AKT Network of Genes and Impaired Myocardial Contractility During Murine Acute Chagasic Myocarditis.

AKT Network of Genes and Impaired Myocardial Contractility During Murine Acute Chagasic Myocarditis. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2015 Jan 12; Authors: Henao-Martínez AF, Agler AH, Watson AM, Hennessy C, Davidson E, Demos-Davies K, McKinsey TA, Wilson M, Schwartz DA, Yang IV Abstract Chagasic disease is associated with high morbidity in Latin America. Acute Chagasic myocarditis is consistently found in acute infections, but little is known about its contribution to chronic cardiomyopathy. The aim of the study was to phenotypically characterize two strains of mice with differential Chagas infection susceptibility and correlate strain myocarditis phenotypes with heart tissue gene expression. C57BL/6J and Balb/c mice were injected intraperitoneally with 0 or 150-200 tissue-derived trypomastigotes (Tulahuen strain). Echocardiograms, brain natriuretic peptide, and troponin were measured. Heart tissue was harvested for histopathological analysis and gene expression profiling on microarrays. Genes differently expressed between infected Balb/c and C57BL/6J mice were identified. Echocardiograms showed differences in Balb/c versus C57BL/6J infected mice in heart rate (413 versus 476 beats per minute; P = 0.0001), stroke volume (31.9 ± 9.3 versus 39.2 ± 5.5 μL; P = 0.03), and cardiac output (13.1 ± 3.5 versus 18.7 ± 3.2 μL/min; P = 0.002). Gene expression at 4 weeks analysis showed 32 statistically significant (q value < 0.05) differentially ex...
Source: The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Tags: Am J Trop Med Hyg Source Type: research