Cardioprotective effects of lysyl oxidase inhibition
Friday, April 1, 2016 - 09:20
in Health & Medicine
The collagen cross-linking enzyme, lysyl oxidase (LOX), is elevated in many cardiac diseases and is associated with fibrosis. A new article explains that inhibition of LOX activity provided significant cardioprotection in a rat model of chronic volume overload (VO) stress. Rats with 8 weeks of established VO-induced disease were treated with a LOX inhibitor for 6 wks. LOX inhibition completely reversed cardiac fibrosis and improved both systolic and diastolic heart function.