Involvement of Calcineurin/STAT3 Pathways in Heart Hypertrophy during Pregnancy

Abstract

showed no structural defects compared to control littermates. Additionally, examination of these hearts by immunofluorescence microscopy revealed normal myofibrillar structure and localization of the transgenic protein to intercalated disks, as normally seen with the endogenous protein. Protein markers for cardiomyopathy were examined by qPCR and revealed no difference between non-transgenic and transgenic animals. Echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging of the N-RAP transgenic animals revealed no significant structural or functional differences when compared to control littermates at 12 weeks of age. Based on these data, it does not appear that overexpression of N-RAP directly leads to an observable cardiac phenotype. The alternative hypothesis that upregulation of N-RAP in dilated cardiomyopathy is compensatory remains to explored.