Treating chemoreflex in heart failure: modulation or demolition?

Exercise training improves peripheral chemoreflex function in heart failure rabbits.

An enhancement of peripheral chemoreflex sensitivity contributes to sympathetic hyperactivity in chronic heart failure (CHF) rabbits. The enhanced chemoreflex function in CHF involves augmented carotid body (CB) chemoreceptor activity via upregulation of the angiotensin II (ANG II) type 1 (AT(1))-receptor pathway and downregulation of the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS)-nitric oxide (NO) ...

Oxidative stress in carotid body contributes to enhanced chemoreflex in heart failure: focus on "Elevated mitochondrial superoxide contributes to enhanced chemoreflex in heart failure rabbits".

Peripheral chemoreflex sensitivity is enhanced in both clinical and experimental chronic heart failure (CHF). Here we investigated the role of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), the SOD isoform specially targeted to mitochondria, and mitochondrial superoxide levels in the enhanced chemoreceptor activity and function of the carotid body (CB) in CHF rabbits. CHF suppressed MnSOD protein expr...

Dysregulation of peripheral and central chemoreflex responses in Chagas' heart disease patients without heart failure.

BACKGROUND The peripheral and central chemoreflexes are important autonomic mechanisms for regulating breathing and cardiovascular function. Although pathological inflammatory infiltration of the peripheral chemoreceptors and central nervous system has been reported in Chagas' disease, functional evaluation of chemoreflexes has not yet been performed. METHODS AND RESULTS The hypothesis that c...

The challenge of treating diastolic heart failure

Heart failure (HF) is characterized by an impaired ability of the ventricle to fill with and eject blood commensurate with the metabolic demands and requirements of the body, and has emerged as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Approximately 50% of HF patients have preserved ejection fraction, and lack overt signs of systolic failure, but rather have deficits in v...

[Team work, heart failure clinics or specialization in heart failure?].