German Centre for Cardiovascular Research

Investigating changes in the blood-brain barrier in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: design and methodology of a longitudinal dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI study

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) are clinically and biologically heterogeneous and lack reliable biomarkers for stratification, treatment response and course prediction. Evidence from postmortem, fluid biomarker, and neuroimaging studies suggests that changes in the blood-...

Small molecule inhibitor of orphan GPCR dimerization improves host defense and blood pressure control in mice

Orphan GPCRs of the GPRC5 family regulate macrophage activity and vascular contractility by dimerizing with other GPCRs, but pharmacological modulation of this process has not been explored. We previously identified the dimerization interface of receptor GPRC5B and show here that...

β1- and β2-adrenergic receptor mediated spontaneous contractions and ryanodine receptor channel opening in human failing heart

Abstract In heart failure, β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR)-Gsα-cAMP-protein kinase A (PKA) signalling predisposes to delayed-afterdepolarisation-mediated arrhythmias. Phosphodiesterases (PDEs) hydrolyse cAMP, and PDE3 restrains β 1 -AR, β 2 -AR-mediated inotropic responses in failin...