Giraffe cardiovascular adaptations to high blood pressure may provide a bioinspired roadmap for preventive and therapeutic strategies for human heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
Studying the cardiovascular adaptations of giraffes to high blood pressure may offer novel insights and therapeutic strategies for human HFpEF.
The evolved adaptations of other species can be a source of insight for novel biomedical innovation. Limitations of traditional animal models for the study of some pathologies are fueling efforts to find new approaches to biomedical investigation. One emerging approach recognizes the evolved adaptations in other species as possible solutions to human pathology. The giraffe heart, for example, appears resistant to pathology related to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)-a leading form of hypertension-associated cardiovascular disease in humans. Here, we postulate that the physiological pressure-induced left ventricular thickening in giraffes does not result in the pathological cardiovascular changes observed in humans with hypertension. The mechanisms underlying this cardiovascular adaptation to high blood pressure in the giraffe may be a bioinspired roadmap for preventive and therapeutic strategies for human HFpEF.
Natterson-Horowitz et al. (Fri,) conducted a review in Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Bioinspired approach based on giraffe cardiovascular adaptation was evaluated. Giraffe cardiovascular adaptations to high blood pressure may provide a bioinspired roadmap for preventive and therapeutic strategies for human heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.