Tissue fibrosis, an accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins such as collagen, accompanies cardiac ageing in humans and this is linked to an increased risk of cardiac failure. The mechanisms driving age-related tissue fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction are unclear, yet clinically important. Drosophila is amenable to the study of cardiac ageing as well as collagen deposition; however it is un...

Cardiac dysfunction in CKD is characterized by aberrant cardiac remodeling with hypertrophy and fibrosis. CKD is a state of severe systemic Klotho deficiency, and restoration of Klotho attenuates vascular calcification associated with CKD. We examined the role of Klotho in cardiac remodeling in models of Klotho deficiency-genetic Klotho hypomorphism, high dietary phosphate intake, aging, and CK...

Background While late gadolinium enhanced (LGE) MRI is the gold standard for detection of focal myocardial scarring [1], it is less effective than cardiac T1 mapping (ECV) for detection of diffuse fibrosis. LGE, in principle, can be synthesized from cardiac T1 maps. We sought to derive synthetic LGE images from saturation-recovery based cardiac T1 maps for simultaneous assessment of focal and d...

Noninvasive quantification of myocardial fibrosis in end-stage renal disease is challenging. Gadolinium contrast agents previously used for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are contraindicated because of an association with nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. In other populations, increased myocardial native T1 times on cardiac MRI have been shown to be a surrogate marker of myocardial fibro...

This study tests the hypothesis that aldosterone induces cardiac fibrosis through an increase of cardiac angiotensin II (Ang II) AT1 receptor levels, thereby potentiating the fibrotic effect of Ang II by determining the effects of spironolactone and losartan on cardiac fibrosis, AT1 density, and gene expression in aldosterone-salt-treated rats. Fibrosis was quantified by slot blots of collagen ...

Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) blockade has been shown to suppress cardiac hypertrophy and remodeling in animal models of pressure overload (POL). This study aims to determine whether MR deficiency in myeloid cells modulates aortic constriction-induced cardiovascular injuries. Myeloid MR knockout (MMRKO) mice and littermate control mice were subjected to abdominal aortic constriction (AAC) or ...

When considering the pathological steps in the progression from cardiac overload towards the full clinical syndrome of heart failure, it is becoming increasingly clear that the extracellular matrix (ECM) is an important determinant in this process. Chronic pressure overload induces a number of structural alterations, not only hypertrophy of cardiomyocytes but also an increase in ECM proteins in...

Development of cardiac fibrosis portends the transition and deterioration from hypertrophy to dilation and heart failure. Here we examined how estrogen blocks this important development. Angiotensin II (AngII) and endothelin-1 induce cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in humans. and we find that these agents directly stimulate the transition of the cardiac fibroblast to a myofibroblast. AngII and...

Cardiac fibroblasts play a critical role in maintenance of normal cardiac function. They are indispensable for damage control and tissue remodeling on myocardial injury and principal mediators of pathological cardiac remodeling and fibrosis. Despite their manyfold functions, cardiac fibroblasts remain poorly characterized in molecular terms. Evidence is evolving that cardiac fibroblasts are a h...

BACKGROUND Previous data has shown that patients in the indeterminate form of Chagas disease may present myocardial fibrosis as shown on through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, there is little information available regarding the degree of severity of myocardial fibrosis in these individuals. This variable has the potential to predict the evolution of Chagas' disease into its cardiac ...