The Cardiac Role of the Exchange Protein Directly Activated by cAMP (Epac) During Postnatal Development

在出生后的发育过程中，心脏细胞在形状和大小上发生了显著的变化，以适应不断变化和生长的生物体。此外，心脏细胞产生电和收缩活动的方式也发生了变化。最近的研究进展已经确定了一种与“逃跑或战斗”状态有关的新介质，在这种情况下，心脏需要产生更多的力量和更快的跳动。在不同的发育阶段，这种机制以及随着心脏走向成年状态，它是如何变化的，我们所知甚少。有趣的是，这种机制也与保护心脏免受心脏损伤（例如缺氧，缺乏流入心脏的氧气，或缺血，血液流动停止）有关。这项研究旨在确定心脏在发育过程中以及心脏受到心脏损伤时发生的变化。将特别强调这一新机制。我们的目标是获得的信息将有助于计划和发展保护心脏发育的方法，并可能最终帮助制定此类策略用于儿科心内直视手术。这是很重要的，因为在成人心脏中被证实的保护心脏的干预措施被不加批判地扩展到未成熟的心脏，而没有考虑到心脏发育变化时这些重要的差异。

During postnatal development, heart cells undergo marked changes in shape and size in order to adapt to a changing and growing organism. In addition there are changes in the way heart cells generate their electrical and contractile activity. Recent advances in research have identified a new mediator associated with the "flight or fight" conditions where the heart needs to produce more force and beat faster. Little is known about this mechanism during different stages of development and how it changes, as the heart moves towards its adult state. Interestingly, this mechanism has also been linked to protecting the heart against cardiac insults (e.g. hypoxia, a lack of oxygen flowing into the heart, or ischaemia, a stoppage in blood flow). This study aims to identify the changes that occur in the heart during development and when the heart is exposed to cardiac insults. Particular emphasis will be placed on this new mechanism. The information which we aim to gain will help to plan and develop ways to protect the developing heart, and may ultimately help tailor such strategies for use in paediatric open-heart surgery. This is important as interventions that protect the heart that are proven in adult hearts have been uncritically extended to immature hearts without taking into account these important differences as a developing heart changes.