Life Sciences Commons^™

Inhibition Of Grk2, But Not Hsp90 Reduces Mitochondrial Superoxide And Improves Vasodilation Capacity Of Coronary Arterioles From Aged Female Rats, Michaela N Dukes, Evan P. Tracy B.S., Amanda Jo Leblanc Ph.D.

Undergraduate Arts and Research Showcase

Introduction: In post-menopausal women, small coronary microvessel dysfunction is the predominant heart disease presentation.There is currently no single treatment to tackle the multifactorial etiology of micro vessel dysfunction including oxidative stress, hyper constricted state, endothelial dysfunction, and blunted beta-adrenergic function. In the heart, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), such as the b-adrenergic receptor (bADR) investigated in this experiment, are active in mediating vessel contractility vasodilation to facilitate blood flow. The presence of GPCR kinase 2 (GRK2), which inhibit bADRs, increase in old age and may mediate blunted capacity to vasodilate. Furthermore, GRK2 can be translocated to the mitochondria via heat shock …