scholarly journals A Porcine Model of Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction Induced by Chronic Pressure Overload Characterized by Cardiac Fibrosis and Remodeling

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weijiang Tan ◽  
Xiang Li ◽  
Shuang Zheng ◽  
Xiaohui Li ◽  
Xiaoshen Zhang ◽  
...  

Heart failure is induced by multiple pathological mechanisms, and current therapies are ineffective against heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). As there are limited animal models of HFpEF, its underlying mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. Here, we employed the descending aortic constriction (DAC) technique to induce chronic pressure overload in the left ventricles of Tibetan minipigs for 12 weeks. Cardiac function, pathological and cellular changes, fibrotic signaling activation, and gene expression profiles were explored. The left ventricles developed concentric hypertrophy from weeks 4 to 6 and transition to dilation starting in week 10. Notably, the left ventricular ejection fraction was maintained at >50% in the DAC group during the 12-week period. Pathological examination, biochemical analyses, and gene profile analysis revealed evidence of inflammation, fibrosis, cell death, and myofilament dephosphorylation in the myocardium of HFpEF model animals, together with gene expression shifts promoting cardiac remodeling and downregulating metabolic pathways. Furthermore, we noted the activation of several signaling proteins that impact cardiac fibrosis and remodeling, including transforming growth factor-β/SMAD family members 2/3, type I/III/V collagens, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 and 2, interleukins 6 and 1β, and inhibitor of κBα/nuclear factor-κB. Our findings demonstrate that this chronic pressure overload-induced porcine HFpEF model is a powerful tool to elucidate the mechanisms of this disease and translate preclinical findings.

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Cuk ◽  
Jae H Cho ◽  
Donghee Han ◽  
Joseph E Ebinger ◽  
Eugenio Cingolani

Introduction: Sudden death due to ventricular arrhythmias (VA) is one of the main causes of mortality in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Ventricular fibrosis in HFpEF has been suspected as a substrate of VA, but the degree of fibrosis has not been well characterized. Hypothesis: HFpEF patients with increased degree of fibrosis will manifest more VA. Methods: Cedars-Sinai medical records were probed using Deep 6 artificial intelligence data extraction software to identify patients with HFpEF who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI of identified patients were reviewed to measure extra-cellular volume (ECV) and degree of fibrosis. Ambulatory ECG monitoring (Ziopatch) of those patients were also reviewed to study the prevalence of arrhythmias. Results: A total of 12 HFpEF patients who underwent cardiac MRI were identified. Patients were elderly (mean age 70.3 ± 7.1), predominantly female (83%), and overweight (mean BMI 32 ± 9). Comorbidities included hypertension (83%), dyslipidemia (75%), and coronary artery disease (67%). Mean left ventricular ejection fraction by echocardiogram was 63 ± 8.7%. QTc as measured on ECG was not significantly prolonged (432 ± 15 ms). ECV was normal in those patients for whom it was available (24.2 ± 3.1, n = 9) with 3/12 patients (25%) demonstrating ventricular fibrosis by MRI (average burden of 9.6 ± 5.9%). Ziopatch was obtained in 8/12 patients (including all 3 patients with fibrosis) and non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) was identified in 5/8 (62.5%). One patient with NSVT and without fibrosis on MRI also had a sustained VA recorded. In those patients who had Ziopatch monitoring, there was no association between presence of fibrosis and NSVT (X2 = 0.035, p = 0.85). Conclusions: Ventricular fibrosis was present in 25% of HFpEF patients in this study and NSVT was observed in 62.5% of those patients with HFpEF who had Ziopatch monitoring. The presence of fibrosis by Cardiac MRI was not associated with NSVT in this study; however, the size of the cohort precludes broadly generalizable conclusions about this association. Further investigation is required to better understand the relationship between ventricular fibrosis by MRI and VA in patients with HFpEF.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 613-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aisha Gohar ◽  
Rogier F Kievit ◽  
Gideon B Valstar ◽  
Arno W Hoes ◽  
Evelien E Van Riet ◽  
...  

