Cardiovascular Physiology

In general, our research activities are focused upon how the heart adapts at both the functional and molecular level to the stresses of anesthesia and surgery. Presently we are involved with two particular projects: 1) cardiac adaptation to removal of all or part of one lung; and 2) anesthetic-induced molecular remodeling of calcium cycling proteins within the heart.

Both projects use in vivo techniques to characterize the contractile and electrophysiological function of the heart and relate any changes to alterations in gene and/or protein expression. The first project addresses the question of whether the use of minimally invasive surgical techniques for lung resection offers benefits in terms of postoperative cardiac function. The second project addresses the broad question of whether prolonged exposure to clinically used doses of anesthetic can produce cardiac effects that persist even after administration of the drug has been discontinued.