Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitors used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes are cardioprotective in preclinical studies; however, some cardiovascular outcome studies revealed increased hospitalization rates for heart failure (HF) among a subset of DPP4 inhibitor-treated subjects with diabetes. We evaluated cardiovascular function in young euglycemic Dpp4(-/-) mice and in older, high fat-...

Oxytocin (OT), traditionally associated with reproductive functions, was revisited recently, and several new functions in cardiovascular regulation were discovered. These functions include stimulation of the cardioprotective mediators nitric oxide (NO) and atrial natriuretic peptide. OT's cardiovascular outcomes comprise: (i) natriuresis, (ii) blood pressure reduction, (iii) negative inotropic ...

Aerobic fitness, not merely physical activity, is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Vigorous intensity exercise has been shown to increase aerobic fitness more effectively than moderate intensity exercise, suggesting that the former may confer greater cardioprotective benefits. An electronic search of published studies using PubMed was conducted for 2 types of investigat...

Danshen has been widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases while Danshensu [3(3,4dihydroxyphenyl) 2 hydroxy propanoic acid, DSS], a major water-soluble component of Danshen has also been explored as an important compound in Danshen. In the present study, DSS was tested in isolated rat hearts of ischemia reperfusion (I/R) model to investigate its cardioprotective activity and explo...

The initial promising prospect of autologous bone marrow-derived stem cell therapy in the setting of cardiovascular diseases has been overshadowed by functional shortcomings of the stem cell product. As powerful epigenetic regulators of (stem) cell function, microRNAs are valuable targets for novel therapeutic strategies. Indeed, modulation of specific miRNA expression could contribute to impro...

Hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress plays a key role in the onset/progression of cardiovascular diseases. For example, it can trigger formation of advanced glycation end (AGE) products with ischemia-reperfusion performed under hyperglycemic conditions. For this study, we hypothesized that albumin modified by glycation loses its unique cardioprotective properties in the setting of ischemia-re...

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the major death causing disease worldwide and identification of herb based therapeutics is the need of today. Present study was undertaken to evaluate the cardioprotective activity of Momordica dioca Roxb. (MDR) fruit extract on doxorubicin (DXR) induced cardiotoxicity on rats. Methods: The crude methanolic extract (MEMD) was prepared by soxhlet extractio...

Diabetes mellitus, obesity, and dyslipidemia increase risk for cardiovascular disease, and expose the heart to high plasma fatty acid (FA) levels. Recent studies suggest that distinct FA species are cardiotoxic (e.g., palmitate), while others are cardioprotective (e.g., oleate), although the molecular mechanisms mediating these observations are unclear. The purpose of the present study was to i...

Rationale: Patients treated with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)agonist manifest favorable metabolic profiles associated with increased plasma adiponectin (APN). However, whether increased APN production as a result of PPARagonist treatment is an epiphenomenon or is causatively related to the cardioprotective actions of PPARremains unknown. Objective: To determine the role of ...

Cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs) are potent lipid inflammatory mediators synthesized from arachidonic acid, through the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) pathway. Owing to their properties, CysLTs play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of inflammation; therefore, CysLT modifiers as synthesis inhibitors or receptor antagonists, central in asthma management, may become a potential target for the treatment of...