JCI table of contents: Feb. 21, 2008

AUTHOR CONTACT:
Catherine Postic
Institut Cochin, Paris, France.
Phone: 33-1-53-73-27-07; Fax: 33-1-53-73-27-03; E-mail: .

View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=34314

ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: Hepatic glucose sensing: does flux matter?

AUTHOR CONTACT:
Mark A. Magnuson
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Phone: (615) 322-7006; Fax: (615) 322-7236; E-mail: .

View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=35137

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: Spicing up heart failure

New data generated in rodents that is to be published in two independent reports in the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation have shown that curcumin, the agent responsible for the yellow color of the curry spice turmeric, might have beneficial effects on the heart in settings that would normally lead to heart failure. However, as Jonathan Epstein, at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, notes in an accompanying commentary, 'translation of these data to humans is not clear cut' because previous studies indicating a beneficial effect of curcumin in animal models of other diseases have not proven as successful as hoped.

Koji Hasegawa and colleagues at Kyoto Medical Center, Japan, found that oral administration of curcumin reduced the deterioration of the function of the heart in two rat models of heart failure. Peter Liu and colleagues from the University of Toronto observed similar beneficial effects of oral administration of curcumin in two mouse models of heart failure. Both groups uncovered the same mechanism by which curcumin exerted its effects -- it was shown to modify the availability of genetic material in the heart muscle cells. More specifically, it was shown to abrogate histone acetylation, and GATA4 acetylation and DNA-binding activity through blocking p300-HAT activity.

TITLE: The dietary compound curcumin inhibits p300 histone acetyltransferase activity and prevents heart failure in rats

AUTHOR CONTACT:
Koji Hasegawa
Kyoto Medical Center, National Hospital Organization, Kyoto, Japan.
Phone: 81-75-641-9161; Fax: 81-75-641-9252; E-mail: .

View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=33160

RELATED MANUSCRIPT

TITLE: Curcumin prevents and reverses murine cardiac hypertrophy

AUTHOR CONTACT:
Peter. P. Liu
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Phone: (416) 340-3035; Fax: (416) 340-4753; E-mail: .