Background The prevalence of undetected left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is high, especially in the elderly with comorbidities. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is a prognostic indicator of heart failure, in particularly of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and of future cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Therefore we aimed to develop sex-specific diagnostic models to enable the early identification of men and women at high-risk of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction with or without symptoms of heart failure who require more aggressive preventative strategies. Design Individual patient data from four primary care heart failure-screening studies were analysed (1371 participants, excluding patients classified as heart failure and left ventricular ejection fraction <50%). Methods Eleven candidate predictors were entered into logistic regression models to be associated with the presence of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction/heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in men and women separately. Internal-external cross-validation was performed to develop and validate the models. Results Increased age and β-blocker therapy remained as predictors in both the models for men and women. The model for men additionally consisted of increased body mass index, moderate to severe shortness of breath, increased pulse pressure and history of ischaemic heart disease. The models performed moderately and similarly well in men (c-statistics range 0.60–0.75) and women (c-statistics range 0.51–0.76) and the performance improved significantly following the addition of N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide (c-statistics range 0.61–0.80 in women and 0.68–0.80 in men). Conclusions We provide an easy-to-use screening tool for use in the community, which can improve the early detection of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction/heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in high-risk men and women and optimise tailoring of preventive interventions.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsutomu Kawai ◽  
Takahisa Yamada ◽  
Tetsuya Watanabe ◽  
Shunsuke Tamaki ◽  
Shungo Hikoso ◽  
...  

Backgrounds: Although B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP ) are interrelated parameters in assessment heart failure severity and prognosis, the ratio of NT-proBNP to BNP (NT-proBNP/BNP) are affected by various clinical factors, such as renal function. However, little is known about the influence of inflammation on NT-proBNP/BNP in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Methods and Results: Patients data were extracted from PURSUIT-HFpEF registry, which is a multicenter prospective observational study including patients hospitalized for acute heart failure with left ventricular ejection fraction of >50%. Of 871 patients, data of BNP and NT-proBNP was available in 654 patients. The median baseline concentration of BNP was 474 pg/ml (299-720), NT-proBNP was 3310 pg/ml (1740-6840), and NT-proBNP/BNP was 7.6 (5.0-11.8). In multivariable linear regression analyses, older age [odds ratio (OR); 1.05, 95% confidence interval (CI); 1.02-1.09, p=0.001], higher creatinine [OR; 2.63, 95% CI; 1.66-4.16, p<0.001], and higher C-reactive protein (CRP) [OR; 1.17, 95% CI; 1.06-1.28, p<0.001] were significantly associated with a higher NT-proBNP/BNP (>median value of 7.6). However, other factors expected to affect NT-proBNP/BNP, such as atrial fibrillation and body mass index, were not associated with a higher NT-proBNP/BNP in this study. Patients in the highest CRP quartile had significantly higher NT-proBNP/BNP than those with other quartiles. Conclusion: In HFpEF patients, concomitant inflammation was associated with high NT-proBNP/BNP, which indicated that we need a careful interpretation on these two natriuretic peptides of patients with HFpEF and inflammatory status, such as infection.


2018 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Dylan Olver ◽  
Jenna C. Edwards ◽  
Brian S. Ferguson ◽  
Jessica A. Hiemstra ◽  
Pamela K. Thorne ◽  
...  

