Cardiac fibrosis is one of the pathological characteristics of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DbCM). Matrine treatment has proven to be effective in cases of organ fibrosis and cardiovascular diseases. In the present study, the anti-fibrosis-associated cardioprotective effects of matrine on DbCM were investigated. Rats with experimental DbCM were administered matrine orally. Cardiac functions were ev...

BACKGROUND Heart failure related to cardiac siderosis remains a major cause of death in transfusion dependent anaemias. Replacement fibrosis has been reported as causative of heart failure in siderotic cardiomyopathy in historical reports, but these findings do not accord with the reversible nature of siderotic heart failure achievable with intensive iron chelation. METHODS Ten whole human he...

Unexpected Cardiac Hypertrophy by Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Silencing To the Editor: Schreier et al1 have recently reported a cardiovascular phenotype of mice lacking epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in vascular smooth muscle cells. The mice were created by breeding EGFRflox/flox mice with SM22Cre+/− mice resulting in almost complete deletion of vascular smooth muscle cell EGFR an...

BACKGROUND Determination of the impact of visceral obesity and epicardial adipose tissue thickness on stimulating growth factor levels during hospitalization for myocardial infarction is of potential importance for predicting outcomes and assessing the development of cardiofibrotic changes associated with maladaptive myocardial remodeling. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship...

AIMS Osteopontin (OPN) is a multifunctional cytokine critically involved in cardiac fibrosis. However, the underlying mechanisms are unresolved. Non-coding RNAs are powerful regulators of gene expression and thus might mediate this process. METHODS AND RESULTS OPN and miR-21 were significantly increased in cardiac biopsies of patients with myocardial fibrosis. Ang II infusion via osmotic mini...

The morbidity and mortality of heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HFpEF) were similar to those of systolic heart failure, but the pathogenesis of HFpEF remains poorly understood. It was demonstrated that, in systolic heart failure, microRNA-21 (miR-21) could inhibit the apoptosis of cardiac fibroblasts, leading to cardiac hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis, but th...

UNLABELLED Backgroud: Myocardial fibrosis results in myocardial remodelling and dysfunction. Celastrol, a traditional oriental medicine, has been suggested to have cardioprotective effects. However, its underlying mechanism is unknown. This study investigated the ability of celastrol to prevent cardiac fibrosis and dysfunction and explored the underlying mechanisms. METHODS Animal and cell mo...

Background. Infection with Coxsackievirus B3 induces myocarditis. We aimed to compare the acute and chronic phases of viral myocarditis to identify the immediate effects of cardiac inflammation as well as the long-term effects after resolved inflammation on cardiac fibrosis and consequently on cardiac function. Material and Methods. We infected C57BL/6J mice with Coxsackievirus B3 and determine...

Aging is characterized by a progressive impairment of (a) cardiac structure including fibrosis and cardiomyocyte density, and (b) cardiac function including stroke volume, ejection fraction, and cardiac output. The cardiac remodeling involves loss of cardiac myocytes, reactive hypertrophy of the remaining cells, and increased extracellular matrix (ECM) and fibrosis in the aging heart, especiall...

Dysregulation of myocardial extracellular matrix remodeling and cardiac fibrosis is a key pathological feature of essentially any cardiovascular disease. Myocardial fibrosis contributes to the progression of heart failure and is linked to poor outcome in patients with cardiovascular disease. Consequently, predictors of myocardial fibrosis have been suggested as valuable markers of disease progr...