Myocarditis is commonly associated with cardiotropic infections and has been linked to development of autoimmunity. N-acetyl-seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-proline (Ac-SDKP) is a naturally occurring tetrapeptide that prevents inflammation and fibrosis in hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases; however, its effect on autoimmune-mediated cardiac diseases remains unknown. We studied the effects of A...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an inherited cardiac disease with an incidence of about 1 in 500 individuals. It is characterized by asymmetrical hypertrophy of the left ventricle in the absence of other causes for hypertrophy. HCM can vary from essentially asymptomatic to highly malignant up to end-stage heart failure or cause life-threatening arrhythmias with sudden cardiac death particu...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an inherited cardiac disease with an incidence of about 1 in 500 individuals. It is characterized by asymmetrical hypertrophy of the left ventricle in the absence of other causes for hypertrophy. HCM can vary from essentially asymptomatic to highly malignant up to end-stage heart failure or cause life-threatening arrhythmias with sudden cardiac death particu...

We present evidence that M proteins from three different serotypes of group A streptococci share epitopes with cardiac myosin. Rabbit antisera evoked by a purified fragment of type 5 M protein crossreacted with myosin, but not alpha-tropomyosin, actin, or myosin light chains. In enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, the myosin-crossreactive antibodies were totally inhibited by type 5 M protein an...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is characterized by left and/or right ventricular hypertrophy, which is usually asymmetric and involves the interventricular septum. Typical morphological changes include myocyte hypertrophy and disarray surrounding the areas of increased loose connective tissue. Arrhythmias and premature sudden deaths are common. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is familial in the majori...

introduction: embryonic stem (es) cells are pluripotent cells that derived from inner cell mass (icm) of blastocyst stage and are able to differentiate in vitro into different cells. purpose: this study was initiated to evaluate the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bfgf) on differentiation of es cells into cardiomyocytes among with their response to cardiac drugs. methods: the mouse em...

The dwarf mutation in mice interferes with the development of those anterior pituitary cells responsible for production of thyroid stimulating hormone, growth hormone, and prolactin. Myosin isozyme transitions in both cardiac and skeletal muscle were also found to be affected in this mutant. Electrophoresis of native myosins demonstrated that the fetal (V3) to adult (V1) ventricular cardiac iso...