Conventional treatments have failed to improve the prognosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) patients. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the therapeutic efficacy of chronic interval exercise training (IT) on large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (BKCa) channel-mediated coronary vascular function in heart failure. We hypothesized that chronic interval exercise training would attenuate pressure overload-induced impairments to coronary BKCa channel-mediated function. A translational large-animal model with cardiac features of HFpEF was used to test this hypothesis. Specifically, male Yucatan miniswine were divided into three groups ( n = 7/group): control (CON), aortic banded (AB)-heart failure (HF), and AB-interval trained (HF-IT). Coronary blood flow, vascular conductance, and vasodilatory capacity were measured after administration of the BKCa channel agonist NS-1619 both in vivo and in vitro in the left anterior descending coronary artery and isolated coronary arterioles, respectively. Skeletal muscle citrate synthase activity was decreased and left ventricular brain natriuretic peptide levels increased in HF vs. CON and HF-IT animals. A parallel decrease in NS-1619-dependent coronary vasodilatory reserve in vivo and isolated coronary arteriole vasodilatory responsiveness in vitro were observed in HF animals compared with CON, which was prevented in the HF-IT group. Although exercise training prevented BKCa channel-mediated coronary vascular dysfunction, it did not change BKCa channel α-subunit mRNA, protein, or cellular location (i.e., membrane vs. cytoplasm). In conclusion, these results demonstrate the viability of chronic interval exercise training as a therapy for central and peripheral adaptations of experimental heart failure, including BKCa channel-mediated coronary vascular dysfunction. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Conventional treatments have failed to improve the prognosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) patients. Our findings show that chronic interval exercise training can prevent BKCa channel-mediated coronary vascular dysfunction in a translational swine model of chronic pressure overload-induced heart failure with relevance to human HFpEF.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
K Ejiri ◽  
T Miyoshi ◽  
H Kihara ◽  
Y Hata ◽  
T Nagano ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Recent randomized, placebo-controlled trial in patients with type 2 diabetes demonstrated that the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors reduced mortality, cardiovascular events and hospitalization for heart failure. However, those trials were not specialized design to investigate the effect of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors in patients with heart failure, in particular with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the drug efficacy of luseogliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, compared with voglibose, an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, using brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in type 2 diabetes patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Methods This study was a prospective, multicenter, open-label, randomized-controlled trial, comparing luseogliflozin 2.5 mg once daily or voglibose 0.2 mg three times daily in patients with type 2 diabetes suffering from heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (left ventricular ejection fraction >45% and BNP ≥35 pg/ml2) in a 1:1 randomization fashion. Randomization was undertaken using a computer-generated random sequence web response system. The primary outcome was the difference from baseline in BNP after 12 weeks of treatment between two drugs. The key secondary outcomes were the change from baseline in left ventricular ejection fraction and E/e' in echocardiographic parameters, body weight, glycohemoglobin level after 12 weeks of treatment. The safety outcomes included the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events, hypoglycemic adverse events, and urinary tract infection. Results Between December 2015 and September 2018, 173 patients from 16 hospitals and clinics have been included in this study. Of those, 83 patients were assigned to receive luseogliflozin and 82 to receive voglibose. There was no significant difference in the reduction in the BNP concentration after 12 weeks from baseline between the two groups; the ratio of the average values at week 12 to the baseline value was 0.91 in the luseoglifllzin group as compared with 0.98 in the voglibose group (percent change, −9.0% vs. −1.9%, ratio of change with luseogliflozin vs. voglibose, 0.93; 95% confidence interval, 0.78 to 1.10; p=0.26). The key secondary outcomes including left ventricular ejection fraction, E/e', body weight, glycohemoglobin level and the safety outcomes did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusions In type 2 diabetes patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, the administration of luseogliflozin did not lead to a significant reduction in the BNP concentration than that of voglibose. Left ventricular ejection fraction, E/e', body weight and glycohemoglobin level after 12 weeks of treatment, comparing with at baseline did not differ significantly between the two groups. (UMIN Clinical Trial Registry number, UMINehz748.005618395) Acknowledgement/Funding Novartis


2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (702) ◽  
pp. e62-e70
Author(s):  
Yuzhong Wu ◽  
Wengen Zhu ◽  
Xin He ◽  
Ruicong Xue ◽  
Weihao Liang ◽  
...  

BackgroundPolypharmacy is common in heart failure (HF), whereas its effect on adverse outcomes in patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is unclear.AimTo evaluate the prevalence, prognostic impacts, and predictors of polypharmacy in HFpEF patients.Design and settingA retrospective analysis performed on patients in the Americas region (including the US, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil) with symptomatic HF and a left ventricular ejection fraction ≥45% in the TOPCAT (Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist) trial, an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted during 2006–2013 in six countries.MethodPatients were categorised into four groups: controls (<5 medications), polypharmacy (5–9 medications), hyperpolypharmacy, (10–14 medications), and super hyperpolypharmacy (≥15 medications). The outcomes and predictors in all groups were assessed.ResultsOf 1761 participants, the median age was 72 years; 37.5% were polypharmacy, 35.9% were hyperpolypharmacy, and 19.6% were super hyperpolypharmacy, leaving 7.0% having a low medication burden. In multivariable regression models, three experimental groups with a high medication burden were all associated with a reduction in all-cause death, but increased risks of HF hospitalisation and all-cause hospitalisation. Furthermore, several comorbidities (dyslipidemia, thyroid diseases, diabetes mellitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a history of angina pectoris, diastolic blood pressure <80 mmHg, and worse heart function (the New York Heart Association functional classification level III and IV) at baseline were independently associated with a high medication burden among patients with HFpEF.ConclusionA high prevalence of high medication burden at baseline was reported in patients with HFpEF. The high medication burden might increase the risk of hospital readmission, but not the mortality.


