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- Author or Editor: K. Kodama x
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Abstract
The balance of essential elements in organisms can be changed by environmental stresses. A small fresh water fish, the medaka, was irradiated with X-rays (total dose: 17 Gy, which is not a lethal dose for this fish). Essential elements in the liver, gall bladder, kidney, spleen, heart and brain of the fish were measured by the particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) method and compared with those of a control fish. Various changes in the elemental balance shift were observed. The PIXE method can analyze many elements in a small sample simultaneously, and so the changes in elemental content induced by irradiation were readily determined.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide. Diabetes mellitus is a well-known and important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The occurrence of diabetic cardiomyopathy is independent of hypertension, coronary artery disease, or any other known cardiac diseases. There is growing evidence that excess generation of highly reactive free radicals, largely due to hyperglycemia, causes oxidative stress, which further exacerbates the development and progression of diabetes and its complications. Diabetic cardiomyopathy is characterized by morphologic and structural changes in the myocardium and coronary vasculature mediated by the activation of various signaling pathways. Myocardial apoptosis, hypertrophy and fibrosis are the most frequently proposed mechanisms to explain cardiac changes in diabetic cardiomyopathy. Mammalian 14-3-3 proteins are dimeric phosphoserine-binding proteins that participate in signal transduction and regulate several aspects of cellular biochemistry. 14-3-3 protein regulates diabetic cardiomyopathy via multiple signaling pathways. This review focuses on emerging evidence suggesting that 14-3-3 protein plays a key role in the pathogenesis of the cardiovascular complications of diabetes, which underlie the development and progression of diabetic cardiomyopathy.
