Internal medicine

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Heart failure

Diastolic function

Ejection fraction

Blood pressure

Cardiology

Calcium in biology

Chemistry

Ventricle

Diastolic heart failure

Calcium

Diastole

Biochemistry

Medicine

Intracellular

Circulation Research

Normal cardiac function requires that intracellular Ca2+ concentration be reduced to low levels in diastole so that the ventricle can relax and refill with blood. Heart failure is often associated with impaired cardiac relaxation. Little, however, is known about how diastolic intracellular Ca2+ concentration is regulated. This article first discusses the reasons for this ignorance before reviewing the basic mechanisms that control diastolic intracellular Ca2+ concentration. It then considers how the control of systolic and diastolic intracellular Ca2+ concentration is intimately connected. Finally, it discusses the changes that occur in heart failure and how these may result in heart failure with preserved versus reduced ejection fraction.

The Control of Diastolic Calcium in the Heart