PhD students participating in August Krogh seminars receive 0,2 ECTS per seminar
AKC Seminar: Metabolic Therapies for the Treatment of Heart Failure: Looking Beyond the Heart
August Krogh Club Seminar
Professor Dr. Jason Dyck
Department of Pediatrics, Director, Cardiovascular Research Centre, Co-Director, Alberta HEART, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Abstract
Despite existing therapies for heart failure (HF), the current one-year mortality rate after diagnosis of symptomatic HF remains at 25-40%. As such, new strategies to treat this debilitating syndrome and improve the quality and length of life of patients with HF must be developed. Many existing HF pharmacotherapies typically modify specific molecular targets or pathophysiological mechanisms associated with the renin-angiotensin system and sympathetic nervous system. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that non-cardiac factors also contribute to the symptoms associated with HF.
Indeed, peripheral organs such as skeletal muscle and the vasculature are also impaired in HF and it is likely that worsening cardiac, skeletal muscle and vascular function all contribute to HF symptoms such as dyspnea and exercise intolerance. Interestingly, the naturally occurring polyphenol resveratrol, improves skeletal muscle performance, causes beneficial cardiac structural and metabolic remodeling and improves vascular function. Using a pre-clinical animal model of HF, the effects of resveratrol as a treatment of HF have been tested and whether or not resveratrol may one day be used in the treatment of patients with HF will be discussed.
Key publications for the talk
Resveratrol prevents hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy in hypertensive rats and mice.
Dolinsky VW1, Chakrabarti S, Pereira TJ, Oka T, Levasseur J, Beker D, Zordoky BN, Morton JS, Nagendran J, Lopaschuk GD, Davidge ST, Dyck JR.
Improvements in skeletal muscle strength and cardiac function induced by resveratrol during exercise training contribute to enhanced exercise performance in rats.
Dolinsky VW1, Jones KE, Sidhu RS, Haykowsky M, Czubryt MP, Gordon T, Dyck JR.
Research profile
Dr. Dyck is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Director of the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the University of Alberta. He is also the co-director of the Alberta HEART, which is a province-wide program aimed at understanding and treating diastolic heart failure.
Dr. Dyck has a broad area of research that includes the study of skeletal muscle insulin resistance, hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, ischemia/reperfusion injury, diabetic cardiomyopathy and chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity. These diverse research topics are linked by Dr. Dyck’s interest in how alterations in energy metabolism contribute to these diseases.
Time
23 June 2014
14:00-15:00: Seminar and discussion
15:00-15:30: Post seminar servings and socializing
Venue
Auditorium 1, August Krogh Building, Universitetsparken 13, DK-2100 Copenhagen
Registration
Participation is free, but please register here.
For PhD students
PhD students participating in August Krogh seminars receive 0,2 ECTS per seminar
Contact
Christian Frøsig, CFrosig@nexs.ku.dk, mobile +45 2875 1617