It is over thirty years since Professor Sir George Radda developed magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy in the Department of Biochemisty at the University of Oxford for the in vivo study of bioenergetics. Since then MR imaging and spectroscopy have become powerful, non-invasive tools for investigating the functional and biochemical basis of human heart disease.

MR methods are unique in allowing the study of clinical problems by following biochemical changes over time, either short- or long-term, in response to stress, perturbation or therapy. Our past studies have shown that most forms of heart disease are associated with alterations in contractile function, and cardiac and skeletal muscle energetics. The objective of our current work is to understand the mechanisms that change a normal heart into one that is diseased.

 

Our clinical studies are closely linked to basic biochemical and physiological research, in that we use models of human cardiac diseases that are associated with high mortality, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity or heart failure. In these studies we use MRS and MRI, combined with other molecular, physiological and biochemical techniques, to determine alterations in energy function and metabolism.

In our clinical studies, we detect energetic and functional changes in heart and skeletal muscle in patients to see whether therapy reverses the abnormalities. We work on two Oxford sites; basic scientific studies are in the Department of Physiology and clinical studies are in the OCMR Facility at the John Radcliffe Hospital. By understanding the disease process and the mechanisms that lead to cardiac contractile dysfunction, we hope to provide a rational basis for prevention or therapeutic intervention.