• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.13-29
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• 2001

The enzyme activities of creatine kinase (CK), its isoenzyme MB (CK-MB) and of lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme 1 (LD-1) have been used for years in diagnosing patients with chest pain in order to differentiate patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) from non-AMI patients. These methods are easy to perform as automated analyses, but they are not specific for cardiac muscle damage. During the early 90's the situation changed. First, creatine kinase ME mass (CK-MB mass) replaced the measurement of CK-MB activity. Subsequently cardiac-specific proteins, troponin T (cTnT) and troponin I (cTnI) appeared and displacing LD-1 analysis. However, troponin concentrations in blood increase only from four to six hours after onset of chest pain. Therefore a rapid marker such as myoglobin, fatty acid binding protein or glycogen phosphorylase BB could be used in early diagnosis of AMI. On the other hand, CK-MB isoforms alone may also be useful in rapid diagnosis of cardiac muscle damage. Myoglobin, CK-MB mass, cTnT and cTnI are nowadays widely used in diagnosing patients with acute chest pain. Myoglobin is not cardiac-specific and therefore requires supplementation with some other analyses such as troponins to support the myoglobin value. Troponins are very highly cardiac-specific. Only the sera of some patients with severe renal failure, which requires hemodialysis, have elevated cTnT and/or cTnI without there being any evidence of cardiac damage. The latest studies have shown that elevated troponin levels in sera of hemodialysis patients point to an increased risk of future cardiac events in a similar manner to the elevated troponin values in sera of patients with unstable angina pectoris. In addition, the bedside tests for cTnT and cTnI alone- or together with myoglobin and CK-ME mass can be used instead of quantitative analyses in the diagnosis of patients with chest pain. These rapid tests are easy to perform and they do not require expensive instrumentation. For the diagnosis of patient with chest pain, routinely myoglobin and CK-ME mass measurements should be performed whenever they are requested (24 h/day) and cTnT or cTnI on admission to the hospital and then 4-6 and 12 hours later and maintained less than 10% in imprecision.

• BMB Reports
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• 제48권3호
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• pp.131-138
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• 2015

Cardiac hypertrophy is a form of global remodeling, although the initial step seems to be an adaptation to increased hemodynamic demands. The characteristics of cardiac hypertrophy include the functional reactivation of the arrested fetal gene program, where histone deacetylases (HDACs) are closely linked in the development of the process. To date, mammalian HDACs are divided into four classes: I, II, III, and IV. By structural similarities, class II HDACs are then subdivided into IIa and IIb. Among class I and II HDACs, HDAC2, 4, 5, and 9 have been reported to be involved in hypertrophic responses; HDAC4, 5, and 9 are negative regulators, whereas HDAC2 is a pro-hypertrophic mediator. The molecular function and regulation of class IIa HDACs depend largely on the phosphorylation-mediated cytosolic redistribution, whereas those of HDAC2 take place primarily in the nucleus. In response to stresses, posttranslational modification (PTM) processes, dynamic modifications after the translation of proteins, are involved in the regulation of the activities of those hypertrophy-related HDACs. In this article, we briefly review 1) the activation of HDAC2 in the development of cardiac hypertrophy and 2) the PTM of HDAC2 and its implications in the regulation of HDAC2 activity.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.31-37
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• 1972

The right cervical vagus nerve was electrically stimulated for 30 sec, and 30 minutes recording cardiac rate responses and electrocardiogram. The main purposes of the present experiment are to determine effect of stimulation frequency on the maintenance of cardiac rate responses and to determine recovery time of sinus rhythm after asystole period followed by idioventricular rhythm during prolonged electrical stimulation of the vagus, and the optimal stimulation parameters for vagal stimulation were studied as well. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. The maximum negative chrontropic responses were obtained with the following ranges of electrical parameters. Intensity: 3V-7V, Frequency: 20/sec-60/sec, and pulse duration: 5 msec-20 msec. 2. Compared with the responses from sympathetic effectors, cardiac rate responses to electrical stimulation of vagus nerve were well maintained with all stimulation frequencies. 3. At all stimulation frequencies except 20/sec, sinus node started to take over primary pacemaker activity when cardiac rates were restored to about 38-40/min. 4. It was indicated that upper limit of idioventricular rhythm does not exceed 38-40/min. 5. With the stimulation parameter set of 20/sec-5 msec-3 V, sinus rhythm did not appear during 30 minutes of stimulation period. Therefore, this electrical parameter set appears to be optimal for elicitation of prolonged and maximum cardiac rate responses by vagal stimulation.

