Abstract
Abnormal relaxation of the heart, termed diastolic dysfunction, is a significant and growing problem that is a major cause of heart failure in the aged population. The potential of gene transfer of parvalbumin (Parv), a cytoplasmic calcium-binding protein, to improve diastolic function in the aged myocardium in vivo was evaluated. Despite evidence for an early developmental influence on the efficiency of Ad5 striated muscle transduction, results show that Ad5 gene transfer efficiency to adult cardiac myocytes in vitro is identical in young and old rats, suggesting that the basic processes of adenovirus binding and internalization are unaffected by aging. In contrast, Ad5-mediated Parv gene transfer to the myocardium in vivo is reduced in old rats compared to young rats. Nonetheless, Parv gene transfer and expression in vivo were sufficient to improve τ, a load-independent indicator of diastolic function, assessed using catheter-based micromanometry in the aged myocardium. These results suggest that expression of the calcium buffer Parv may represent an effective approach to functional correction of the failing heart in the aging.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 399-403 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Molecular Therapy |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2004 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:D.M. was supported by an NIH Training Grant awarded by the Center for Organogenesis at the University of Michigan. This work was supported in part by the NIA at the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the UM Center for Integrative Genomics. Joseph Metzger was an Established Investigator for the American Heart Association.
Keywords
- Aging
- Calcium
- Diastole
- Gene therapy
- Heart failure
- Parvalbumin