Steps on enlarged heart 'uncovered'

[theblackalchemist]

Steps on enlarged heart 'uncovered'

Steps on enlarged heart 'uncovered'

NEW YORK: Researchers in the US claim to have got new insight into the mechanisms that underlie an enlarged heart -- a finding that could lead

to development of new treatment for managing this common cardiac ailment.

 

According to them, high blood pressure

, heart valve disease and heart attacks can lead to a abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, called myocardial hypertrophy, which plays a role in the pathological increase in the heart size.

 

At the molecular level, signals driving myocardial hypertrophy, like elevated levels of catecholamine hormones, activate the Myocyte Enhancer Factor (MEF) proteins. This alters gene expression in heart muscle cells and induces an adverse developmental paradigm known as "fetal gene response".

 

"Previous research has shown that the signalling pathways leading to MEF2 are altered during pathological cardiac hypertrophy. Although we know that enzymes called histone deacetylases (HDACs) control MEF2 activity, it was not clear that HDACs and MEF2 were integrated into a larger signalling unit," lead author John D Scott said.

 

To further identify the molecular mechanisms associated with cardiac hypertrophy, Scott and colleagues at the University of Washington studied cardiac A-Kinase Anchoring Proteins (AKAPs), which are known to play a critical role in organising signalling complexes in response to catecholamine hormones and transmitted signals within cells.

 

Steps on enlarged heart 'uncovered'-Health/Sci-The Times of India