• 대한약리학회지
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.9-17
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• 1975

The adrenergic blocking activity and refractory period of cardiac muscle on isolated rabbit atria were measured after administration of Scutellaria. In rabbits and cats the antiarrhythmic action of Scutellaria on atrial and ventricular arrhythmias produced by epinephrine or ouabain was examined and also compared with that of propranolol and quinidine. The alcoholic extract of Scutellaria produced a marked decrease in heart rate and contractile amplitude of the isolated rabbit atria. Pretreatment with Scutellaria rendered the atria to fail to respond to epinephrine, indicating that this crude drug possesses an adrenergic blocking activity. The extract produced a marked prolongation of the refractory period of atrial muscle. The extract effectively abolished the spontaneous arrhythmia occurring in the isolated rabbit atria. As propranolol and quinidine it also suppressed the atrial arrhythmia induced by ouabain. The extract prevented, as propranolol and quinidine, the induction of ventricular arrhythmia arising from excessive dose of epinephrine in anesthetized rabbits and cats. With regard to the ventricular arrhythmia induced by a continuous infusion of ouabain, the alcoholic extract of Scutellaria exerted some suppressive effect in anesthetized rabbits but no effect on cats. From the above results, it may be concluded that Scutellaria is effective against atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. The antiarrhythmic effects of this drug may be the result of adrenergic beta receptor blocking and cardiac depressive activities including prolongation of the refractory period of cardiac muscle.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권1호
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• pp.248-253
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• 2023

Directly, it is not possible to measure the absorbed dose of radiopharmaceuticals in the organs of the human body. Therefore, simulation methods are utilized to estimate the dose in distinct organs. In this study, individual organs were separately considered as the source organ or target organ to calculate the mean absorption dose, which SAF and S factors were then calculated according to the target uptake via MIRD method. Here, ^99mTc activity distribution within the target was analyzed using the definition and simulation of ideal organs by summing the fraction of cumulative activities of the heart as source organ. Thus, GATE code was utilized to simulate the Zubal humanoid phantom. To validate the outcomes in comparison to the similar results reported, the accumulation of activity in the main organs of the body was calculated at the moment of injection and cardiac rest condition after 60 min of injection. The results showed the highest dose absorbed into pancreas was about 21%, then gallbladder 18%, kidney 16%, spleen 15%, heart 8%, liver 8%, thyroid 7%, lungs 5% and brain 2%, respectively, after 1 h of injection. This distinct simulation model may also be used for different periods after injection and modifying the prescribed dose.

• 한국생물물리학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국생물물리학회 2002년도 제9회 학술 발표회 프로그램과 논문초록
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• pp.20-21
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• 2002

The inflow of Ca$\^$2＋/ through voltage-activated T-type calcium channels (T-channels) regulates a variety of cellular functions including neuronal excitability, cardiac pacemaker activity, hormone secretion, smooth muscle contraction, and fertilization. Not only are T-channels enormously important for the normal operation of cells, they also playa critical role in pathophysiological conditions such as cardiac hypertrophy and absence epilepsy.(omitted)

• BMB Reports
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• 제46권5호
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• pp.237-243
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• 2013

Heart failure is one of the leading causes of sudden death in developed countries. While current therapies are mostly aimed at mitigating associated symptoms, novel therapies targeting the subcellular mechanisms underlying heart failure are emerging. Failing hearts are characterized by reduced contractile properties caused by impaired $Ca^{2+}$ cycling between the sarcoplasm and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum $Ca^{2+}$ ATPase 2a (SERCA2a) mediates $Ca^{2+}$ reuptake into the SR in cardiomyocytes. Of note, the expression level and/or activity of SERCA2a, translating to the quantity of SR $Ca^{2+}$ uptake, are significantly reduced in failing hearts. Normalization of the SERCA2a expression level by gene delivery has been shown to restore hampered cardiac functions and ameliorate associated symptoms in pre-clinical as well as clinical studies. SERCA2a activity can be regulated at multiple levels of a signaling cascade comprised of phospholamban, protein phosphatase 1, inhibitor-1, and $PKC{\alpha}$. SERCA2 activity is also regulated by post-translational modifications including SUMOylation and acetylation. In this review, we will highlight the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of SERCA2a activity and the potential therapeutic modalities for the treatment of heart failure.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.305-311
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• 1993

