. It is unknown how these changes correlate with cardiac remodeling, contractile performance and efficiency. Rats were subjected to left coronary artery ligation (MI) or sham operation (sham). Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (EDP) was measured in vivo 8 weeks later. Hearts were isolated, buffer-perfused (Langendorff) at constant pressure and isovolumetric left ventricular (LV) pressure-volume (PV) curves were recorded. LV PV areas (PVA) were calculated and related to oxygen consumption. Biopsies of intact left ventricular tissue were taken for biochemical measurements. Correlations between in vivo EDP and biochemical parameters were found: Total CK activity (r = -.47, p = .022), CK isoenzyme percentage for BB (r = +.57, p = .004), MB (r = +.54, p = .006) and CK-mito (r = -.51, p = .012), total creatine content (r = -.61, p = .002) and the ratio of LDH5/LDH1 (r = .49, p = .016). Correlations were also detected for left ventricular volume and PVAs at in vivo EDP demonstrating that the extent of CK and LDH system alterations correlate with the extent of LV dilatation and mechanical energy requirements. The slope of the MVO(2)-PVA relation decreased significantly with increasing values of in vivo EDP (r = -.68, p = 0.0003) indicating increased contractile ef.ciency. Improved efficiency correlated with the increase in fetal CK isoenzyme expression. Thus, contractile efficiency increases parallel to the extent of left ventricular dilatation and dysfunction. CK and LDH system changes in residual intact myocardium also occur proportional to LV dysfunction.
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PMID:Myocardial contractile efficiency increases in proportion to a fetal enzyme shift in chronically infarcted rat hearts. 1568 98