Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Although treatments for cardiovascular diseases have reduced the number of deaths, they have increased the number of patients who develop a condition known as heart failure. Simply put, heart failure is the inability of the heart to pump enough blood that is required by the rest of the body. For decades, it has been shown that the poor function of the failing heart is due to its inability to make enough energy to pump properly. While fats and sugars are the main energy sources for the heart, recent evidence suggests that the failing heart relies on ketones, potentially to increase energy production. Ketones are molecules that are produced by the liver from fats and can be used to provide energy in the heart. Yet, ketones also have many non-energetic properties such as reducing inflammation, which often occurs with heart failure. Currently, it is not understood if and/or how ketones may help the failing heart and if giving more ketones can be a useful therapy. Thus, using mouse models of heart failure, my project will investigate the role of ketones in heart failure and determine if and how they are good for the heart. Although ketogenic diets are commonly known to increase ketones, they reduce sugars, which are known to be an important source of energy for the failing heart. Therefore, our new approach will use a safe, commercially sold ketone water which increases blood ketone levels. We hypothesize that increased ketone use is beneficial for the failing heart and propose that providing even more ketones to the heart will improve heart function by reducing inflammation and increasing energy production. Together, our studies will increase our knowledge of heart failure and may create a new, more practical therapy to help the patients affected by this debilitating condition.