Our study therefore suggests that ILK gene therapy beneficially affects left ventricular structure and function in doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy, as well as improving survival. Its potential usefulness in dilated cardiomyopathy in humans remains to be determined. The swim bladder is a gas-filled internal organ that controls the body buoyancy of teleost fish, help them to stay at a chosen water depth without wasting energy. The gas in swim bladders is composed primarily of O2, and the swim bladder volume is regulated by O2 transfer between the Sennoside-C luminal space of the swim bladder and the blood. Although the O2 partial pressures in the swim bladders of living fish are much higher than those in the circulating blood and the surrounding water, O2 can be transported against the gradient as a result of the Root effect. This effect involves a markedly reduced capacity of fish hemoglobin to bind O2 at low pH. Hemoglobin molecules can thus act as acid-controlled molecular oxygen pumps that deliver O2 against a high oxygen Echinacoside concentration gradient to the swim bladder. Therefore, local blood acidification in the swim bladder is essential for luminal O2 secretion. The swim bladder is composed of 3 functional components: the oval gland, the gas gland, and the rete mirabile. The oval gland, situated on the dorsal side of the swim bladder wall, facilitates O2 movement from the lumen of the swim bladder into the blood and reduces the swim bladder volume. The gas gland is located on the ventral side of the swim bladder wall and consists of a thick epithelial layer of gas gland cells and capillaries. Gas gland cells acidify the blood by secreting lactic acid, thus stimulating O2 release into the lumen, and thereby increasing the swim bladder volume. Local blood acidification in the gas gland is maintained by the rete mirabile, which consists of a number of arterial and venous capillaries that enable countercurrent blood flow. Studies by others using cannulated swimbladders and isolated gas gland cells have established that acid secretion largely depends on glucose levels in the blood or media ; although gas gland cells exist under hyperoxic conditions, the gas gland largely secretes lactic acid; and this acid secretion is not inhibited by cyanide. These facts indicate that anaerobic glucose metabolism is predominant in gas gland cells and that lactic acid secretion is important for blood acidification.