Cardiovascular & Haematological Disorders - Drug Targets - Volume 6, Issue 3, 2006

In view of a potential clinical use we aimed this study to assess the selective homing to the injured myocardium and the definitive fate of peripherally injected labeled and previously cryopreserved Bone Marrow Mononuclear cells (BMMNCs). The myocardial damage (cryoinjury) was produced in 59 rats (45 treated, 14 controls). From 51 donor rats 4.4 x 109 BMMNCs were isolated and cryopreserved (slow-cooling prot Read More

Contractile-state smooth muscle cells (SMC), the only cell type in the arterial media, undergoes migration to the intima, proliferation, and abundant extracellular matrix production during the early stages of atherosclerosis. This involves the ingestion of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and modified or oxidised LDL by macrophages together with SMC by several pathways including a scavenger pathway leading to accumulation of chol Read More

The generation of cardiac pacemaker activity is a complex phenomenon which requires the coordinated activity of different membrane ionic channels, as well as intracellular signalling factors including Ca2+ and second messengers. The precise mechanism initiating automaticity in primary pacemaker cells is still matter of debate and certain aspects of how channels cooperate in the regulation of pacemaking by the Read More

Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of mortality in Western countries. Platelets play a crucial role in the development of arterial thrombosis and other pathophysiologies leading to clinical ischemic events. In the damaged vessel wall, platelets adhere to the subendothelium through an interaction with von Willebrand factor (VWF), which forms a bridge between subendothelial collagen and the platelet receptor glycoprot Read More

Strong epidemiological evidence linked elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) to risk of atherosclerotic heart disease. As a consequence, LDL-C lowering has been the main goal of therapy to reduce cardiovascular risk for the past few decades and hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) have become some of the most commonly prescribed drugs. In spite of the proven Read More

During embryogenesis, coronary vessels develop via vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. Vasculogenesis is formation in situ of primary vessels from angioblasts - endothelial cell progenitors, and angiogenesis is formation of vessels from the existing ones. In the embryonic heart vasculogenesis precedes and overlaps angiogenesis and lasts till the end of the fetal life. What is unique about heart vasculogenesis is the fact that nucl Read More