Ischaemia-induced Sarcolemmal Changes And Their Role In Ins(1,4,5)P3 Generation And Arrhythmogenesis

Funder

National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Amount

$468,750.00

Summary

Studies in our laboratory at the Baker Heart Research Institute over the last several years have identified a novel mechanism causing the development of arrhythmias, a primary cause of sudden cardiac death in heart failure as well as during an acute heart attack caused by acutely reduced blood flow. The reduced blood flow leads to lowered oxygen and nutrients and thus the beating heart cells have insufficient energy to properly maintain function. Under these stressed conditions, cardiac myocytes .... Studies in our laboratory at the Baker Heart Research Institute over the last several years have identified a novel mechanism causing the development of arrhythmias, a primary cause of sudden cardiac death in heart failure as well as during an acute heart attack caused by acutely reduced blood flow. The reduced blood flow leads to lowered oxygen and nutrients and thus the beating heart cells have insufficient energy to properly maintain function. Under these stressed conditions, cardiac myocytes produce large amounts of a small molecule called IP3, which interferes with the normal electrical balance of the cells. Blocking IP3 generation prevents arrhythmias under these acutely ischaemic conditions. In more recent studies, we have identified many of the enzymes responsible for generation of IP3 in heart cells and have defined the properties of the regions of the cell responsible for this response. We now want to establish exactly how a period of ischaemia alters the localization or functioning of the enzymes that are responsible for this pathological change that leads to fatal arrhythmias.
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