Adaptive strategies of the vertebrate heart to environmental stress; regulation of function and morphology

脊椎动物的心脏具有令人难以置信的适应性。例如，当动物受到惊吓时，心脏收缩的速度和强度会迅速增加。另一个例子是长时间的运动训练导致心脏增大。心脏功能和心脏形态的这些变化提高了血液输送到组织的速度，并使体力活动能够更快地进行。心脏损伤或疾病后，心脏也会发生适应不良的变化。在这里，心脏形成疤痕组织，肌肉数量减少，导致心脏虚弱，功能受损。虽然上述适应性和非适应性变化已经在器官水平上得到了很好的描述，但对负责启动和调节它们的细胞通路知之甚少。

The vertebrate heart is incredibly adaptable. An example of this is the rapid increase in the rate and strength of cardiac contraction that occurs when an animal gets startled. Another example is the increase in heart size that occurs in response to prolonged periods of exercise training. These changes in heart function and heart morphology increase the rate at which blood can be delivered to the tissues and enable a higher rate of physical activity. The heart can also undergo maladaptive changes following cardiac injury or disease. Here scar tissue forms in the heart and the amount of muscle decreases resulting in a weakened heart with impaired function. While the above adaptive and maladaptive changes have been well described at the organ level there is less known of the cellular pathways responsible for initiating and regulating them.