title: Protection in the aged heart: preventing the heart-break of old age?
abstract: The aged heart has a diminished functional and adaptive reserve capacity, an increased susceptibility to incur damage (e.g., as a result of ischemia), and a limited practical ability for repair/regeneration. Thus, there has been considerable interest to harness the heart's endogenous capacity to resist such damage, known as ischemic preconditioning (IPC), as well as other cardioprotective mechanisms. However, the translation of basic research findings into clinical practice has largely been inadequate because there have been few if any successful implementations in terms of viable therapies activating cardioprotection mechanisms to limit infarct size. Here, we provide an overview of the general mechanisms of cardioprotection, changes in the structure and function of the aged heart, and the current knowledge regarding cardioprotection in aged heart. The problems and opportunities for successful bench-to-bedside translation of cardioprotection in the elderly are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cardiovascular Sciences, Gerontology Research Center, Box 13 Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, 5600 Nathan Shock Dr., Baltimore, MD 21224-6825, USA.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juhaszova
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rabuel
authors.forename: Dmitry B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Zorov
authors.forename: Edward G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Lakatta
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Sollott
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D006801:Humans; D019157:Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial; D008929:Mitochondria, Heart / Q000378:metabolism; D023421:Models, Animal; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015425:Myocardial Reperfusion; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002316:Cardiotonic Agents; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3