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Faculty Detail    
Name SILVIO HECTOR LITOVSKY
Professor 		 
Campus Address HSB 175G Zip 6823
Phone  (205) 996-5410
E-mail  slitovsky@uabmc.edu
Other websites
     


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Clinical Pathology  Anatomic Pathology Professor
Center  Comprehensive Cardiovascular Ctr  Comprehensive Cardiovascular Ctr Professor
Center  Minority Health & Research Center  Minority Health & Research Center Professor
Center  Nephrology Research & Training Center  Nephrology Research & Training Center Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Molecular and Cellular Pathology Program 

Biographical Sketch 
Following clinical cardiology training in Buenos Aires, Argentina under Drs. Mauricio Rosenbaum and Marcelo Elizari, I arrived to the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory in Utica, New York where Dr. Charles Antzelevitch and I described the electrophysiological heterogeneity in the active properties of the canine myocardium. Specifically, we described a prominent transient outward current in the epicardium that is largely missing in the endocardium. These findings were later confirmed in the human heart. This and other heterogeneities that were described later, likely contribute to the genesis of several important electrophysiologic syndromes, such as Brugada syndrome and long QT syndrome. After completion of a pathology residency in SUNY HSC at Syracuse, cardiovascular pathology fellowships at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology under Dr. Renu Virmani, The Jesse Edwards Registry of Cardiovascular Disease under Drs. Jack Titus and Alan Rose, and the Cardiac Registry at Boston Children’s Hospital under Dr. Richard Van Praagh, I joined the research group at the University of Texas Houston and Texas Heart Institute led by Drs. James Willerson and Ward Casscells. We worked in the fields of influenza and atherosclerosis describing a possible mechanism for the deleterious effect of influenza on the outcomes of atherosclerosis, the likely contribution of peri-adventitial fat on the plaque inflammation, plaque calcification and on models of stem cell treatment of coronary ischemia and infarction in the dog. I arrived at UAB in 2004 and I was able to combine service work in the autopsy and heart biopsy service, teaching as the co-director of the cardiovascular module and research collaborating with several outstanding UAB investigators. In addition, I have been the treasurer of the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology since 2007 and Alabama State Commissioner for the College of American Pathologists since 2008.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
Society of Cardiovascular Pathology, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Cardiac Electrophysiologic Society, College of American Pathologists     
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Description
We study with Dr. Dell’Italia’s group the effect of volume overload pathologies like mitral regurgitation on the myocytes structure even before the global function of the heart deteriorates. We are studying the Purkinje fibers distribution in dogs and pigs to try to gain further insight into the findings of Dr. Ideker and collaborators who described significant differences between the ventricular fibrillation of animals where the Purkinje fiber is restricted to the subendocardium (e.g. dog) and animals with transmural Purkinje distribution (e.g. swine). The periadventitial fat is being studied with Drs. Hardy and Garvey for adiponectin and inflammation in surgical samples obtained by the cardiothoracic group to gain insight into the mechanisms of acute coronary syndromes. The preferential anatomic distribution of arrhythmias arising in the left ventricular ostium is being studied in heart specimens obtained at autopsy with Drs. Kay and Yamada. These two investigators have highlighted the importance of arrhythmias arising in the base of the heart, in close continuity with the aortic and mitral valves. With Dr. Michael Allon we study the potential effect of preoperative histology of the vascular anastomotic tissue on the outcomes of arteriovenous fistulas and grafts used in hemodialysis. With Dr. Greg Walcott we study the effect of electrical shocks and different electrodes on the myocardium.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Allon M, Litovsky SH, Tey JCS, Sundberg CA, Zhang Y, Chen Z, Fang Y, Cheung AK, Shiu YT: Abnormalities of vascular histology and collagen fiber orientation in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. J Vasc Access 2018 May1:1129729   29742957 
Norwood TG, Westbrook BC, Johnson DB, Litovsky SH, Terry NL, McKee SB, Gertler AS, Moslehi JJ, Conry RM: Smoldering myocarditis following immune checkpoint blockade. J Immunother Cancer 2017;21:5(1):91   29157297 
Yamada T, Yoshida N, Itoh T, Litovsky SH, Doppalapudi H, McElderry HT, Kay GN: Idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias originating from the parietal band: Electrocardiographic and electrophysiological characteristics and outcome of catheter ablation. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol 2017;10(8):e005099   28794085 
McGinnis GR, Tang Y, Brewer RA, Brahma MK, Stanley HL, Shanmugam G, Rajasekaran NS, Rowe GC, Frank SJ, Wende AR, Abel ED, Taegtmeyer H, Litovsky S, Darley-Usmar V, Zhang J, Chatham JC, Young ME: Genetic disruption of the cardiomyocyte circadian clock differentially influences insulin-mediated processes in the heart. J Mol Cell Cardiol 2017;110:80-95   28736261 
Yamada T, Yoshida N, Doppalapudi H, Litovsky SH, McElderry HT, Kay GN: Efficacy of an anatomical approach in radiofrequency catheter ablation of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias originating from the left ventricular outflow tract. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2017;10:e004959   28500177 
Giordano S, Zhao X, Chen YF, Litovsky SH, Hage F, Townes TM, Sun CW, Wu LC, Oparil S, Xing D. Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived endothelial cells overexpressing interleukin-8 receptors A/B and/or C-C chemokine receptors 2/5 inhibit vascular injury response. Stem Cells Trans Med 2017;6:1168-77   28233474 
Yamada T, Doppalapudi H, Litovsky SH, McElderry HT, Kay GN: Challenging radiofrequency catheter ablation of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias oroginatin from the left ventricular summit near the left main coronary artery. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol 2016; 9(10) pii: e004202

