The epicardium is a layer of fibrous mesothelium that covers the external surface of the heart. Until recently, the main function of this tissue was thought to be protective and to contribute to production of pericardial fluid. Recently, however, renewed interest in the function of the epicardium has identified important contributions to cardiac development, disease, and regeneration. In the de...

Background The diagnostic of left ventricular (LV) non compaction is still a challenge in clinical practice. There is a lack of reference method able to automatically quantify the total amount of LV trabeculations. Many algorithms have been proposed to determine endocardium and epicardium borders ranging from semi-automated to fully automated methods. However most of the methods were not design...

Using microelectrode techniques we compared the effects of tetrodotoxin (TTX, 2-3 ,M), DL-propranolol (1-3 p,g/ml), and flecainide acetate (10-15 ,uM) on isolated canine ventricular epicardial (epicardium) and endocardial (endocardium) tissues. Propranolol, TTX, and flecainide decreased Vm.. and phase 0 amplitude in a use-dependent manner in both tissues. The effects of propranolol were slow to...

In modern society, thiamine deficiency (TD) remains an important medical condition linked to altered cardiac function. There have been contradictory reports about the impact of TD on heart physiology, especially in the context of cardiac excitability. In order to address this particular question, we used a TD rat model and patch-clamp technique to investigate the electrical properties of isolat...

In the present study, we investigated the modulatory role of the epicardium in myocardial and coronary development. Epicardial cell tracing experiments have shown that epicardium-derived cells are the source of interstitial myocardial fibroblasts, cushion mesenchyme, and smooth muscle cells. Epicardial outgrowth inhibition studies show abnormalities of the compact myocardial layer, myocardializ...

Recent lineage-tracing studies have produced conflicting results about whether the epicardium is a source of cardiac muscle cells during heart development. Here, we examined the developmental potential of epicardial tissue in zebrafish during both embryonic development and injury-induced heart regeneration. We found that upstream sequences of the transcription factor gene tcf21 activated robust...

Cutaneous complications caused by a pacemaker or defibrillator are widely documented, but the development of a bronchocutaneous fistula has never been described before. We report the case of a 79-year-old man who was admitted to our hospital because of a seemingly superficial cutaneous infection, externalized defibrillator leads, and hemoptysis. Bronchoscopical investigation proved the existenc...

We report a novel subxiphoid video pericardioscopy approach for epicardial mapping that allows direct visualization of the epicardium with minimal use of fluoroscopy. The FLEXview system (Boston Scientific Cardiac Surgery, Santa Clara, CA), which is capable of a free navigation around the heart owing to its flexible neck, was inserted into the pericardial space through a small subxiphoid incisi...