Stress activated cytokines and the heart

The ability of myocardium to successfully compensate for, and adapt to, stress ultimately determines whether the heart will decompensate and fail, or whether it will instead maintain preserved function. Despite the importance of the myocardial response to environmental stress, very little is known with respect to the biochemical mechanisms that are responsible for mediating and integrating the stress response in the heart. In the present review we will summarize recent experimental material which suggests that cytokines that are expressed within the myocardium in response to a environment injury, namely tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), may play an important role in initiating and integrating homeostatic responses within the heart. However, these ‘stress-activated’ cytokines all have the potential to produce cardiac decompensation when expressed at sufficiently high concentrations. Accordingly, the theme that will emerge from this discussion is that the short-term expression of stress-activated cytokines within the heart may provide the heart with an adaptive response to stress, whereas long-term expression of these molecules may be frankly maladaptive by producing cardiac decompensation.     

黄瓜幼苗的冷锻炼与低温引起的光抑制

黄瓜幼苗的冷锻炼与低温引起的光抑制李晓萍,陈贻竹,李平,郭俊彦（中国科学院华南植物研究所,广州５１０６５０）关键词：低温引起的光抑制,荧光猝灭,冷锻炼,黄瓜幼苗低温使植物利用光能的能力降低从而引起或加剧光抑制（ｈａｓ等１９８３）。在光抑制中常以叶绿素...     

血循环障碍在高原冻伤中的形态计量观测

本文对高原冻伤中血液循环障碍作形态计量,旨在探讨血循环障碍在冻伤过程中的变化及高原冻伤发病机理中所起的作用。实验选用Ｗｉｓｔａｒ雄性大鼠４０只,随机分为平原冻伤组、急性低氧冻伤组和低氧习服冻伤组。习服组动物于低压舱内模拟海拔６０００ｍ缺氧每日４ｈ,连续两周。其余动物常规饲养。习服期满次日习服组与低氧组一同进入舱内模拟海拔６０００ｍ低氧４ｈ,再行冷冻。冻后继续低氧４ｈ。冻后４８ｈ取材。对各组动物冻后４８ｈ冻肢皮下血管的病变作图象分析。结果发现,平原组血管淤滞、血栓绝对数及其百分比均为最低,习服组最高,低氧组居中。但低氧组与平原组的血栓／淤滞百分比无明显差别。骨骼肌坏死的面积百分比习服组显著高于低氧组与平原组,而后两组间无差别。血栓／淤滞百分比与骨骼肌坏死面积百分比之间的有高度相关关系。冻融是直接引起血管内皮损伤的原发因素,局部血液循环障碍是造成严重的继发损伤的主要原因。     

Lack of metabolic temperature compensation in the intertidal gastropods,Littorina saxatilis (Olivi) and L. obtusata (L.)

Two intertidal snails, Littorina saxatilis (Olivi, 1972) (upper eulittoral fringe/maritime zone) and Littorina obtusata (Linnaeus, 1758) (lower eulittoral) were collected from a boulder shore on Nobska Point, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in July and acclimated for 15–20 days at 4 ° or 21 °C. Oxygen consumption rate (Vo₂) was determined for 11–15 subsamples of individuals at 4 °, 11 ° and 21 °C with silver/platinum oxygen electrodes. Multiple factor analysis of variance (MFANOVA) of lo₁₀ transformed values of whole animal Vo₂ with log₁₀ dry tissue weight (DTW) as a covariant revealed that increased test temperature induced a significant increase in Vo₂ in both species (P<0.00001). In contrast, MFANOVA revealed that temperature acclimation did not affect Vo₂ in either L. saxatilis (P= 0.35) or L. obtusata (P= 0.095). Thus, neither species displayed a capacity for the typical metabolic temperature compensation marked by an increase in Vo₂ at any one test temperature in individuals acclimated to a lower temperature that is characteristic of most ectothermic animals. Lack of capacity for metabolic temperature acclimation has also been reported in other littorinid snail species, and may be characteristic of the group as a whole. Lack of capacity for respiratory temperature acclimation in these two species and other littorinids may reflect the extensive semi-diurnal temperature variation that they are exposed to in their eulittoral and eulittoral fringe/maritime zone habitats. In these habitats, any metabolic benefits derived from longer-term temperature compensation of metabolic rates are negated by extreme daily temperature fluctuations. Instead, littorinid species appear to have evolved mechanisms for immediate metabolic regulation which, in L. saxatilis and L. obtusata and other littorinids, appear to centre on a unique ability for near instantaneous suppression of metabolic rate and entrance into short-term metabolic diapause at temperatures above 20–35 °C, making typical seasonal respiratory compensation mechanisms characteristic of most ectotherms of little adaptive value to littorinid species.     

Body water content over a range of ambient salinities in the sheepshead minnow

Body water content was determined on groups of Cyprinodon variegatus after sequential acclimation to ambient salinities in the range from fresh water to 100%. A multiple linear regression model applied to the data included body mass ( M ) of individuals and acclimation salinity ( S ) as independent variables, and body water content ( W ) as the dependent variable. The model that described the relationship was W (g) = 0·059 + 0·723 M (g)–0001 S (%). Converting values of body water content to percent of wet body mass produced a range of values from 74·5% in fresh water to 72·0% at 100%, only a 2·5% difference in body water content over this wide range of ambient salinities.     

Nitric oxide is involved in heat-induced HSP70 accumulation

Heat shock potentiated the nitric oxide production (EPR assay) in the liver, kidney, heart, spleen, intestine, and brain. The heat shock-induced sharp transient increase in the rate of nitric oxide production preceded the accumulation of heat shock proteins (HSP70) (Western blot analysis) as measured in the heart and liver. In all organs the nitric oxide formation was completely blocked by the NO-synthase inhibitor (L-NNA). L-NNA also markedly attenuated the heat shock-induced accumulation of HSP70. The results suggests that nitric oxide is involved in the heat shock-induced activation of HSP70 synthesis.     

Swim Stress Increases the Potency of Glycine at the N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor Complex

Abstract: We have previously demonstrated that chronic administration of antidepressants results in a reduction in the potency of glycine to displace 5,7-[³H]dichlorokynurenic acid (5,7-[³H]-DCKA) from the strychnine-insensitive glycine recognition site of the NMDA receptor complex. We now report that exposure of rats to the forced swim test results in a 56% increase in the potency of glycine to displace 5,7-[³H]DCKA from frontal cortical homogenates. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that the forced swim test, a preclinical screen sensitive to acute administration of antidepressant drugs and NMDA receptor antagonists, also results in adaptation of the NMDA receptor complex. Moreover, these data lend further support to the hypothesis that glutamatergic pathways are involved in the neurobiological response to stress and, potentially, in the pathophysiology of depression.