Function of the heart begins long before its formation is complete. Analyses in mouse and zebrafish have shown that myocardial function is not required for early steps of organogenesis, such as formation of the heart tube or chamber specification. However, whether myocardial function is required for later steps of cardiac development, such as endocardial cushion (EC) formation, has not been est...

Background: Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) is the leading cause of disability and death in Iran and many other countries. Objective: To investigate the prognostic value of CCL5 and CCL18 in patients with acute myocardial ischemia. Methods: In this cohort study we recruited and followed 50 patients with acute anterior myocardial infarction (AAMI) for developing cardiovascular accidents in a ...

Diastolic myocardial stiffness and viscosity were determined in 40 patients with myocardial hypertrophy by combined echo-pressure measurements. These diastolic measurements were compared with left ventricular muscle fiber diameter and interstitial fibrosis as obtained from left ventricular endomyocardial biopsies at catheterization. The patients were divided into four groups: group 1 eight cont...

Cardiac pathology, such as myocardial infarction (MI), activates intracellular proteases that often trigger programmed cell death and contribute to maladaptive changes in myocardial structure and function. To test whether inhibition of calpain, a Ca(2+)-dependent cysteine protease, would prevent these changes, we used a mouse MI model. Calpeptin, an aldehydic inhibitor of calpain, was intraveno...

Background MRI strain analysis is a novel way to assess myocardial function and may detect subtle improvements in myocardial function earlier than commonly used methods of myocardial function assessment. Stem cell therapy offers a promising approach to the regeneration of damaged vascular and cardiac tissue after myocardial infarction. Myocardial strain imaging has not been evaluated as an end ...

Rev Esp Cardiol 2003;56(5):433-5 433 Ligation of a coronary artery causes myocardial necrosis. It has been shown in experimental animals1 that the size of the necrotic scar is directly proportional to the time elapsed between ligation and reperfusion. Early reperfusion not only reduces the size of the infarct, but also protects against ventricular dilatation. Although delayed reperfusion is una...

Normal cardiac performance reflects the interdependence between myocardial mechanical function, myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2), and blood flow. Indeed, physiologic processes directly associated with systolic function (e.g., wall stress, shortening, heart rate, contractility) are major determinants of MVO2. Conversely, when myocardial blood flow is interrupted, there is rapid cessation of ...

OBJECTIVES We developed a new sensor system for in situ measurement of myocardial tactile stiffness-stiffness in a direction perpendicular to the wall-and validated its use for providing a reasonable estimation of regional myocardial function. BACKGROUND Numerous attempts have been made to directly assess regional myocardial function. The complexity and highly invasive nature of the measuring...