BACKGROUND Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are in vitro models with the clear advantages of their human origin and suitability for human disease investigations. However, limitations include their incomplete characterization and variability reported in different cell lines and laboratories. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate in silico ...

The concept of excitotoxicity, first established by the pioneering work of John Olney, traditionally has been applied to lesions of the CNS, focusing mostly on glutamate as a neurotoxic excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter. Indeed, glutamate excitotoxicity remains one of the best-supported theories for motor neuron death in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and was the pharmacologic inspir...

AIMS Na(+) channel blockers are often used to treat atrial fibrillation (AF), but may sometimes cause ventricular contractile dysfunction. However, amiodarone, a multi-channel blocker with Na(+) channel block, causes less contractile dysfunction. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that Na(+) channel block by amiodarone is selective in atrial myocytes (AM) compared with ventricular myocytes...

BACKGROUND Diabetes increases the risk of vascular problems by two times compared with a healthy individual, with deposition of fats in blood vessel and this includes cardiovascular disease. The treatment regimens for patients suffering from both diseases generally include prolonged use of anti-diabetic drugs for diabetes and anti-arrhythmic drugs for cardiac arrhythmias. AIM The aim of the s...

The two most common forms of non-dystrophic myotonia (NDM) are congenita (Thomsen disease or Becker-type) and paramyotonia congenita. Symptoms, including muscle stiffness, cramps, transient weakness, can affect a person’s quality life. An unmet need for validated tool to assess symptom severity frequency, as well disability caused by myotonia, led the development Clinical Myotonia Rating Scale ...

We previously showed that the β-adrenoceptor modulators, clenbuterol and propranolol, directly blocked voltage-gated sodium channels, whereas salbutamol and nadolol did not (Desaphy et al., 2003), suggesting the presence of two hydroxyl groups on the aromatic moiety of the drugs as a molecular requisite for impeding sodium channel block. To verify such an hypothesis, we synthesized five new mex...