OXFORD ARTERY

Role of potassium channels in sustaining physiological responses of human resistance arteries

Funder: British Heart Foundation 

Sponsor: University of Oxford

Status: Closed to recruitment

The way arteries in the heart constrict and dilate is important for controlling the blood flow through them.  This process is disrupted in people with coronary artery disease, leading to heart attack and strokes.  We want to understand how the diameter of coronary arteries is controlled normally and how this changes in diseased arteries, which are lined with fatty deposits (plaque).

In the Oxford Artery study we are recruiting patients undergoing heart valve operations (who have normal arteries) and asking them to donate the piece of tissue from the heart that gets removed during surgery and is normally discarded.  We are conducting laboratory experiments on the arteries found in these pieces of heart tissue.  We want to establish how electrical events within the wall of these arteries control their diameter and therefore the blood flow through them.  This research may lead to new treatments for people with coronary artery disease.

The research is being carried out at Oxford University and we are assisting by recruiting patients and providing samples and clinical data.

If you have taken part in the Oxford Artery study and you are interested in how we use your data, please see our Privacy Statement.

Contact Information

Chief Investigator: Dr Kim Dora

E-mail:  oxford-artery-study@bristol.ac.uk