在小鼠心跳骤停期间应用中度低温对复苏后抗氧化物酶活性的影响

目的：低温在许多小鼠心跳骤停后复苏模型的研究中被证实是有效的。心跳骤停后释放的氧自由基是产生继发性损伤的一个重要机制。本研究旨在探索心跳骤停期间应用中度低温对复苏后抗氧化物酶活性的影响。方法：用氯化钾诱导8min心跳骤停。此实验分为常温心跳骤停组（NCA）、低温心跳骤停组（HCA）TL对照组。HCA组在心跳骤停5min后开始降温使核心温度维持在（30．0±1．0）℃。应用胸部按压和肾上腺素来复苏。在心跳骤停两组各选择三个时间点：复苏后1h、4h和24h。测量超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）和过氧化氢酶（CAT）在心脏和肝脏的活性。结果：实验动物在HCA组比常NCA组生存率高。HCA组比NCA组复苏时间明显延长。与NCA组相比,HCA组复苏后24h的SOD活性在肝脏表达明显降低。与NCA组相比,HCA组复苏后4h的CAT活性在肝脏表达显著增高。结论：在心跳骤停过程中,与正常体温相比,应用中度低温能够提高生存率。与正常体温相比较,在心跳骤停中期间应用中度低温不影响心脏的SOD与CAT活性,应用中度低温在肝脏可延迟性抑制SOD的活性并且短暂提高CAT活性。     

左室主动固定电极在心脏再同步化治疗中的临床应用

目的：探讨左室主动固定电极在心脏再同步化治疗（cardiac resynchronization therapy,CRT）中的作用并总结其临床经验。方法：收集2008年1月至2013年1月由梅州I市人民医院心内科植入CRT的患者,共56例（男34例,女22例）。根据植入冠状窦电极的不同,分为左室主动固定电极组（17例）和被动电极组（39例）,观察和比较两组的手术时间、透视时间和造影剂用量。结果：左室主动固定电极组的手术时间[（61±36）minvs（143＋61）min,P=0．035]和透视时间[（10±5）minvs（45＋11）min,P=0．042]均较被动电极组显著缩短,而造影剂用量[（36±20）mlvs（87±46）ml,P=0．041]也较被动电极组明显减少。结论：左室主动固定电极用于心脏再同步化治疗可明显缩短手术时间,降低造影剂用量,使患者和术者均获益。     

肺炎合并心力衰竭患者血浆BNP,cTn1的变化及其临床意义

目的:探讨血浆脑钠肽(BNP)和心肌肌钙蛋白(cTn1)在肺炎合并心力衰竭患者血浆脑钠肽(BNP)和心肌肌钙蛋白(cTn1)的变化情况及、肺炎未合并心衰患者及健康对照组中的不同表达,探讨血浆脑钠肽(BNP)和心肌肌钙蛋白(cTn1)与疾病变化的关系及在肺炎合并心力衰竭中的临床诊断的意义.方法:回顾性分析我院自2010年1月至2012年1月收治的42例肺炎合并心衰患者,同期收治的肺炎末合并心衰患者34例为阳性对照组,以及同期在门诊进行体检的30例健康患者为阴性对照组.在入院后24h之内评估心脏功能并检测血浆BNP及cTn1水平变化,以及心衰合并肺炎患者入院24h急性期及心衰恢复期BNP和cTn1水平的变化,比较BNP和cTn1在的不同表达.结果:心衰组、阳性对照组、阴性对照组患者BNP(378.14,142.53,0.74±0.15)和cTn1 (0.84,0.32,0.18)比较,在统计学上具有显著性意义(H=140.67,H=30.14,P＜0.001).心衰急性期与心衰恢复期BNP(378.14,140.32)和cTn1(0.84,0.04)水平比较,在统计学上具有显著性差异(t=2.044,t=2.051,P＜ 0.05).结论:BNP与cTn1在肺炎合并心衰患者为高表达,显著高于肺炎未合并心衰患者,合并心衰与未合并心衰组的BNP与cTn1水平也显著高于健康对照组,表明BNP与cTn1的表达与病情呈正相关.且在肺炎合并心衰急性期的表达高于恢复期,表明BNP、cTnⅠ水平变化可为诊断患者病情严重程度及肺炎合并心衰为急性期或慢性提高依据,可以为早期心功能衰竭提高临床参考.     

Control of cardiac contraction by sodium: Promises,reckonings, and new beginnings

Several generations of cardiac physiologists have verified that basal cardiac contractility depends strongly on the transsarcolemmal Na gradient, and the underlying molecular mechanisms that link cardiac excitation-contraction coupling (ECC) to the Na gradient have been elucidated in good detail for more than 30 years. In brief, small increases of cytoplasmic Na push cardiac (NCX1) Na/Ca exchangers to increase contractility by increasing the myocyte Ca load. Accordingly, basal cardiac contractility is expected to be physiologically regulated by pathways that modify the cardiac Na gradient and the function of Na transporters. Assuming that this expectation is correct, it remains to be elucidated how in detail signaling pathways affecting the cardiac Na gradient are controlled in response to changing cardiac output requirements. Some puzzle pieces that may facilitate progress are outlined in this short review. Key open issues include (1) whether the concept of local Na gradients is viable, (2) how in detail Na channels, Na transporters and Na/K pumps are regulated by lipids and metabolic processes, (3) the physiological roles of Na/K pump inactivation, and (4) the possibility that key diffusible signaling molecules remain to be discovered.     