2016 ◽  
Vol 88 (9) ◽  
pp. 102-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A Nikiforova ◽  
D Yu Shchekochikhin ◽  
F Yu Kopylov ◽  
A L Syrkin

The paper reviews major biomarkers for determining the prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure and preserved ejection fraction. It also considers cystatin C, one of the novel and probably the most practically important biomarkers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Pierre Dubé ◽  
Olympe Chazara ◽  
Audrey Lemaçon ◽  
Géraldine Asselin ◽  
Sylvie Provost ◽  
...  

Aims. The Candesartan in Heart failure Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and morbidity (CHARM) programme consisted of three parallel, randomised, double-blind clinical trials comparing candesartan with placebo in patients with heart failure (HF) categorised according to left ventricular ejection fraction and tolerability to an ACE inhibitor. We conducted a pharmacogenomic study of the CHARM studies to identify genetic predictors of heart failure progression and the efficacy and safety of treatment with candesartan. Methods. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with the composite endpoint of cardiovascular death or hospitalisation for heart failure in 2727 patients from CHARM-Overall and stratified by CHARM study according to preserved and reduced ejection fraction. The safety endpoints were hyperkalaemia, renal dysfunction, hypotension, and change in systolic blood pressure. We also conducted a genome-wide gene-level collapsing analysis from whole-exome sequencing data with the composite cardiovascular endpoint. Results. We found the genetic variant rs66886237 at 8p21.3 near the gene GFRA2 to be associated with the composite cardiovascular endpoint in 1029 HF patients with preserved ejection fraction from the CHARM-Preserved study [hazard ratio (HR): 1.91, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.55-2.35; P=1.7x10-9], but not in patients with reduced ejection fraction. None of the GWAS for candesartan safety or efficacy passed the significance threshold. Conclusions. We have identified a candidate genetic variant potentially predictive of the progression of heart failure in patients with preserved ejection fraction. The findings require further replication and we cannot exclude the possibility that the results may be chance findings.


EP Europace ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Zolotarova

Abstract Introduction. Randomized controlled trials and meta-analyzes have shown high efficacy of the radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for both initial and secondary strategies after unsuccessful drug therapy (DT) to maintain sinus rhythm (SR) and improve functional and morphological quality of life; in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), RFA were associated with a significant relative reduction in the risk of overall mortality, atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence, and hospitalization for cardiac pathology (compared with DT). High risk of arrhythmia recurrence (up to 45% within 6 - 12 months after intervention) remains a major RFA problem. Purpose. to evaluate predictive properties of demographic, hemodynamic and electrocardiographic parameters for recurrence after atrial fibrillation ablation in patients with chronic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Methods. We included 120 patients, aged 59.80 ± 10.08 years with CHF with preserved ejection fraction (EF) of left ventricle (LV) who underwent first time RFA for AF with LV EF(&gt; 40%) I-III FC NYHA. Baseline clinical data, ECG before and after the procedure, ECHO parameters were collected Results Thirty-two patients had AF recurrence after a mean follow-up of twelve months. Those experiencing recurrence were more female (50% vs.39%, p &lt;0,01), had a longer QTc interval before ablation than those without recurrence (387,23 ± 2,31 vs. 341,22 ± 8,91 ms, p &lt; 0,01) and after ablation (439,01 ± 4,73 vs. 373,21 ± 7,92 ms, p &lt; 0,001), lower LV EF (59% vs. 63%, p &lt; 0,05), higher left atrium diameter (4,59 ± 0,45 vs. 4,08 ± 0,61 cm, p &lt; 0,001) and higher mean pulmonary artery gradient (32,86 ± 9,67 vs. 25,15 ± 9,73, p &lt; 0,01). Conclusions. QTc duration to radiofrequency ablation and its prolongation after intervention are independent predictors of arrhythmia recurrence in patients with chronic heart failure with a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction. The size of the left atrium before ablation is a highly sensitive predictor of recurrence of arrhythmia


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