Grant: Operating Grant

When the heart is subjected to pressure (hypertension) or volume overload (heart valve regurgitation), adaptive remodelling of cardiac tissue occurs. Sustained overloading of the heart over the years induces heart enlargment, an independent risk factor of heart disease. Eventually, hypertrophy and cavity dilatation will reach maximal capacity and heart failure will develop as those compensatory mechanisms reach their ultimate limit. We intend to concentrate our efforts on aortic valve regurgitation, a form of chronic volume overload of the heart left ventricle. To date, no medical therapy has been proven effective to delay the need of valve replacement through surgery. In addition, the surgical alternative is often not available to the populations most affected by this disease(developing world) We propose here to study in an new animal model (mouse) of this disease the impact of a new pharmacological approach. We will investigate at the cellular and molecular levels the nature and the range of the benefits on the heart this new way of treating this disease.