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Ohio State Professor Of Physiology And Cell Biology Earns American Physiological Society's Henry Pickering Bowditch Award
Paul Janssen receives prestigious award for original and outstanding work on novel mechanisms and relaxation in the heart
ANAHEIM, CA - Each heartbeat is the result of a complex interplay between different molecules and cells in the muscle tissue of the heart. It is a dynamic process, one that holds endless fascination for Paul M. L. Janssen, PhD, Associate Professor of Physiology and Cell Biology at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
In his research, Dr. Janssen has focused on the mechanisms that affect how the heart relaxes between beats, and he has found several proteins and protein modifications that could play a role in the process. Knowing what these proteins are has implications for the treatment of heart disease. For example, dysfunctional relaxation between heartbeats occurs in more than 50% of patients suffering from heart failure.
The American Physiological Society (APS; www.the-APS.org) has recognized the importance of Dr. Janssen's work by awarding him with the Henry Pickering Bowditch Memorial Award. The award is given to scientists younger than 42 years of age whose accomplishments are original and outstanding.
The Interplay of Calcium and the Human Heart
When people with healthy hearts exercise, their heart rates go up and the force of each heart beat increases. Calcium ions in the heart serve as a link between the heart's electrical and mechanical activity and help regulate heartbeat. In humans, when the heart rate goes up, the amount of calcium in the heart cells increases. Normally, this would slow the heart back down, but in exercise, when there is an increased demand for oxygenated blood around the body that does not occur.
"We knew there had to be something in the molecular motors of the heart that made them less sensitive to calcium," Janssen said. By studying heart tissue in both healthy and diseased states, Dr. Janssen and his team were able to determine mechanisms by which this disregulation happens and the proteins that may be involved.
That the heart muscle becomes less sensitive to calcium and does not slow down when a person is exercising is a good thing: The faster the heartbeat, the more forceful the heartbeat. The heart empties out more efficiently and, when relaxed between beats, it fills up more efficiently. The more blood the heart takes in between beats, the more it can send back out to the body. In people with heart failure, the heart beats faster during exercise, but it does not completely relax between beats, so it doesn't fill up with blood efficiently.
Dr. Janssen has an idea of which proteins may be involved and thus the next step is to determine the enzymes that regulate the process. "That's what we're looking at now. Once we have determined that, then at some point they can be targeted with drugs," he said. "right now our methods are not refined enough to test it with humans, but at least we know the pathways and we have potential molecular targets."
Dr. Janssen will discuss his research when he presents this year's Bowditch lecture, "Myocardial Contraction-Relaxation Coupling," on Sunday, April 25, at 5:45 p.m. in Ballroom B of the Anaheim Convention Center.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: Dr. Janssen�s presentation is part of the Experimental Biology 2010 (http://experimentalbiology.org/content/default.aspx) meeting being held April 24-28, 2010 at the Anaheim Convention Center. To schedule an interview with Dr. Janssen, please contact the onsite newsroom at the above number or email, or call Donna Krupa at 703.967.2751 (cell).
Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or disease. The American Physiological Society (www.The-APS.org/press) has been an integral part of this discovery process since it was established in 1887.
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