Blatter’s research group investigates control of intracellular calcium and its role in the regulation of excitation-contraction and excitation-transcription coupling in cells of the cardiovascular system.
Our research work focuses on Ca regulation and signaling in the heart and the cardiovascular system. It includes fundamental characterization of ion transporters and channels, electrophysiology, excitation-contraction coupling, redox signaling, mitochondrial Ca signaling and energetics, excitation-transcription coupling and changes in Ca signaling in cardiac disease (arrhythmia, hypertrophy and heart failure). Our research efforts have resulted in seminal contributions to the understanding of the spatio-temporal organization of cardiac Ca signals ranging from global Ca transients, arrhythmogenic Ca waves and Ca alternans to the elementary Ca release events from ryanodine receptor (Ca sparks and blinks) and IP3 receptor (Ca blips and puffs) Ca release channels.
Murphy T.H., Baraban J.M., Wier W.G. and Blatter L.A. (1994). “Visualization of Quantal Synaptic Transmission by Dendritic Calcium Imaging.” Science. 263, 529-532. PMID: 7904774
Tsugorka A., Rios E. and Blatter L.A. (1995). “Imaging Elementary Events of Calcium Release in Skeletal Muscle Cells.” Science. 269, 1723-1726. PMID: 7569901
Blatter L. A., Hüser J. and Rios E. (1997). “Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+ Release Flux Underlying Ca2+ Sparks in Cardiac Muscle.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 94, 4176-4181. PMID: 9108125
Cherednichenko G., Zima A.V., Feng W., Schaefer S., Blatter L.A. and Pessah I.N. (2004). “NADH Oxidase Activity of Rat Cardiac Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Regulates Calcium-Induced Calcium Release.” Circ. Res. 94, 478-486. (Editorial comment in Circ. Res. 94: 418, 2004). PMID: 1469901
Zima A.V. and Blatter L.A. (2004). “Inositol-1,4,5-Trisphosphate-Dependent Ca2+ Signaling in Atrial Excitation-Contraction Coupling and Arrhythmias.” J. Physiol. 555: 607-615. (Reprinted in “The Journal of Physiology: Classic Papers in Cardiovascular Physiology,” November 1, 2013). PMID: 14754996
Domeier T.L., Zima A.V., Maxwell J.T., Huke S., Mignery G.A. & Blatter L.A. (2008). “IP3 Receptor-Dependent Ca2+ Release Modulates Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Rabbit Ventricular Myocytes.” Am. J. Physiol. 294(2): H596-H604.(Editorial comment in Am. J. Physiol. 294(2): H579-581, 2008).(Highlighted in Physiology 23: 61-63, 2008). PMID: 18055509
Dedkova E.N. and Blatter L.A. (2009). “Characteristics and Function of Cardiac Mitochondrial Nitric Oxide Synthase.“ J. Physiol. 587.4, 851-872. (Highlighted in a Journal Club discussion in J. Physiol. 2009 587:2719-2720). PMID: 19103678
Domeier T.L., Blatter L.A. and Zima A.V. (2009). “Alteration of Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+ Release Termination by Ryanodine Receptor Sensitization and in Heart Failure.” J. Physiol. 587 (Pt 21), 5197-5209. (Editorial comment in J. Physiol. 587(Pt 21): 5003-5004, 2009). PMID: 19736296
Florea S.M. and Blatter L.A. (2010). “The Role of Mitochondria for the Regulation of Cardiac Alternans.” Front. Physiol. 1:141. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2010.00141. (Editorial comment in Front. Physio. 1:163. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2010.00163). PMID: 21423381
