Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2006 Aug;7(8):589-600.

Regulation of cardiac hypertrophy by intracellular signalling pathways.

Source

Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Division of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology, 3333 Burnet Ave, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA.

Abstract

The mammalian heart is a dynamic organ that can grow and change to accommodate alterations in its workload. During development and in response to physiological stimuli or pathological insults, the heart undergoes hypertrophic enlargement, which is characterized by an increase in the size of individual cardiac myocytes. Recent findings in genetically modified animal models implicate important intermediate signal-transduction pathways in the coordination of heart growth following physiological and pathological stimulation.