Che-Ping Cheng, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor, Internal Medicine (Cardiology)

Nanjing Railway Medical University, M.D. (1977) Wayne State University School of Medicine, Ph.D. (1986)

Cardiovascular Physiology, Pathophysiology, Pharmacology

Dr. Cheng's laboratory consists of three sections: 1) cardiac hemodynamic section, 2) isolated myocyte dynamic section (including cell contraction, relation, [Ca²⁺]_i transient, Ca²⁺ channel activity measurements and cellular signal transduction assessment), and 3) an experimental molecular section. Research in this laboratory focuses on cardiovascular physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology, with major emphasis on cardiac dynamics, ventricular-arterial coupling and cardiac energetics in health and diseases. The goal of the research is to improve our understanding of the determinants of cardiac performance, define the mechanisms of pathophysiologic changes in cardiovascular diseases in the intact circulation as well as the cellular and molecular level, and to seek new strategies for therapy. We have developed a conscious instrumented animal model with pacing-induced CHF and alcoholic cardiomyopathy. We can serially examine left ventricle and myocyte structure, function, calcium transient and calcium current and related cellular signal transduction, gene expression and neurohormonal activation before and as CHF progresses, and determine different responses of drug interventions. The current major projects are: 1) Functional response to neurohormonal activation in congestive heart failure (CHF); 2) The cardiac, cellular, molecular, and neurohormonal mechanisms of alcoholic cardiomyopathy; 3) Alteration in β₃-AR mRNA expression before and after CHF: a potential mechanism of CHF; and 4) Mechanism of exercise intolerance in CHF and treatment.