Adaptive Cardiac Metabolism Under Chronic Hypoxia: Mechanism and Clinical Implications

Zhanhao Su; Yiwei Liu; Hao Zhang

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.625524

Adaptive Cardiac Metabolism Under Chronic Hypoxia: Mechanism and Clinical Implications

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Feb 2:9:625524. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.625524. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Zhanhao Su¹, Yiwei Liu², Hao Zhang²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
² Heart center and Shanghai Institute of Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, National Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Chronic hypoxia is an essential component in many cardiac diseases. The heart consumes a substantial amount of energy and it is important to maintain the balance of energy supply and demand when oxygen is limited. Previous studies showed that the heart switches from fatty acid to glucose to maintain metabolic efficiency in the adaptation to chronic hypoxia. However, the underlying mechanism of this adaptive cardiac metabolism remains to be fully characterized. Moreover, how the altered cardiac metabolism affects the heart function in patients with chronic hypoxia has not been discussed in the current literature. In this review, we summarized new findings from animal and human studies to illustrate the mechanism underlying the adaptive cardiac metabolism under chronic hypoxia. Clinical focus is given to certain patients that are subject to the impact of chronic hypoxia, and potential treatment strategies that modulate cardiac metabolism and may improve the heart function in these patients are also summarized.

Keywords: HIF-1α; cardiac metabolism; chronic hypoxia; heart failure; heart function; metabolic efficiency.

Publication types

Review