 		 27729345 
Shiu YT, Litovsky SH, Cheung AK, Pike DB, Tey JC, Zhang Y, Young CJ, Robbin M, Hoyt K, Allon M: Preoperative vascular medial fibrosis and arteriovenous fistula development. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2016;11:1615-23

 		 27577243 
Ahmed MI, Guichard JL, Rajasekaran NS, ... Litovsky S, .... McGiffin DC, Dell’Italia LJ: Disruption of desmin-mitochondrial architecture in patients with regurgitant mitral valves and preserved ventricular function. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2016; 152:1059-70

 		 27464577 
Patibandla PK, Rajasekaran NS, Shelar SB, Giridharan GA, Litovsky SH, Sethu P: Evaluation of the effect of diminishid pulsatility as seen in continuous flow ventricular assist devices on arterial endothelial cell phenotype and function. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2016;35:930-2   27138701 
Halushka MK, Angelini A, Bartolini G,.....Litovsky SH,............., Thiene G, Veinot JP, van der Wal AC,: Consensus statement on surgical pathology of the aorta from the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology and the Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology. II. Noninflammatory degenerative diseases-nomenclature and diagnostic critera. Cardiovasc. Pathol. 2016;25:247-57  27031798 
Shelar SB, Narashimhan M, Shanmugam G, Litovsky SH, Gounder SS, Karan G, Arulvasu C, Kensler TW, Hoidal JR, Darley-Usmar VM, Rajasekaran NS: Disruption of nuclear factor (erythroid-derived-2)- like 2 antioxidant signaling: a mechanism for impaired activation of stem cells and delayed regeneration of skeletal muscle. FASEB J. 2016 [Epub ahead of print]   26839378 
Stone JR, Bruneval P, Angelini A, .....Litovsky SH,............., van der Wal AC, Veinot JP: Consensus statement on surgical pathology of the aorta from the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology and the Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology. I. Inflammatory diseases. Cardiovascular Pathol. 2015;24:267-78  26051917 
Allon M, Robbin ML, Umphrey HR, Young CJ, Deierhoi MH, Goodman J, Hanaway M, Lockhart ME, Barker-Finkel J, Litovsky S: Preoperative Arterial Microcalcification and Clinical Outcomes of Arteriovenous Fistulas for Hemodialysis. Am J Kidney Dis. 2015 Feb 18. pii: S0272-6386(15)00021-9. doi: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2014.12.015
 		 25700554 
Litovsky SH, Kelly DR, Law MA, Dabal RJ, Daniel RL, Cleveland DS, Pearce FB: Shone variant with large eustachian valve: implication for repair and heart transplantation.. Cardiovasc Pathol. 2015 Mar-Apr;24(2):124-7. doi: 10.1016/j.carpath.2014.10.002. Epub 2014 Oct 16
 		 25455258 
Liu J, Wang P, Zou L, Qu J, Litovsky S, Umeda P, Zhou L, Chatham J, Marsh SA, Dell'Italia LJ, Lloyd SG: High-fat, low-carbohydrate diet promotes arrhythmic death and increases myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. .
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2014 Aug 15;307(4):H598-608. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00058.2014. Epub 2014 Jun 13.
 		 24929857 
Ren Z, Litovsky S, Eckhoff DE, DuBay DA:Hemorrhagic shock one month following uncomplicated liver transplantation.
Am J Transplant. 2014 Jun;14(6):1461-3. doi: 10.1111/ajt.12551
 		 24854025  
Zheng J, Wei CC, Hase N, Shi K, Killingsworth CR, Litovsky SH, Powell PC, Kobayashi T, Ferrario CM, Rab A, Aban I, Collawn JF, Dell'Italia LJ: Chymase mediates injury and mitochondrial damage in cardiomyocytes during acute ischemia/reperfusion in the dog. PLoS One. 2014 Apr 14;9(4):e94732. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094732. eCollection 2014.


