Mechanisms Of Excitation Contraction Coupling In Myocytes From Normal And Chronically Ischemic Pig Myocardium

This is a Ph.D. dissertation. Introduction: Cardiovascular and myocardial gene transfer, Gene delivery strategies to the cardiovascular system, Gene vector design, Adenovirus-mediated immunity and cardiovascular gene transfer, Myocardial gene transfer to target myocardial ischemia - reperfusion injury; Specific aims; Materials and methods: Construction of recombinant virus, Myocardial transfer and anti-adenoviral immunity, Gene transfer and myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, Statistical analysis; Results: Anti-adenoviral immunity and myocardial adenoviral gene transfer, Gene transfer and myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury; Discussion: Pre-existing anti-adenoviral immunity and adenovirus-mediated myocardial gene transfer, Intramyocardial NOS3 gene transfer and adenovirus-mediated immune responses, Cardioselective NOS3 gene transfer and myocardial protection from reperfusion injury; General conclusions.

This is a Ph.D. dissertation. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease state characterized by airflow limitation that is not fully reversible. The airflow limitation is usually progressive and associated with an abnormal inflammatory response of the lungs to noxious particles or gases. Clinically, it is characterized by complaints of cough, sputum production, and/or dyspnoea, and diagnosed by a significantly reduced Tiffeneau index. It was the fourth leading cause of death in the United States in 1996, exceeded only by heart attacks, cancers and stroke. Hence, COPD is a major global health problem and its burden on society is growing rapidly. For these reasons, COPD was chosen as a study population in the present project.