Zima A.V, Bovo E., Bers D.M. and Blatter L.A. (2010). “Ca2+ Spark-Dependent and -Independent Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+ Leak in Normal and Failing Rabbit Ventricular Myocytes.” J. Physiol. 588, 4743-4757. (Editorial comment in J. Physiol. 588: 4849, 2010; evaluated by Faculty of 1000, F1000; reprinted in “The Journal of Physiology: Biophysics and Beyond,” January 20, 2012). PMID: 20962003
Bovo E., Mazurek S.R., Blatter L.A. and Zima A.V. (2011). “Regulation of Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+ Leak by Cytosolic Ca2+ in Rabbit Ventricular Myocytes.” J. Physiol. 589, 6039-6050. (Editorial comment in J. Physiol., 589, 5899-5900, 2011). PMID: 21986204
Figueroa L., Shkryl V.M., Zhou J., Manno C., Momotake A., Brum G., Blatter L.A., Ellis-Davies G.C.R. and Ríos E. (2012). “Synthetic Localized Calcium Transients Directly Probe Signaling Mechanisms in Skeletal Muscle.” J. Physiol. 590, 1389-1411. (Perspective in J. Physiol. 590.8, 1783, 2012; reprinted in “The Journal of Physiology: Discovery in Physiology,” April 4, 2013.). PMID: 22310315
Maxwell J.T. and Blatter L.A. (2012). “Facilitation of Cytosolic Calcium Wave Propagation by Local Calcium Uptake into the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum in Cardiac Myocytes.” J. Physiol. 590.23, 6037-6045. (Highlighted in Physiology. 27: 328, 2012). PMID: 22988145
Hohendanner F., Walther S., Maxwell J.T., Kettlewell S., Awad S., Smith G.L., Lonchyna V.A. and Blatter L.A. (2015). “Inositol-1,4,5-Trisphosphate Induced Ca2+ Release and Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Atrial Myocytes from Normal and Failing Hearts.” J. Physiol. 593.6: 1459–1477. (Editorial comment in J. Physiol. 593.6: 1327-1330, 2015). PMID: 25416623
Kanaporis G. and Blatter L.A. (2015). “The Mechanisms of Calcium Cycling and Action Potential Dynamics in Cardiac Alternans.” Circ. Res. 116: 846-856. (Editorial in Circ. Res. 116: 778-780, 2015). PMID: 25532796
Blatter L.A. (2017). “The intricacies of atrial calcium cycling during excitation-contraction coupling.” J. Gen. Physiol. 149(9): 857-865. (Editorial comment in JGP 189(9): 833-836). PMID: 28798277
Maxwell J.T. & Blatter L.A. (2017). “A novel mechanism of tandem activation of ryanodine receptors by cytosolic and SR luminal Ca during excitation-contraction coupling in atrial myocytes.” J. Physiol. 595.12: 3835–3845. (Editorial comment in J. Physiol. 595.12:3683-3684, 2017). PMID: 28028837
Martinez-Hernandez E. & Blatter L.A. (2020). “Effect of carvedilol on atrial excitation-contraction coupling, Ca2+ release and arrhythmogenicity.” Am. J. Physiol. 318: H1245–H1255. PMID: 32275472
Oropeza-Almazan Y. & Blatter L.A. (2020). “Mitochondrial calcium uniporter complex activation protects against calcium alternans in atrial myocytes.” Am. J. Physiol. 319(4):H873-H881. PMID: 32857593
Blatter L.A., Kanaporis G., Martinez-Hernandez E., Oropeza-Almazan Y. & Banach K. (2021). “Excitation-contraction coupling and calcium release in atrial muscle.” Pflügers Arch. 473(3): 317-329. PMID: 33398498
Varma D., Almeida J.F.Q., DeSantiago J., Blatter L.A. & Banach K. (2022). “Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor - reactive oxygen signaling domain regulates excitation-contraction coupling in atrial myocytes.” J. Mol. Cell. Cardiol. 163: 147-155. PMID: 34755642
A more complete listing of Blatter’s published work can be found on PubMed.
Current:
Completed:
Lothar A. Blatter, MD, Dr. med.
Professor
Rush University
Department of Physiology & Biophysics
Jelke Building
1750 W. Harrison St., Room 1422
Chicago, IL 60612
Phone: (312) 563-3238
Fax: (312) 942-8711
Email: lothar_blatter@rush.edu
1312-1316, 1401 Jelke Building
1750 W. Harrison St.
Chicago, IL 60612