G-proteins and transmembrane signalling

激素对细胞功能的协调调节对于能够对即时和长期的环境变化和压力做出反应至关重要。应激激素，肾上腺素，特别影响心血管系统，通过结合和激活细胞表面的肾上腺素能受体蛋白，导致小动脉收缩，心脏收缩的力量和速度增加。这些受体的激活与心肌肥厚的发展以及缺血和再灌注后的室性心律失常有关。因此，了解这些受体激活的确切机制或途径与这些重要临床疾病的治疗直接相关。我们最近发现了一种新的蛋白质Gh，它参与了肾上腺素能受体对细胞功能的调节。本提案的目的是确定Gh在心脏中的重要性，并了解控制该蛋白功能的分子机制。这些见解至关重要，因为它们直接适用于我们对心脏对压力的反应的理解，并可能导致治疗心脏病的新诊断或治疗方法。

The co-ordinated regulation of cellular functions by hormones is vital to be able to respond to both immediate and long-term environmental changes and stresses. The stress hormone, adrenaline, affects in particular, the cardiovascular system, causing constriction of small arteries and increases in the force and rate of contraction of the heart, by binding to, and activating, adrenergic receptor proteins present on the cell surface. Activation of these receptors is implicated in the development of cardiac hypertrophy, as well as ventricular arrhthymias following ischaemia and reperfusion. Understanding the precise mechanisms or pathways of activation of these receptors is, therefore, of direct relevance to the treatment of these important clinical disorders. We have recently discovered a new protein, Gh, involved in the regulation of cellular functions by adrenergic receptors. The aims of this proposal are to determine the importance of Gh in the heart and understand the molecular mechanisms that control the function of this protein. Such insights are of paramount importance as they have direct applicability to our understanding of the heart s response to stress and may lead to new diagnostic or therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cardiac diseases.