LncRNA FAF inhibits fibrosis induced by angiotensinogen II via the TGFβ1-P-Smad2/3 signalling by targeting FGF9 in cardiac fibroblasts

The dysregulation of Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) has been implicated in many cardiovascular diseases, including cardiac fibrosis. However, the functions and mechanisms of lncRNAs in cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) have not been fully elucidated. First, we observed a correlation between cardiac remodeling (CR) and lncRNA FAF (FGF9-associated factor, termed FAF) expression in the heart. In vitro, we found that the expression of lncRNA FAF was altered in CFs, whereas it behaved inconsistently in cardiomyocytes (CMs). Next, we investigated the effects of lncRNA FAF on angiotensinogen II (Ang II)-induced cardiac fibrosis in neonatal rat CFs and explored the mechanism underlying these effects. In this study, lncRNA FAF was enriched in CFs and was associated with cardiac fibrosis. Upregulation of lncRNA FAF significantly restrained Ang II-induced increases in cell proliferation, differentiation and collagen accumulation of CFs. Moreover, we found that the function of lncRNA FAF was mainly realized through Transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) secretion and then downregulated phosphorylation of Smad2/3. Additional analysis revealed that Fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9) is a direct target of lncRNA FAF, as the overexpression of lncRNA FAF could increase the expression of FGF9 and knockdown of the FGF9 expression could attenuate the down-regulation of lncRNA FAF on TGFβ1-P-Smad2/3 pathway. Furthermore, knockdown of the FGF9 expression also abolished the inhibitory effect of FAF on fibrosis. In summary, we demonstrated that the overexpression of lncRNA FAF could inhibit fibrosis induced by Ang II via the TGFβ1-P-Smad2/3 signalling by targeting FGF9 in CFs.     

Occurrence of blood-feeding terrestrial leeches (Haemadipsidae) in a degraded forest ecosystem and their potential as ecological indicators

Blood-feeding invertebrates are emerging model taxa in biodiversity assessments, both as indicators of mammal abundance and also as sources of mammal DNA for identification. Among these, terrestrial leeches arguably offer the greatest promise; they are abundant and widespread in the humid tropics, and their blood meals can be easily assayed to establish diet. Unfortunately, terrestrial leeches are understudied, with little known about their ecology and behavior. Such information is needed to evaluate their utility as ecological indicators and to account for potential sampling biases that might arise from habitat preferences. By combining occupancy modeling and thermal tolerance assays, we determined the factors affecting species occurrence in the related terrestrial brown (Haemadipsa sumatrana) and tiger leech (Haemadipsa picta), both of which are widespread in tropical forests in Southeast Asia. We sampled both species across a degraded forest landscape in Sabah, Borneo, in wet and dry seasons, associating occurrence with habitat-level metrics. We found that, for both species, detection probability increased with canopy height regardless of season. Additionally, increased vegetation heterogeneity had a strong negative influence on brown leech occurrence in the dry season, implying an interaction between vegetation structure and climate. However, we found no difference in physiological thermal tolerance (CT_MAX) between the two species. Finally, using a reduced dataset, we found a small improvement in brown leech model fit when including mammal abundance. Our results suggest that the presence of terrestrial leeches may act as useful ecological indicators of habitat quality and potentially mammalian abundance. Abstract in Indonesia is available with online material.     

Circadian Phase-Dependent Protein and Tissular Binding of Three Local Anesthetics (Bupivacaine,Etidocaine, and Mepivacaine) in Mice: A Possible Mechanismof Their Chronotoxicokinetics?

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible influence of the time of administration on bupivacaine (B), etidocaine (E), and mepivacaine (M) protein and tissue (brain and heart) binding. For each anesthetic agent, a single dose of B (20 mg/kg), E (40 mg/kg), or M (60 mg/kg) was administered intraperito-neally at 10:00,16:00,22:00, and 04:00 h. Blood and tissue samples were collected 15 min after drug administration. This study documents significant circadian variations in protein and tissue binding of the three local anesthetic agents. We did not demonstrate a temporal relationship between the respective free and tissue levels. Thus, the temporal variations of free plasma, brain, and heart levels do not seem to be involved in the temporal changes of induced mortality.     

Cardiomyopathy Mutations in the Tail of β-Cardiac Myosin Modify the Coiled-coil Structure and Affect Integration into Thick Filaments in Muscle Sarcomeres in Adult Cardiomyocytes

It is unclear why mutations in the filament-forming tail of myosin heavy chain (MHC) cause hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy as these mutations should not directly affect contraction. To investigate this, we first investigated the impact of five hypertrophic cardiomyopathy-causing (N1327K, E1356K, R1382W, E1555K, and R1768K) and one dilated cardiomyopathy-causing (R1500W) tail mutations on their ability to incorporate into muscle sarcomeres in vivo. We used adenoviral delivery to express full-length wild type or mutant enhanced GFP-MHC in isolated adult cardiomyocytes. Three mutations (N1327K, E1356K, and E1555K) reduced enhanced GFP-MHC incorporation into muscle sarcomeres, whereas the remainder had no effect. No mutations significantly affected contraction. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching showed that fluorescence recovery for the mutation that incorporated least well (N1327K) was significantly faster than that of WT with half-times of 25.1 ± 1.8 and 32.2 ± 2.5 min (mean ± S.E.), respectively. Next, we determined the effects of each mutation on the helical properties of wild type and seven mutant peptides (7, 11, or 15 heptads long) from the myosin tail by circular dichroism. R1382W and E1768K slightly increased the α-helical nature of peptides. The remaining mutations reduced α-helical content, with N1327K showing the greatest reduction. Only peptides containing residues 1301–1329 were highly α-helical suggesting that this region helps in initiation of coiled coil. These results suggest that small effects of mutations on helicity translate into a reduced ability to incorporate into sarcomeres, which may elicit compensatory hypertrophy.