Annotation: Heart failure (HF) has been recognized as an epidemic and is a serious clinical and public health problem, associated with significant mortality, morbidity, and healthcare expenditures. Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a subcategory of HF, has grown to become the dominant form of HF worldwide in tandem with aging of the general population and the increasing prevalence of obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. In our research, three rat models of HFpEF with different etiologies (cardiometabolic disorders, renovascular hypertension, and aging) were compared. We found that these HFpEF models differ in the extent of damage to organ systems, i.e., cardiac, renal, and lung injury. Furthermore, partial deficiency of the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1α potentiates the progression of HFpEF in transgenic rat strains. These findings confirm the need to study cardiovascular diseases such as HFpEF using animal models that enable comprehensive analysis of inter-organ interactions associated with their progression.

Contact at IPHYS: Jan Neckář (jan.neckar@fgu.cas.cz)