Grant: Operating Grant

Hospitalized patients who are transferred to a critical care unit for cardiovascular failure consume over 10% of the Canadian health care budget, costing approximately $50,000 per admission. Currently, severe infection with systemic inflammation, is the leading cause of acute cardiovascular failure by a factor of three highlighting the importance of better understanding the causes and find novel therapies.In the present grant we focus on the notion that abnormalities at the level of mitochondria, the cellular powerhouses, are important sources of dysfunction/injury in the heart during sepsis, and thus potential targets for intervention. We will use a well establish model of sepsis in conjunction with several transgenic mouse models to pinpoint key mitochondrial abnormalities that precipitate cardiac failure and evaluate therapeutic interventions targeting these dysfunctions.