heart

Helping the Heart Stand Up to Sepsis

NIH Researcher Explores Why Some Survive Infection-Induced Organ Damage

human body with heart highlighted surrounded by bacteria

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” That line from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes can be applied to mysteries of all sorts, including the ones scientists toil away in their labs to solve. When it comes to solving the many mysteries of sepsis — a life-threatening immune over-reaction to an uncontrolled infection — the process of elimination is leading us closer to answers, thanks to researchers at the NIH Clinical Center.

Sepsis — also known as septic shock in its most severe form — occurs when the body’s immune system kicks into overdrive to fight a severe infection. Unfortunately, rather than just attacking the harmful invaders, the immune system releases chemicals that, when present in excess, cause intense, tissue-damaging inflammation and impair organ function. In recognition of Sepsis Survivors Week, we spoke with IRP Senior Investigator Charles Natanson, M.D., about two of the great mysteries of sepsis: how does sepsis cause organ failure in the first place, and why do some people survive it while so many others die?

Open SESAME: A New Way to Clear the Heart’s Passageways

Minimally Invasive Procedure Provides Help for Ailing Hearts

open door in heart

In the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, two magic words were necessary to open the cave where treasure was hidden. At NIH, researchers are applying those same special words, ‘open sesame,’ to unlock a chamber that is similarly difficult to access. In this case, however, it’s the left ventricle of the human heart.

“Enter one of the greatest acronyms in medicine: Open SESAME,” says IRP senior investigator Robert Lederman, M.D., who leads the IRP’s Laboratory of Cardiovascular Intervention. “That’s what we’re doing: opening up space in the heart.”

The Heartache of Discrimination

Allana T. Forde Unpacks Racial Disparities in Heart Health

black man having chest pains

Discrimination comes in many forms, and people experience it and cope with it in different ways. The accumulation of stress arising from discrimination can lead to wear and tear on the body in a process called ‘weathering’, which ultimately harms cardiovascular health. This is one of the key reasons Black Americans have a higher rate of cardiovascular disease than all other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. and are much more likely to die from cardiovascular conditions than other racial and ethnic groups.

NIH Stadtman Investigator Allana T. Forde, Ph.D., M.P.H., hopes to reduce these startling health disparities by examining how psychosocial stressors, including discrimination, affect the cardiovascular health of subgroups of the Black population, including Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latino, and African American individuals. She also endeavors to identify the protective and adaptive factors that impact the relationship between discrimination and cardiovascular health. In honor of American Heart Month, I spoke with Dr. Forde about her research on discrimination and cardiovascular health in Black Americans, as well as how her research might improve cardiovascular health and inform cardiovascular disease prevention strategies.

A Weaker MRI Scanner Shows Its Strength

Less Powerful Magnetic Fields Improve Heart and Lung Imagery

a person getting an MRI scan

On November 8, 1895, a physics professor in Bavaria was working in his darkened laboratory when he noticed glimmers of light breaking through a piece of heavy black paper and lighting up a screen behind it. As he placed thicker and heavier items between the source of light and the screen, the light remained. That was the day Wilhelm Röntgen accidentally discovered x-rays and changed medicine forever.

As we celebrate World Radiology Day on the 128th anniversary of that discovery, medical imaging now allows people to see inside the human body with a clarity Dr. Röntgen scarcely could have imagined. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in particular, has seen huge advances due to the development of bigger and stronger magnets. In contrast to that trend, IRP Stadtman Investigator Adrienne Campbell-Washburn, Ph.D., has instead combined better software and hardware with a less powerful magnetic field to create a new type of ‘low-field’ MRI that is particularly useful for taking pictures of the heart and lungs and for guiding minimally invasive procedures.

Immune Cells’ Rallying Cry Negates Cardiovascular Surgery’s Benefits

Existing Medications Could Extend Procedure’s Protective Effects

surgeons performing surgery

While modern surgery is undoubtedly a life-saving modern marvel, mucking around inside the human body rarely comes without consequences. Certain life-extending procedures meant to combat heart disease, for instance, commonly cause cardiovascular complications of their own. Fortunately, a team led by IRP researchers has identified a promising approach for staving off those surgical side effects to keep patients’ hearts robust for longer.

Helping Aging Hearts Get Their Groove Back

IRP Researchers Discover ‘Coupled-Clock’ That Controls Heart Rhythms

heart rate monitor

Like so much about our lives, our hearts slow down as we age. While this slowing is natural, a heartbeat that is too sluggish can lead to heart failure, irregular heartbeats known as arrhythmias, and other problems. IRP senior investigator Edward G. Lakatta, M.D., has changed the paradigm in our understanding of how our hearts keep the beat across our life spans — and what happens when they don’t.

NIH History Shows Off Its Spooky Side

Museum Collection Contains Many Eye-Catching Objects and Photographs

Anyone who has engaged in a marathon of gruesome Halloween movies knows that the human body can be portrayed in ways that are frightening. Even in real life, the tools and techniques researchers use to understand disease may seem like something out of a work of fiction. In honor of Halloween this year, let’s sneak inside the archives of the Office of NIH History & Stetten Museum to see the spookiest nooks and crannies of our collection. Whatever you do, don’t turn out the lights!

model of the muscles and blood vessels in the head

Therapeutic Strategy Protects Heart From Diabetic Damage

Mouse Study Points to Approach for Preventing Diabetes-Related Heart Failure

diabetic man testing his blood sugar

Our cells love to lap up sugar from our blood, but as is often the case, too much of a good thing can cause problems. In people with diabetes, chronically high blood sugar can harm organs, including the heart. In an effort to combat this life-threatening problem, IRP researchers demonstrated in mice that activating a specific biological pathway in heart cells can reduce diabetes’ damaging effects on the vital organ.

Graduate Student Symposium Spotlights Future Scientists

IRP’s Ph.D. and Medical Students Present Research at Virtual Event

Khiem Lam

The IRP isn’t concerned only with discovering the secrets of how our bodies work and developing new therapies to treat disease. Senior scientists and many other employees at NIH also are actively involved in training the next generation of researchers. One place where the benefits of those efforts is strikingly clear is at NIH’s annual Graduate Student Research Symposium, where graduate students performing research in NIH labs show of the fruits of their partnerships with IRP researchers.

On February 16 and 17, more than 100 of the IRP’s graduate students presented their work virtually at the 18th edition of the event. These young scientists discussed the results of studies on a huge range of topics, from how hunger changes during pregnancy to how viruses cause cancer. Read on to learn about a small sampling of the projects they’ve been hard at work on.

Designer Drug Uses Double Whammy to Fight Heart Disease

Custom-Built Molecule May Improve On Its Natural Counterpart

plaque buildup in an artery

Ten years ago, a young woman from Chicago came to the National Institutes of Health with a rare genetic condition. A mutation in her DNA was making her metabolic system malfunction, causing levels of fat molecules called triglycerides in her blood to skyrocket far out of the normal range. This triggered inflammation in her pancreas, a painful and potentially life-threatening condition known as pancreatitis. She couldn’t understand why there wasn’t any kind of treatment to help her.

IRP senior investigator Alan T. Remaley, M.D., Ph.D., took on the challenge with the help of Anna Wolska, Ph.D., a research fellow in his lab. Dr. Remaley leads the Lipoprotein Metabolism Section in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), where he and Dr. Wolska study lipoproteins, small particles that transport fats such as cholesterol and triglycerides through the bloodstream to be broken down and used by cells for energy. Their efforts to help that young woman ultimately led to the discovery — published last January — of a new strategy for reducing triglycerides in order to treat serious ailments like pancreatitis and heart disease.