Staff

1. Levi Renzo (Coordinator)
2. Alloatti Giuseppe (Member)
3. Gallo Maria Pia (Member)

Contacts

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Activity

The laboratory has been among the first in Italy to develop preparations of adult cardiac myocytes and to use the patch-clamp technique to measure and characterize ionic currents and their regulation. 

We have mainly developed projects aimed at the study of calcium regulation both by physiological signals and in altered conditions that may mimic known pathologies. We have pursued the role of cyclic nucleotides and nitric oxide in the cross talk among receptors and their transduction pathways. In the course of time our technical expertise has moved from modern electrophysiology to intracellular concentration measurements of messengers (calcium, NO and others) with fluorescent dyes, advanced confocal microscopy and classical cell biology techniques.

Beyond adult myocytes from small animals we have established neonatal heart cultures based on a matrix that promotes differentiation to adult phenotype. We have also exploited different coculture models with putative stem cells or endothelial cells.

We have collaborated and are still working with several groups on the analysis of cardiac phenotype of different transgenic mouse models
Present major scientific goals:

• role of endogenous peptides (Neuregulin 1, Thrombopoietin and Chromogranin-A derived peptides) on the cardiovascular function: direct mechanisms on cardiomyocytes and endothelium-mediated effects

• study of cardioprotective pathways activated by endogenous peptides with an in vitro model of ischemia/reperfusion. This approach is extending beyond the measure of apoptosis, shortening, cytosolic calcium and NO to the mitochondrial function.