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，心脏细胞的形状和大小会发生显著的变化，以适应不断变化和生长的有机体。此外，心脏细胞产生电活动和收缩活动的方式也发生了变化。最近的研究进展发现了一种与心脏需要产生更多力量和更快跳动的“逃跑或战斗”条件有关的新介质。人们对这种机制在不同发育阶段的了解很少，也不知道当心脏进入成年状态时，这种机制是如何变化的。有趣的是，这一机制还与保护心脏免受心脏损伤有关(例如，缺氧，流入心脏的氧气不足，或缺血，血液流动停止)。这项研究旨在确定心脏在发育过程中以及心脏暴露在心脏侮辱中时发生的变化。将特别强调这一新机制。我们希望获得的信息将有助于规划和开发保护发育中的心脏的方法，并最终可能有助于定制此类策略，用于儿科心脏直视手术。这一点很重要，因为在成人心脏中被证实的保护心脏的干预措施已经不加批判地扩展到未成熟的心脏，而没有考虑到随着心脏发育变化而产生的这些重要差异。

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.