AUTHOR CONTACT: Dan Gazit
Hebrew UniversityHadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
Phone: 972-2-6757627; Fax: 972-2-6757628; E-mail: dgaz@cc.huji.ac.il
View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=22689
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY:
TITLE: The alchemy of tendon repair: a primer for the (S)mad scientist
AUTHOR CONTACT: Dwight A. Towler
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Phone: (314) 454-7434; Fax: (314) 454-8434; E-mail: dtowler@im.wustl.edu
View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=28320
CARDIOLOGY
No more Mr. Nice Guy: why having a big heart is dangerous to your health
Increased signaling through a protein called Gq in heart cells (called myocytes) is thought to be involved in the formation of an enlarged heart (hypertrophy) and the resulting heart failure. Thus it is surprising that patients with high blood pressure who receive drugs that block alpha1-adrenergic (alpha1A/B) receptors, which signal through Gq, demonstrate a two-fold higher risk of developing heart failure, compared to patients taking a diuretic. Now, in a new study in the April issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researcher Paul C. Simpson and colleagues at the San Francisco VA Medical Center in California examine how this occurs, by studying cardiac hypertrophy development in mice genetically modified to no longer express alpha1A/B receptors. The researchers found that, compared to normal mice, these alpha1A/B "knockout" (ABKO) mice demonstrated rapid heart failure and death following a surgical procedure to induce heart failure. In addition, the ABKO animals that di
'"/>
Contact: Brooke Grindlinger
press_releases@the-jci.org
212-342-9006
Journal of Clinical Investigation
3-Apr-2006