Dr. Joseph Janicki, associate dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, recently received $1.5 million to investigate cardiac mast cells in heart enlargement after a heart attack, and $1.5 million to study the relationship between sexual hormones, cardiac mast cells and cardio-protection.

“After a person has a heart attack, the heart will get larger as it attempts to compensate for lost muscle,” Dr. Janicki said. “This initially allows the heart to keep pumping a normal amount of blood, but this progressive enlargement eventually makes the problem worse. We are looking at how mast cells influence this remodeling.”

Researchers use rats as models as they study mast cells -- complex cells containing many substances that can activate collagen-destroying enzymes. Mast cells are also responsible for histamine-induced allergic reactions.

“We hope our advances will benefit both animals and humans,” Dr. Janicki said. “Heart disease is the number one killer of people and is also deadly to many pets, particularly elderly cats and dogs.”

Dr. Janicki's research team is also investigating how cardiac mast cells are different in males and females.

“Women before age 60 or so do not develop heart failure like men do,” he said. “The likelihood of heart failure among females increases after menopause, to almost equal with males. We are looking at how estrogen hormones might be creating a difference in male and female cardiac mast cells.”

He says a potential application could be that drug companies might develop estrogen-like compounds to keep the heart from enlarging. However, he adds that current research does not provide conclusive evidence that estrogen given to post-menopausal women will reduce the heart failure risk.

The veterinary college is collaborating with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in its studies of cardiac mast cells. Dr. Janicki says this effort is the only such research being done in the country.

“The National Institutes of Health is very interested in our work and has provided funding for this research for more than 10 years,” said Dr. Janicki, a past-president of the Lee County division of the American Heart Association.

In addition to this National Institutes of Health funding, Dr. Janicki's laboratory recently received:

* $400,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency to study the effects of air pollution on cardiac mast cells;

* $323,000 from the American Heart Association to investigate gender-specific cardio-protection and to study endothelin-mediated cardiac remodeling;

* $163,000 from the National Institutes of Health to look at cardiac mast cells in ventricular remodeling; and

* a $25,000 grant from the Birmingham-based Diabetes Trust Fund to study congestive heart failure.

Working on the projects are Assistant Research Professor Greg Brower, Assistant Research Professor Jason Gardner, Visiting Assistant Research Professor Mary Forman, and postdoctoral fellows David Murray and Tatiana Voloshenyuk.