Subcellular Remodeling as a Viable Target for the Treatment of Congestive Heart Failure Published by:

at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on March 4, 2014cpt.sagepub.comDownloaded from It has now become clear that congestive heart failure (CHF) is a complex problem where the heart is unable to pump sufficient blood to meet the needs of the body as a consequence of its inability to contract and relax normally (1–7). CHF is invariably preceded by car-diac hypertrophy, an adaptive mechanism that seems to be a consequence of a wide variety of neurohor-monal changes, including the activation of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) (8–17). The neurohormonal imbalance, prolonged hemodynamic alterations, and increased ventricular wall tension result in further alterations in the size and shape of the myocardium (cardiac remod-eling) for the development of CHF (Fig. 1). Subcellular Remodeling as a Viable Target fo