Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Although advancements in therapies to treat cardiovascular disease have reduced the number of deaths of cardiac patients, these treatments have ultimately increased the number of people who eventually go on to develop another clinical condition called heart failure. Simply stated, heart failure is a condition that is defined by poor heart function that prevents the heart from pumping enough blood to the rest of the body. For decades, it has been established that one of the contributing factors of the failing hearts poor performance is the heart's inability to generate enough energy to beat properly. Recent studies have shown that a major fuel for the heart is ketones. Ketones are molecules that are produced by the liver from fats and can be used in the heart to produce energy. Of importance, recent work has suggested that the failing heart increases the amount of ketones used to produce energy in what is thought to be an attempt to increase energy production. However, whether or not this increase in ketone use by the heart is beneficial or detrimental to the failing heart is still unknown. Using two mouse models of heart failure, we will investigate the role of ketones in heart failure and determine if they are good or bad for the heart. We hypothesize that increased ketone use by the failing heart is beneficial and propose that providing even more ketones to the heart can be used as a potential new therapeutic approach for the treatment of heart failure.