$Na^+,K^+$-ATPase activity, $Na^+$-dependent phosphorylation, and $[^3H]$ ouabain binding in sarcolemma prepared from 4 week old spontaneously hypertensive rat(SHR) ventricles were compared to the same parameters in sarcolemma from age matched nomotensive Wister-Kyoto (WKY) rat ventricles to examine whether the reduced myocardial $Na^+$-pump activity in SHR is an inherited enzymatic defect or a second phenomenon due to sustained hypertension. The total body weights, ventricular weights, and blood pressures were the same for SHR and WKY. No significant differences in sarcolemmal protein content and protein recovery were noted between the two groups. Sarcolemma isolated from SHR ventricles showed significantly less $Na^+,K^+$-ATPase activity ande number of phosphorylation sites when compared to sarcolemma from the WKY ventricles. Equilibrium binding of $[^3H]$ouabain and the tumover number of myocardial $Na^+,K^+$-ATPase, however, were the same for both groups. These reults indicate that the low affinity $(\alpha,\;or\;\alpha^1)\;\alpha$ isoform is the same in ventricles of SHR and WKY. The reduced amount of isoform of the $Na^+,K^+$-ATPase inprehypetensive SHR ventricles may play some role in the development of hypertension.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.100-113
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• 2019

Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disease characterized by noncaseating granulomas. Cardiac involvement is known to have poor prognosis because it can manifest as a serious condition such as the conduction abnormality, heart failure, ventricular arrhythmia, or sudden cardiac death. Although early diagnosis and early treatment is critical to improve patient prognosis, the diagnosis of CS is challenging in most cases. Diagnosis usually relies on endomyocardial biopsy (EMB), but its diagnostic yield is low due to the incidence of patchy myocardial involvement. Guidelines for the diagnosis of CS recommend a combination of clinical, electrocardiographic, and imaging findings from various modalities, if EMB cannot confirm the diagnosis. Especially, the role of advanced imaging such as cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging and positron emission tomography (PET), has shown to be important not only for the diagnosis, but also for monitoring treatment response and prognostication. CMR can evaluate cardiac function and fibrotic scar with good specificity. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in CMR shows a distinctive enhancement pattern for each disease, which may be useful for differential diagnosis of CS from other similar diseases. Effectively, T1 or T2 mapping techniques can be also used for early recognition of CS. In the meantime, PET can detect and quantify metabolic activity and can be used to monitor treatment response. Recently, the use of a hybrid CMR-PET has introduced to allow identify patients with active CS with excellent co-localization and better diagnostic accuracy than CMR or PET alone. However, CS may show various findings with a wide spectrum, therefore, radiologists should consider the possible differential diagnosis of CS including myocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, amyloidosis, and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Radiologists should recognize the differences in various diseases that show the characteristics of mimicking CS, and try to get an accurate diagnosis of CS.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.393-402
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• 2019

Aurora kinases inhibitors, including ZM447439 (ZM), which suppress cell division, have attracted a great deal of attention as potential novel anti-cancer drugs. Several recent studies have confirmed the anti-cancer effects of ZM in various cancer cell lines. However, there have been no studies regarding the cardiac safety of this agent. We performed several cytotoxicity, invasion and migration assays to examine the anti-cancer effects of ZM. To evaluate the potential effects of ZM on cardiac repolarisation, whole-cell patch-clamp experiments were performed with human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) and cells with heterogeneous cardiac ion channel expression. We also conducted a contractility assay with rat ventricular myocytes to determine the effects of ZM on myocardial contraction and/or relaxation. In tests to determine in vitro efficacy, ZM inhibited the proliferation of A549, H1299 (lung cancer), MCF-7 (breast cancer) and HepG2 (hepatoma) cell lines with $IC_{50}$ in the submicromolar range, and attenuated the invasive and metastatic capacity of A549 cells. In cardiac toxicity testing, ZM did not significantly affect $I_{Na}$, $I_{Ks}$ or $I_{K1}$, but decreased $I_{hERG}$ in a dose-dependent manner ($IC_{50}$: $6.53{\mu}M$). In action potential (AP) assay using hiPSC-CMs, ZM did not induce any changes in AP parameters up to $3{\mu}M$, but it at $10{\mu}M$ induced prolongation of AP duration. In summary, ZM showed potent broad-spectrum anti-tumor activity, but relatively low levels of cardiac side effects compared to the effective doses to tumor. Therefore, ZM has a potential to be a candidate as an anti-cancer with low cardiac toxicity.