Gavin Norton

Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats have been reported to have a higher sympathetic activity than Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. In the present study we sought to determine if these rat strain-related differences in...

In heart failure chronic sympathetic activation results in contractile dysfunction in part through down-regulation of the beta-adrenoceptor-cAMP system. However, the impact of chronic adrenergic activation on cardiac sympathetic neuromodulator systems...

Although increases in myocardial synaptic norepinephrine concentrations contribute toward the progression to heart failure in hypertension, the stimuli for norepinephrine release are unclear. In this study we explored whether neurotensin,...

Using immunoassay measurements, neurotensin was identified in rat ventricular tissue and in coronary effluent samples. Exogenous neurotensin evoked contractile responses in isolated ventricular preparations, which were equivalent in magnitude to...

Despite reductions in beta-adrenoreceptor (beta-AR)-mediated inotropic effects induced by sustained sympathetic activation in cardiac disease, whether these changes necessarily result in reductions in systolic function under resting conditions (baseline function)...

In the present study we sought to determine whether reduced contractile responses to phosphodiesterase inhibitors occur in the face of chronic cardiac hypertrophy associated with beta-adrenergic inotropic downregulation. As compared...

Background: Inflammatory immune activation commonly occurs in heart failure and may perpetuate this syndrome. We sought to determine whether the immunomodulating agent pentoxifylline enhances left ventricular function in patients with...

Patients with severe heart failure have plasma cytokine concentrations that are more than twofold greater than those in patients with moderate heart failure. Although pentoxifylline, an immunomodulatory agent that inhibits...