G protein-coupled receptor signalling in in vivo cardiac overload

Cardiac myocytes respond to biomechanical stress by initiating cellular processes that lead to hypertrophy. Although cardiac hypertrophy is a response to increased stress on the heart, it is associated with elevated plasma catecholamine levels and an increase in cardiac morbidity and mortality. Understanding the cellular signals that initiate the hypertrophic response will be of critical importance to identify pathways that mediate the maladaptive deterioration of the hypertrophic heart to one of cardiac failure. This review will focus on the role of G protein-coupled receptors in the activation of signalling pathways in the heart, such as the mitogen activated protein kinase and phosphoinositide-3 kinase pathways.