Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science

Current Projects

Diabetic Heart Disease and the Benefits of Exercise:
Among individuals with diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death. As a result of diabetes, the heart muscle becomes stiff and weak and is therefore unable to efficiently supply blood to the body.Fibrosis of the cardiac muscle, which results froman increased accumulationof extracellular matrix proteins, develops during diabetes and itmakes the muscle stiffer.Diabetes also damages the structural components of cardiac muscles. Since physical exercise is known to improve heart performance, we are interested in uncovering the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that benefit cardiac muscle.

By using a non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, we have been able to demonstrate that physicalexercise does indeed improve the diabetic heart's ability to contract and relax. Additionally, we were able to show that exercise corrected some of the structural defects of the diabetic heart muscle.

We have also found a specific drug which affects one of the critical molecules responsible for causing heart stiffness in individuals suffering from diabetes. This drug can partially mimic the effects of physical exercise and is an important resource in finding a pharmacological agent that would regulate the same molecule in a manner similar to exercise. This would be an invaluable resource for people with diabetes that are unable to exercise due to complications of the disease.

Changes in Cardiac Protein Structure Due to Diabetes:
By utilizing proteomics, the large-scale study of protein structure and function, we are working towards identifying the changes in cardiac proteins due to diabetes. Ongoing research is focused on how these protein changes may influence diminished performance in the hearts of those with diabetes. If we have a clear understanding as to what changes diabetes elicits in proteins and how these changes affect the protein function, we can develop therapies to prevent protein damage and help heart tissue to withstand the harmful effects of diabetes.

The Lab Team
Principal Investigator
	Irina V. Smirnova, MS, PhD Associate Professor Director of PhD Program KU Dept. of Physical Therapy & Rehab. Science University of Kansas Medical Center

PhD Students	Lisa D. VanHoose, PhD, PT, CLT-LANA, WCC
Research Associate	Lesya Novikova, PhD