Introduction Cardiomyocytes, the contractile cells of the heart, exist in a complex environment comprised of endothelial cells, vascular smooth muscle, fibroblasts, and immune cells. The components that form the extracellular matrix provide the structural framework and include protein-rich gap junctions…
Introduction Worldwide, cardiovascular disease, including cardiac disease, vascular diseases of the brain and kidney, and peripheral artery disease, is on the rise and continues to be the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in both men and women. Despite numerous…
Introduction Heart disease is a common global cause of morbidity and mortality. In the US alone, an estimated 83 million individuals carry the diagnosis and 1 in every 3 deaths are believed due to heart disease. More than 75% of…
Overview of Atrophic Cardiac Remodeling Cardiac remodeling encompasses the many biochemical and molecular adaptations that the heart initiates in response to altered demand ( Figure 3.1 ). Atrophic remodeling occurs in response to ventricular or hemodynamic unloading caused by such…
Introduction Metabolism comes from the Greek word meaning ‘change,’ referring to the transformation of potential energy stored in circulating substrates such as glucose and fatty acids to adenosine triphosphate (ATP), thereby driving cardiac contraction and relaxation. Early workers delineated carbohydrate…
Acknowledgments We would first like to apologize to the many authors whose studies were excluded due to space constraints. We would like to thank Dr. Andrea Portbury and Chelsea Cyr for critical reading of the manuscript. The Heart Fields and…