Ins(1,4,5)P3 and arrhythmogenic responses during myocardial reperfusion: evidence for receptor specificity

Fish oil for the treatment of cardiovascular disease

Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found abundantly in fish oil, are increasingly being used in the management of cardiovascular disease. It is clear that fish oil, in clinically used doses (typically 4 g/d of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) reduce high triglycerides. However, the role of omega-3 fatty acids in reducing mortality, sudden death, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, and heart failure has not yet been established. This review will focus on the current clinical uses of fish oil and provide an update on their effects on triglycerides, coronary artery disease, heart failure, and arrhythmia. We will explore the dietary sources of fish oil as compared with drug therapy, and discuss the use of fish oil products in combination with other commonly used lipid-lowering agents. We will examine the underlying mechanism of fish oil's action on triglyceride reduction, plaque stability, and effect in diabetes, and review the newly discovered anti-inflammatory effects of fish oil. Finally, we will examine the limitations of current data and suggest recommendations for fish oil use.

Thrombin receptor and ventricular arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction

The mechanism mediating the development of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is still uncertain. Thrombin receptor (TR) activation has been proven to be arrhythmogenic in many other situations, and we hypothesize that it may participate in the genesis of post-AMI VA. Using a left coronary artery ligation rat model of AMI, we found that a local injection of hirudin into the left ventricle (LV) significantly reduced the ratio of VA durations to infarction sizing, whereas injection of thrombin receptor-activating peptide (TRAP) increased the ratios of VA duration to infarction sizing. The effects of TR activation on whole-cell currents were investigated in isolated myocytes. TRAP increased a glibenclamide-sensitive outward current. Pretreatment of rats with glibenclamide (4 mg/kg intraperitoneally) eliminated the effects of a local injection of TRAP on the ratios of VA durations to infarction sizing. TR mRNA and protein expression in the ischemic left ventricle had reached its peak by 20 min postligation in the rat AMI model (P < 0.05). TR-immunoreactive myocytes were observed in infarcted LV but were seldom seen in the right ventricle or in the normal heart. By 60 min, TR transcript levels had returned to control levels. We conclude that increased TR activation and expression in the infarcted LV after AMI may contribute to VA through a mechanism involving glibenclamide-sensitive potassium channels.

Cardiac endothelial-myocardial signaling: its role in cardiac growth, contractile performance, and rhythmicity

Experimental work during the past 15 years has demonstrated that endothelial cells in the heart play an obligatory role in regulating and maintaining cardiac function, in particular, at the endocardium and in the myocardial capillaries where endothelial cells directly interact with adjacent cardiomyocytes. The emerging field of targeted gene manipulation has led to the contention that cardiac endothelial-cardiomyocytal interaction is a prerequisite for normal cardiac development and growth. Some of the molecular mechanisms and cellular signals governing this interaction, such as neuregulin, vascular endothelial growth factor, and angiopoietin, continue to maintain phenotype and survival of cardiomyocytes in the adult heart. Cardiac endothelial cells, like vascular endothelial cells, also express and release a variety of auto- and paracrine agents, such as nitric oxide, endothelin, prostaglandin I(2), and angiotensin II, which directly influence cardiac metabolism, growth, contractile performance, and rhythmicity of the adult heart. The synthesis, secretion, and, most importantly, the activities of these endothelium-derived substances in the heart are closely linked, interrelated, and interactive. It may therefore be simplistic to try and define their properties independently from one another. Moreover, in relation specifically to the endocardial endothelium, an active transendothelial physicochemical gradient for various ions, or blood-heart barrier, has been demonstrated. Linkage of this blood-heart barrier to the various other endothelium-mediated signaling pathways or to the putative vascular endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factors remains to be determined. At the early stages of cardiac failure, all major cardiovascular risk factors may cause cardiac endothelial activation as an adaptive response often followed by cardiac endothelial dysfunction. Because of the interdependency of all endothelial signaling pathways, activation or disturbance of any will necessarily affect the others leading to a disturbance of their normal balance, leading to further progression of cardiac failure.