The Crédit Agricole Aquitaine Foundation Committee, under the auspices of the Fondation de France, provided its support of € 7200, following a favorable approval from the Crédit Agricole Pessac local bank. This support will contribute to the research project on the cellular mechanisms responsible for cardiac arrhythmias, led by Fanny Vaillant, an engineer in the bio-energy and metabolism team in Liryc.

Cardiovascular disease kills more than 400 people a day, and is the second leading cause of death in France after cancer. They are also a major cause of an impairment of the quality of life and use of care (cost of hospitalization, care ...). Rhythmic disorders, or arrhythmias, are abnormalities in the electrical activity that is responsible for the mechanical activity of the heart. These arrhythmias are frequent and varied, with more or less serious impacts. Among these, atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia (300 000 people in France), which is responsible for 20-30% of strokes. Ventricular fibrillation, for its part, is without a doubt the most serious arrhythmia leading to sudden death. Despite major advances in the field of cardiac arrhythmias over the last 30 years, understanding the cellular mechanisms responsible for these most serious cardiac arrhythmias remains a major issue today.

About the project

Heart cells use different metabolic substrates such as sugars and fatty acids to produce energy and allow all heart cells to function normally, and to contract in a synchronous move. Sometimes pathological dysregulation appears in this energetic metabolism at the level of the cardiac cell. A new field of basic research has emerged in recent years to understand the cellular mechanisms responsible for cardiac arrhythmias, that of energy metabolism.

In this project, supported by the Credit Agricole Foundation of Aquitaine, researchers are interested in the regulation of this metabolism on the activity of proteins called ion channels, which are at the origin of cardiac electrical activity.

This project aims to:

- understand the role of energy metabolism in the regulation of normal and pathological cardiac electrophysiology,

- identify potential new pharmacological targets to prevent the most serious heart rhythm disorders (atrial and ventricular fibrillation),

- improve current treatments as well as patient risk identification.

Thanks to the results obtained, the researchers will be able to propose to the international scientific community, new molecular and cellular mechanisms not yet explored, involved in the genesis of cardiac electrical dysfunctions.

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