Experimental Protective Strategies in Cardiovascular Diseases

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editor

Carmine Rocca

University of Calabria, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Cardiovascular Pathophysiology [Operative Unit of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Research, (INRC)], Dept. Biology, E. and E.S. (DiBEST), 87036, Cosenza, Italy

Dr. Carmine Rocca is an Assistant Professor in Physiology at the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Cardiovascular Pathophysiology (Operative Unit of the National Institute for Cardiovascular Research), University of Calabria, Italy. He received the BS and MS in Biology with full marks from University of Calabria and his PhD in Life Sciences (Section: Cardiovascular Physiology) from the same university and the international PhD in Integrative Biology, Health and Environment (Section: Clinical Biology) from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) U1239, Unit of Neuronal and Neuroendocrine Differentiation and Communication, University of Rouen, France. Dr. Rocca’s research activity is largely focused on cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology and on systemic and cardiac metabolism at the molecular, cellular, tissue, and organ levels. The results obtained so far have expanded the knowledge about the circuits that maintain cardiac and cardiovascular homeostasis in physiological conditions and in the presence of pathophysiological stresses, with relative biomedical impact, as evinced by his publications in international ISI journals. Dr. Rocca’s research aims to clarify, in small pre-clinical models, the physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the actions of hormones, proteins, peptides, receptors, and molecular targets as cardiovascular and/or metabolic regulators and potential cardioprotective approaches for the prevention and treatment of myocardial ischemia and heart failure secondary to ischemia/reperfusion injury, neurohormonal stimulation, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and chemotherapy. Dr. Rocca is a member of the International Society for Heart Research (ISHR), Italian Society of Cardiovascular Research (SIRC) and Italian Physiological Society (SIF).

Collection Overview

Over the last decades, several lifestyle modifications and therapeutic approaches have been employed for preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), which remain the leading cause of death worldwide. Because of the impact of CVDs, their molecular mechanisms and long-term side effects are under continuous investigation. To date, the contribution provided by both small and large animal models has been fundamental to improve the knowledge related to the diagnosis and the treatment of CVDs. The ideal experimental model should reproduce, as much as possible, the aspect or aspects of disease being investigated, keeping in mind the complexity of human CVDs and that several factors, such as genetics and environment, strongly influence cardiovascular physiopathology; therefore, a single experimental model cannot fully recapitulate a specific CVD. In cardiovascular disease research, different models of atherothrombotic disease, coronary heart disease (CHD), abdominal aortic aneurysm, heart failure (HF) secondary to ischemia/reperfusion, valvular heart disease, dilated or hypertensive cardiomyopathy, metabolic syndrome, and chemotherapy are employed. For instance, animal models are essential in the preclinical evaluation of therapeutic approaches to CHD and HF to assess ischemic pre-post and remote conditioning strategies and pharmacological treatments. These include vector-mediated cardiac gene delivery and stem cell therapy to prevent cardiac damage and stimulate cardiac repair, as well as cardioprotective strategies utilizing microvesicles, exosomes, and other cellular and molecular agents. This methods collection aims to expand the understanding of these experimental protective approaches for reducing the gap between the pre-clinical and clinical settings for the development of new therapeutic interventions for human CVDs.