 		 24733352 
Collins He, He L, Zou L, Litovsky SH, Yang Q, Young ME, Marchase RB, Chatham JC: Stromal Interaction Molecule 1 is essential for normal cardiac homeostasis through modulation of ER and mitochondrial function. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2014 Feb 28 [Epub ahead of print]  24585777 
Heath JM, Sun Y, Yuan K, Bradley WE, Litovsky SH, Dell'italia LJ, Chatham JC, Wu H, Chen Y: Activation of AKT by O-Linked N-Acetylglucosamine induces vascular calcification in diabetes mellitus. Circ Res. 2014;114:1094-102.  24526702 
Yeager D, Chen YS, Litovsky SH, Emelianov S: Intravascular photoacoustics for image-guidance and temperature monitoring during plasmonic photothermal therapy of atherosclerotic plaques: afeasible study. Theranostic. 2013:4:36-46.  24396514 
Feng W, Chumley P, Allon M, George J, Scott DW, Patel RP, Litovsky SH, Jaimes EA: The transcription factor e26 transformation-specific sequence-1 mediates neointima formation in arteriovenous fistula. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2014:25:475-87  24203999 
Yamada T, Lau YR, Litovsky SH, Thomas McElderry H, Doppalapudi H, Osorio J, Plumb VJ, Neal Kay G: Prevalence and clinical, electrocardiographic, and electrophysiologic characteristics Ventricular arrhythmias orgination from the noncoronary sinus of Valsalva. Heart Rhythm. 2013:10:1605-12  23969069 
Sharifov OF, Nayyar G, Ternovoy VV, Mishra VK, Litovsky SH, Palgunachari MN, Garber DW, Anantharamaiah GM, Gupa H: Cationic peptide mR 18L with lipid lowering properties inhibits LPS-induced systemic and liver inflammation in rats. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2013;436:705-10.  23791744 
Hull TD, Bolisetty S, deAlmeida AC, Litovsky SH, Prabhu SD, Agarwal A, George JF: Heme oxygenase-1 expression protects the heart from acute injury caused by inducible Cre recombinase. Lab Invest. 2013:93:868-79.  23732814 
Scott DW, Dunn TS, Ballestas ME, Kitovsky SH, Patel RP:Identification of a high-mannose 1-CAM glycoform. effects of 1CAM-1 hypoglycosylation on monocyte adhesion and outside in signaling. Am J Physiol. 2013;305:C228-37  23703526 
Sharifov OF, Xu X, Gaggar A, grizzle WE, Mishra VK, Honavar J, Litovsky SH, Palgunachari MN, White Cr, Anantharamaiah GM, Gupta H:Anti-inflammatory mechanisms of apolipoprotein A-1 mimetic peptide in acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to sepsis. PloS One 2013:8:e64486.  23691230 
Park JK, Rosen A, Saffitz JE, Asimaki A, Litovsky SH, Mackey-Bojack SM, Halushka MK:Expression of cathepsin K and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase is not confined to osteoclasts but is a general feature of multinucleated giant cells: systematic analysis. Rheumatology (Oxford)2013;52:1529-33.  23674817 
Litovsky SH and Antzelevitch C. Transient outward current prominent in epicardium but not endocardium. Circ Res 1988:62:116-26  2826039 
Litovsky SH and Antzelevitch C. Rate-Dependence of action potential duration and refractoriness in canine ventricular endocardium differs from that in epicardium. The role of the transient outward current. JACC 1989;14:1053-63

