Molecular mechanisms of cardiac protection by adaptation to chronic hypoxia.
Effective protection of the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury is one of the most important goals of experimental and clinical research in cardiology. Besides ischemic preconditioning as a powerful temporal protective phenomenon, adaptation to chronic hypoxia also increases cardiac tolerance to all major deleterious consequences of acute oxygen deprivation such as myocardial infarction, contractile dysfunction and ventricular arrhythmias. Although many factors have been proposed to play a potential role, the detailed mechanism of this long-term protection remains poorly understood. This review summarizes current limited evidence for the involvement of ATP-sensitive potassium channels, reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide and various protein kinases in cardioprotective effects of chronic hypoxia.
Kolár
F
F
Department of Developmental Cardiology, Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and Center for Experimental Cardiovascular Research, Prague, Czech Republic. kolar@biomed.cas.cz
Ostádal
B
B
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D015687:Cell Hypoxia / Q000502:physiology; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000502:physiology; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000502:physiology; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species
D015221:Potassium Channels; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D011494:Protein Kinases