Understanding how an old heart gets stiff

衰老伴随着心脏僵硬和功能下降，心血管疾病会加速这一过程，并导致心力衰竭。人们对心脏是如何变硬的知之甚少。这里提出了一种新的机制，涉及结构膜蛋白(称为小窝和小窝)和信号分子(一氧化氮)。目前的研究旨在解开心肌细胞和这些蛋白质/信号之间的相互作用，从而导致僵硬，并确定这一过程是否控制着心脏的正常衰老。这项工作将促进对心脏功能是如何决定的理解，并揭示人类心脏如何随着正常衰老而变化。

Aging is accompanied by a stiffening of the heart and reduced function, which is accelerated by cardiovascular disease and leads to heart failure. How the heart stiffens is poorly understood. A new mechanism is proposed here, involving structural membrane proteins (termed caveolae and cavins) and a signalling molecule (nitric oxide). The current research aims to unravel the interplay between cardiac cells and these proteins/signals to cause stiffness and to determine whether this process governs normal aging of the heart. This work will advance understanding of how heart function is determined and reveal how the human heart changes with normal aging.