 		 2551947 
Litovsky SH, Antzelevitch C. Differences in the electrophysiologic response of ventricular subendocardium and the subepicardium to acetylcholine and isoproterenol. A direct effect of acetylcholine in ventricular myocardium. Circ Res 1990;67:615-27  2397572 
Antzelevitch C, Sicouri S, Litovsky SH, Lukas A, Di Diego JM, Gintant GA. Heterogeneity within the ventricular wall. Circ Res 1991:69:1427-49  1659499 
Bittar FF, Feldbaum DM, Kohman LJ, Litovsky SH, Veit LJ. Effect of early versus delayed hypoxic environment on neonatal rabbits. J Surg Res 1994; 57: 264-267  8028333 
Litovsky SH, Farb A, Burke AP, Rabin IY, Herderick EE, Smialek J, Virmani R. Effect of age, race, body habitus, heart weight and atherosclerosis on coronary artery dimensions in young males. Atherosclerosis 1996; 123:243-250  8782855 
Burke AP, Litovsky SH, Virmani R. Lipomatous hypertrophy of the atrial septum presenting as a right atrial mass. Am J Surg Pathol 1996; 20:678-685  8651346 
Litovsky SH, Burke AP, Virmani R. Giant cell myocarditis: An entity distinct from sarcoidosis characterized by multiphasic myocyte destruction by cytotoxic T-cells and histiocytic giant cells. Mod Pathol 1996; 9:1126-1134  8972471 
Sicouri S, Moro S, Litovsky SH, Elizari M, Antzelevitch C. Chronic amiodarone reduces transmural dispersion of repolarization in the canine heart. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol 1997;8:1269-1279

 		 9395170 
Kolodgie FD, Farb A, Litovsky SH, Narula J, Jeffers LA Lee SJ, Virmani R. Myocardial protection of contractile function after global ischemia by physiologic estrogen replacement in the ovariectomized rat. J Mol Cell Cardiol 1997; 29:2403-2414  9299364 
Litovsky SH, Rose AG. Clinicopathologic heterogeneity in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with regard to age, asymmetric septal hypertrophy and concentric hypertrophy. Arch Pathol Lab Med 1998;122:434-441  9593345 
Litovsky SH, Ostfeld I, Bjornstad PG, Van Praagh R, Geva T. Truncus arteriosus with anomalous pulmonary venous connection. Am J Cardiol 1999;83:801-804, A10  10080446 
Van Praagh R, Litovsky SH. Pathology and embryology of common atrioventricular canal. Progress in Pediatric Cardiology 1999;10:115-127   
Litovsky SH, Choy M, Park J, Parrish M, Waters B, Nagashima M, Van Praagh R, Van Praagh S. Absent pulmonary valve with tricuspid atresia or severe tricuspid stenosis: report of three cases and review of the literature. Pediatr Dev Pathol 2000;3:353-366  1089251 
Tevosian SG, Deconinck AE, Tanaka M, Schinke M, Litovsky SH, Izumo S, Fujiwara Y, Orkin SH. FOG-2, a cofactor for GATA transcription factors, is essential for heart morphogenesis and development of coronary vessels from epicardium. Cell 2000;101:729-39  10892744 
Crispino JD, Lodish MB, Thurberg BL, Litovsky SH, Collins T, Molkentin JD, Orkin SH. Proper coronary vascular development and heart morphogenesis depend on interaction of GATA-1 with FOG cofactors. Genes Dev 2001;15:839-44  11297508 
Vizcaino A, Campbell J, Litovsky SH, Van Praagh R. Single origin of the right and left pulmonary artery branches from the ascending aorta with a nonbranching main pulmonary artery. Ped Cardiol 2002;23:230-4   11889544 
Naghavi M, John R, Naguib S, Siadaty MS, Grasu R, Kurian KC, van Winkle WB, Soller B, Litovsky SH, Madjid M, Willerson JT, Casscells SW. pH heterogeneity of human and rabbit atherosclerotic plaques; a new insight into detection of vulnerable plaque. Atherosclerosis 2002;164:27-35  12119190 
Madjid M, Naghavi M, Malik BA, Litovsky SH, Willerson JT, Casscells SW. Thermal detection of vulnerable plaque. American Journal of Cardiology, 2002,90(10, Suppl. 3):L36-L39  12459426 
Naghavi M, Wyde P, Litovsky SH, Madjid M, Akhtar A, Naguib S, Siadaty MS, Sanati S, Casscells SW. Influenza infection exerts prominent inflammatory and thrombotic effects on the atherosclerotic plaques of ApoE- deficient mice. Circulation, 2003;107:762-8  12578882 
Litovsky SH, Madjid M, Zarrabi A, Casscells SW, Willerson JT, Naghavi M. Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) based method for quantifying recruitment of monocytes to mouse atherosclerotic lesions in vivo: enhancement by tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β and interferon-γ. Circulation, 2003;107:1545-9
 		 12654614 
Naghavi M, Madjid M, Gul K, Siadaty MS, Litovsky S, Willerson JT, Casscells SW. Thermography basket catheter: In vivo measurements of the temperature of atherosclerotic plaques for detection of vulnerable plaques. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2003:59:52-9   12720241 
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Keywords
Periadventitial Fat, Volume Overload, Purkinje Fibers, Left Ventricular Ostium, arteriovenous fistula, arteriovenous graft