Rider Group: Obesity, Heart Failure, Linking Myocardial Metabolism and Function

The heart is very energetically demanding, using more ATP than any other organ in the body. We are a clinical research group interested in the effects of altering the balance of glucose and fatty acids the heart uses to produce ATP. In order to do this we use 31P and hyperpolarized 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure metabolism (PDH flux, PCr/ATP, CK flux) and relate this to cardiac lipid content (1H spectroscopy) and cardiac function (cardiac MRI and echocardiography).

We have a wide range of interests. One of our main focuses is the effects of obesity and insulin resistance as this alters the delivery and use of fatty acids and glucose to the heart and the interplay between obesity, substrate metabolism and cardiac function in heart failure. As many of the symptoms of obesity and heart failure occur during exercise we perform metabolic and functional assessment at rest and also during catecholamine stress. We also investigate the beneficial effects of weight loss, both surgical and dietary.

We also investigate the effects of pressure and volume loading on myocardial metabolism, aiming to use these techniques to optimise the timing of surgical valve replacement.

The other main focus of this group is working with Professor Damian Tyler to translate hyperpolarized 13C imaging and spectroscopy into human cardiac studies with a focus on diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, LV hypertrophy and heart failure.