Future Seminar Dates

Title:   "Caveolae: essential signalosomes in the cardiovascular system"

Speaker:   Dr Sarah Calaghan, University of Leeds.

Time:   12:45pm - 1:45pm

Venue:   Lecture Theatre 3, F Floor Medical School.

Abstract:   Caveolae (‘little caves’) are flask-shaped lipid rafts found in almost all cells of the body. They are well-recognised as signalosomes, platforms for assembly of signaling complexes which can facilitate efficient and specific cellular responses. Their essential role in the cardiovascular system has been highlighted by findings that, e.g. eNOS activity and β-adrenoceptor (AR) signalling are firmly under caveolar control. Our recent work has shown how caveolae define the characteristics of β-AR cAMP signalling in the cardiac myocyte, allowing generation of receptor-specific cellular responses. Caveolae are perturbed in a number of cardiovascular diseases (e.g. heart failure) and may be manipulated by drugs used in cardiovascular disease (e.g. statins). The concept that caveolae may be a target for therapy is the focus of on-going work in the laboratory.

Title:   "A reductionist approach to cardiovascular disease: inorganic nitrate to nitrite to NO"

Speaker:   Professor Amrita Ahluwalia, Queen Mary, University of London.

Time:   12noon - 1:00pm

Venue:   Lecture Theatre 3, F Floor Medical School.

Abstract:   Fruit and vegetable-rich diets reduce blood pressure and risk of ischaemic stroke and ischemic heart disease. Whilst the cardioprotective effects of a fruit and vegetable-rich diet are unequivocal, the exact mechanisms of this effect remain uncertain. Recent evidence has highlighted the possibility that dietary nitrate, an inorganic anion found in large quantities in vegetables (particularly green leafy vegetables), may have a role to play. This beneficial activity lies in the processing in vivo of nitrate to nitrite and thence to the pleiotropic molecule nitric oxide. I will discuss our recent pre-clinical and clinical evidence demonstrating that provision of inorganic nitrite or ingestion of inorganic nitrate elevates the levels of nitric oxide available to the cardiovascular system and in this way provides therapeutic effects. I will also discuss the evidence identifying the mechanisms involved in nitrate bioactivity, particularly focussing on the role of oral bacteria in processing dietary nitrate but also with respect to the specific mammalian enzymes involved in converting nitrite to nitric oxide.