Jawahar Mehta, M.D. is Stebbins Chair in Cardiology, Professor of Internal Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics and Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at UAMS. Dr. Mehta was among the first to describe platelet activation in the atherosclerotic coronary arteries as a basis of clot formation in unstable coronary syndromes, which led to trials of antiplatelet drugs in cardiac patients. He has conducted a large number of studies on experimental thrombosis and ischemia-reperfusion injury. He has performed innovative studies demonstrating a critical role of renin-angitensin system in atherosclerosis, myocardial ischemia, and uptake of lipid in the lood vessels. His laboratory is currently involved in gene therapy directed at angiotensin receptor and LOX-1 mRNA. He is a member of several prestigious academic societies, including the Association of American Physicians, American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of University Cardiologists.

Selected Publications:

Chen H, Mohuczy, D, Li D, Kimura B, Phillips MI, Mehta P, Grimes E, Mehta JL. Protection against ischemia-reperfusion injury and myocardial dysfunction by antisense-oligodeoxynucleotide directed at angiotensin converting enzyme mRNA. Gene Therapy, 2001;8:804-810.

Chen HJ, Li DY, Saldeen T, Mehta JL. Transforming growth factor-b1 modulates oxidatively modified LDL-induced expression of adhesion molecules: Role of LOX-1. Circulation Research, 2001;89:1155-1160.

Chen H, Li D, Saldeen T, Mehta JL. TGF-beta(1) modulates NOS expression and phosphorylation of Akt/PKB in rat myocytes exposed to hypoxia-reoxygenation. American Journal of Physiology, 2001;281:H1035-9.

Li D; Williams V; Liu L; Chen H; Sawamura T, Antakli T, Mehta JL. LOX-1 inhibition in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury: modulation of MMP1 and inflammation. American Journal of Physiology, 2002; 283:H1795-801

Zhang W, Shokeen M, Li D, Mehta JL. Identification of apoptosis-inducing factor in human coronary artery endothelial cells. Biochemical Biophysical Research Communications, 2003;301:147-151.

Li D, Liu L, Chen HJ, Sawamura T, Ranganathan, Mehta JL. LOX-1 mediates ox-LDL-induced expression of matrix metalloproteinases in human coronary artery endothelial cells. Circulation, 2003;107:612-7.