Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0851184 (thinning)
 11,252 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The angiotensin II type 2 (AT2) receptor is upregulated in the left ventricle in heart failure, but its pathophysiological roles in vivo are not understood. In the present study, AT2 receptors were expressed in transgenic (TG) mice using the ventricular-specific myosin light-chain (MLC-2v) promoter. In TG compared with nontransgenic (NTG) mice, in vivo left ventricular (LV) systolic pressure and peak +dP/dt were depressed while LV diastolic pressure was elevated (P < 0.05). Echocardiography showed severely depressed LV fractional shortening, increased systolic and diastolic dimensions, and wall thinning (P < 0.05). Confocal and electron microscopy studies revealed an increase in the size of myocytes and interstitial spaces as well as an increase in interstitial collagen, disruption of the Z-band, and changes in cytochrome c localization. The changes were most prominent in the highest-expressing TG line, which implies a dose-response relationship. AT2 overexpression was also directly associated with the increase of phosphorylated protein levels of PKC-alpha, PKC-beta, and p70S6 kinase. These data demonstrate that ventricular myocyte-specific expression of AT2 receptors promotes the development of dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure in vivo.
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PMID:Ventricular-specific expression of angiotensin II type 2 receptors causes dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure in transgenic mice. 1286 76

Transgenic mice with cardiac-restricted overexpression of secretable TNF (MHCsTNF) develop progressive LV wall thinning and dilation accompanied by an increase in cardiomyocyte apoptosis and a progressive loss of cytoprotective Bcl-2. To test whether cardiac-restricted overexpression of Bcl-2 would prevent adverse cardiac remodeling, we crossed MHCsTNF mice with transgenic mice harboring cardiac-restricted overexpression of Bcl-2. Sustained TNF signaling resulted in activation of the intrinsic cell death pathway, leading to increased cytosolic levels of cytochrome c, Smac/Diablo and Omi/HtrA2, and activation of caspases -3 and -9. Cardiac-restricted overexpression of Bcl-2 blunted activation of the intrinsic pathway and prevented LV wall thinning; however, Bcl-2 only partially attenuated cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Subsequent studies showed that c-FLIP was degraded, that caspase-8 was activated, and that Bid was cleaved to t-Bid, suggesting that the extrinsic pathway was activated concurrently in MHCsTNF hearts. As expected, cardiac Bcl-2 overexpression had no effect on extrinsic signaling. Thus, our results suggest that sustained inflammation leads to activation of multiple cell death pathways that contribute to progressive cardiomyocyte apoptosis; hence the extent of such programmed myocyte cell death is a critical determinant of adverse cardiac remodeling.
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PMID:TNF provokes cardiomyocyte apoptosis and cardiac remodeling through activation of multiple cell death pathways. 1769 77