Mechanisms involved in reduced cardiac contractility as a consequence of growth restriction during fetal development

Funded Activity Summary

Functional development of the heart muscle has been a focus of intense research over the last 40 years. Despite our current understanding of the changes in how excitation of the cardiomyocyte leads to contraction, a process broadly termed excitation-contrcation (E-C) coupling, a major model used to study paralells of human fetal development, the sheep, has not been examined in this context. As such, it remains unclear how E-C coupling evolves from the fetus to the adult. Understanding normal physiology is imperative to subsequetly understand pathological states, such as interuterine growth restriction (IUGR). In Australia, the incidence of IUGR leading to low birth weight babies is 7%. IUGR is caused by maternal undernutrition, maternal smoking-drug use and placental insufficiency. It is associated with an increase in perinatal mortality, respiratory problems, SIDS and morbidity. Epidemiological studies show that low birth weight babies are also at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart failure, in adult life. To date, there is little information on the impact of fetal growth restriction on the normal development and function of the heart muscle. Understanding the impact of IUGR on heart muscle development will allow the elucidation of the underlying physiological mechanisms linking these two temporally distinct events. This mechanistic understanding will allow improved clinical management of those individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease in adult life arising from IUGR. It may also allow for early intervention strategies that can improve cardiovascular function. Therefore, we propose to examine both the normal developmental changes to E-C coupling so that we can understand how placental insufficiency leading to IUGR impairs normal heart muscle development. This will result in impaired function at a cellular level, which will ultimately manifest as an increased susceptibility of the heart to injury in later life.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2007

End Date: 01-01-2009

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $317,810.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Systems Physiology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

calcium handling | cardiac | coronary artery disease | excitation-contraction coupling | fetal growth | fetal hypoxia | hypertension | sudden death

Related Links