[HTML][HTML] Diphtheria toxin-induced autophagic cardiomyocyte death plays a pathogenic role in mouse model of heart failure

H Akazawa, S Komazaki, H Shimomura… - Journal of Biological …, 2004 - ASBMB
It is still not clear whether loss of cardiomyocytes through programmed cell death causes
heart failure. To clarify the role of cell death in heart failure, we generated transgenic mice
(TG) that express human diphtheria toxin receptor in the hearts. A mosaic expression pattern
of the transgene was observed, and the transgene-expressing cardiomyocytes (17.3% of the
total cardiomyocytes) were diffusely scattered throughout the ventricles. Intramuscular
injection of diphtheria toxin induced complete elimination of the transgene-expressing …