2014 June - 13 articles
Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects the intricate structure and function of the heart and is one of the leading causes of death in newborns. The genetic basis of CHD is beginning to emerge. Our laboratory has been engaged in identifying mutations...
In the last four decades, enormous progress has been made in the treatment of congenital heart diseases (CHD); most patients now survive into adulthood, albeit with residual lesions. As a consequence, the focus has shifted from initial treatment to l...
Active Wnt/β-catenin signaling is essential for proper cardiac specification, progenitor expansion and myocardial growth. During development, the mass of the embryonic heart increases multiple times to achieve the dimensions of adult ventricular cham...
The coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR, CXADR) is a multi-functional cell adhesion molecule which forms with CLMP, BT-IgSF, ESAM and CTX a structural subgroup within the Ig superfamily. These proteins share an overall domain organization wit...
3'-5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a second messenger, which plays an important role in the heart. It is generated in response to activation of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Initially, it was thought that protein kinase A (PKA) e...
Cardiac regeneration remains a clinical target regardless of numerous therapeutic concepts. We formulated a hypothesis claiming that periodic coronary venous pressure elevation (PICSO; Pressure controlled Intermittent Coronary Sinus Occlusion) initia...
Many aspects of heart development are determined by the left right axis and as a result several congenital diseases have their origins in aberrant left-right patterning. Establishment of this axis occurs early in embryogenesis before formation of the...
Diverse types of stem cells represent a potentially attractive source of cardiac cells for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However, most of the functional benefits reported for stem cell have been modest and mainly due to paracrine effects...
The articles and reviews in this inaugural edition of the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease have been written by presenters at the 2013 Meeting of the European Society of Cardiology’s Working Group (WG) on Development, Anatomy and Pat...
Immediately following birth, the mammalian heart switches from generating ATP via glycolysis to β-oxidation of lipid. Coincident with this metabolic remodeling, cardiomyocyte mitosis ceases and regenerative capacity is lost. Recently, our understandi...
The sinus venosus, the cardiac chamber upstream of the (right) atrium, is a severely underinvestigated structure. Yet, its myocardium harbors the cardiac pacemaker in all vertebrates. In human, ectopic pacemaking and subsequent pathologies may origin...
During early development, the heart tube grows by progressive addition of progenitor cells to the arterial and venous poles. These cardiac progenitor cells, originally identified in 2001, are located in the splanchnic mesoderm in a region termed the...
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death worldwide. According to a recent report from the World Health Organization, an estimated 17.3 million people died from CVDs in 2008, representing 30% of all global deaths. Despite signi...
