The distribution of cardiac muscle cell disorganization in different regions of the left ventricular wall was studied quantitatively in 52 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Cellular disorganization in the ventricular septum was both common and extensive (mean area of septal tissue section disorganized, 35 i 4%). Disorganization was also substantial (24 ± 3%) in the left ventricular fre...

Background Giant cell myocarditis, characterized by infiltration of multinucleated giant cells in the myocardium, is a rare type of myocarditis. It often progresses rapidly into fulminant heart failure and indicates a poor prognosis. When a patient with giant cell myocarditis develops into severe myocarditis presenting with a cardiogenic shock, we should use a percutaneous cardiopulmonary suppo...

Exposure of the neonatal lung to chronic hypoxia produces significant pulmonary vascular remodeling, right ventricular hypertrophy, and decreased lung alveolarization. Given recent data suggesting that stem cells could contribute to pulmonary vascular remodeling and right ventricular hypertrophy, we tested the hypothesis that blockade of SDF-1 (stromal cell– derived factor 1), a key stem cell m...

Exposure of the neonatal lung to chronic hypoxia produces significant pulmonary vascular remodeling, right ventricular hypertrophy, and decreased lung alveolarization. Given recent data suggesting that stem cells could contribute to pulmonary vascular remodeling and right ventricular hypertrophy, we tested the hypothesis that blockade of SDF-1 (stromal cell-derived factor 1), a key stem cell mo...

Current therapies for congestive heart failure are limited in efficacy or in applicability. Cardiac cell transplantation offers a novel therapeutic approach to improve heart function. Although significant progress has been made over the past decade in the development of cell transplantation, only recently have investigators studied the changes in ventricular function following cell transplantat...

Background and Aims: Ecstasy or 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a brain stimulant and a hallucinogenic material prepared by chemical changes in amphetamine. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes induced by this drug in mouse cardiac histopathology, electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood cell counts. Materials and Methods: In this experiment, 3 groups (n=10) of mice were e...

BACKGROUND Giant cell myocarditis has rarely been diagnosed premortem, and little is known about its natural history. In addition, no comparative studies with lymphocytic myocarditis exist. METHODS AND RESULTS The clinical features, serial change in left ventricular fraction (LVEF), and outcomes of all patients with histologically verified myocarditis were retrospectively evaluated. Ten patie...

BACKGROUND Attenuated cardiac vagal activity is associated with ventricular arrhythmogenesis and related mortality in patients with chronic heart failure. Our recent study has shown that expression of N-type Ca2+ channel α-subunits (Cav2.2-α) and N-type Ca2+ currents are reduced in intracardiac ganglion neurons from rats with chronic heart failure. Rat intracardiac ganglia are divided into the ...

RATIONALE CD34+ transplantation in dilated cardiomyopathy was associated with short-term improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction and exercise tolerance. OBJECTIVE We investigated long-term effects of intracoronary CD34+ cell transplantation in dilated cardiomyopathy and the relationship between intramyocardial cell homing and clinical response. METHODS AND RESULTS Of 110 dilated c...

Background. Giant cell myocarditis has rarely been diagnosed premortem, and little is known about its natural history. In addition, no comparative studies with lymphocytic myocarditis exist. Methods and Results. The clinical features, serial change in left ventricular fraction (LVEF), and outcomes of all patients with histologically verified myocarditis were retrospectively evaluated. Ten patie...