Plato BioPharma Inc. (PBI) Founder and CEO, Dr. Craig F. Plato, announced the co-authorship of a research paper appearing in the 12 March, 2014 issue of Science Translational Medicine. The paper, titled “Intestinal Inhibition of the Na+/H+Exchanger 3 Prevents Cardiorenal Damage in Rats and Inhibits Na+ Uptake in Humans” describes the effects of tenapanor, a compound that reduces the absorption of dietary sodium in the GI tract. Ardelyx, a Fremont-based biotechnology company, and their pharmaceutical…
Contractile reserve decreases with advancing age and chronic isoproterenol (ISO) administration is a well-characterized model of cardiac hypertrophy known to impair cardiovascular function. This study evaluated whether nonsenescent, mature adult rats are more susceptible to detrimental effects of chronic ISO administration than younger adult rats. Rats received daily injections of ISO (0.1 mg/kg sc) or vehicle for 3 wk. ISO induced a greater impairment in contractile reserve [maximum of left ventricular pressure development (Δ+dP/dt(max))] in…
Stress signaling in the myocardium results in enhanced expression of embryonic β-myosin heavy chain (β-MyHC) and reduced expression of adult α-myosin heavy chain (α-MyHC), with the net outcome of diminished myofibrillar ATPase activity and impaired contractility. Pharmacological approaches aimed at preventing this myosin isoform “switch” could provide therapeutic benefit to patients with heart failure. Myosin isoform protein expression is typically quantified using gel electrophoresis methods, which are time-consuming and prone to variability. Here we describe…
Conventional indicator dilution techniques for measuring body fluid volume are laborious, expensive, and highly invasive. Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) may be a useful alternative due to being rapid, minimally invasive, and allowing repeated measurements. BIS has not been reported in mice; hence we examined how well BIS estimates body fluid volume in mice. Using C57/Bl6 mice, the BIS system demonstrated <5% intermouse variation in total body water (TBW) and extracellular (ECFV) and intracellular fluid volume (ICFV)…