Myoblast fusion is critical for proper muscle growth and regeneration. During myoblast fusion, the localization of some molecules is spatially restricted; however, the exact reason for such localization is unknown. Creatine kinase B (CKB), which replenishes local ATP pools, localizes near the ends of cultured primary mouse myotubes. To gain insights into the function of CKB, we performed a yeas...

Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) are the most common birth defects due to abnormal cardiac development. The T-box 20 (TBX20) gene is a member of the T‑box family of transcription factors and encodes TBX20, which is essential for early heart development. In the present study, reduced TBX20 expression was observed in CHD tissue samples compared with normal tissues, and the function of TBX20 in Ra...

AIMS Skeletal myoblasts are used in repair of ischaemic myocardium. However, a large fraction of grafted myoblasts degenerate upon engraftment. Colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) accelerates myoblast proliferation and angiogenesis. We hypothesized that CSF-1 overexpression improves myoblast survival and cardiac function in ischaemia-induced heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS Three weeks foll...

BACKGROUND The intravenous anesthetic propofol is reported to be a cardioprotective agent against ischemic-reperfusion injury in the heart. However, the regulatory mechanism still remains unclear. METHODS In this study, we used H9c2 cell line under condition of oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) followed by reperfusion (OGD/R) to induce in vitro cardiomyocytes ischemia-reperfusion injury. Propo...

The inflammatory response is involved in the pathogenesis of the most common forms of heart disease. Icariin has a number of pharmacological actions, including anti‑inflammatory, anti‑oxidative and anti‑apoptotic effects. However, the role of icariin in cardiac inflammation has remained elusive. In the present study, H9c2 rat cardiomyocytes were stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and treate...

Left ventricular hypertrophy is a maladaptive response to pressure overload and an important risk factor for heart failure. Intermedin (IMD), a multi-functional peptide, plays important roles in cardiovascular protection. In this study, we revealed an autophagy-dependent mechanism involved in IMD's protection against cardiac remodeling and cardiomyocyte death in heart hypertrophy. We observed t...

Protein quality control in cardiomyocytes is crucial to maintain cellular homeostasis. The accumulation of damaged organelles, such as mitochondria and misfolded proteins in the heart is associated with heart failure. During the process to identify novel mitochondria-specific autophagy (mitophagy) receptors, we found FK506-binding protein 8 (FKBP8), also known as FKBP38, shares similar structur...

Whilst mitotic rat embryonic cardiomyoblast-derived H9c2 cells have been widely used as a model system to study the protective mechanisms associated with flavonoids, they are not fully differentiated cardiac cells. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the cardioprotective and cardiotoxic actions of quercetin and two of its major in vivo metabolites, quercetin 3-glucuronide and 3'-O-m...

Cardiovascular complications have been well documented as the downside to conventional cancer chemotherapy. As a notable side effect of cisplatin (CDDP), cardiotoxicity represents major obstacle successful treatment cancer. It has reported that Salvianolic acid B (SalB) possesses cardioprotective quality. However, SalB on cardiac damage caused by chemotherapy remains unclear. In this study, we ...