Increased amount of collagen type I and decreased amount of type III is described in various pathological processes in the vascular wall. Polyphenols were shown to have protective effect on endothelium, decrease blood pressure and prevent oxidative damage induced by various stimuli. Tetrachlormethane (CCl4) is a toxic substance with known negative systemic effects induced by free radicals. Chronic administration of CCl4 for 12 weeks led to an increase of collagen type I and a decrease of type III in the wall of aorta. Parallel administration of red wine polyphenols significantly reduced the increase of collagen type I, at the same time the content of type III rose to the level above controls. After 4 weeks of spontaneous recovery no changes were observed. If polyphenols were administered during the recovery period, there was a decrease of type I and an increase of type III collagen content in the aorta. It can be concluded that polyphenols have a tendency to lower the amount of type I and to increase the proportion of type III collagen in the wall of the aorta. These changes are significant in prevention or in regression of changes induced by chronic oxidative stress. This effect of polyphenols is most likely the result of their influence on MMP-1 and TIMP activities through which they positively influence the collagen types I and III content ratio in the vascular wall in favor of the type III collagen., L. Hlavačková ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanism of vasorelaxant responses induced by red wine polyphenolic compounds (Provinol). Rings of rat femoral artery with or without functional endothelium were set up in a myograph for isometric recording and precontracted with phenylephrine (10-5 M). Provinol in cumulative doses (10-9 to 10-3 mg/ml) elicited endothelium- and dose-dependent relaxation of the artery with maximal relaxation of 56 % at the concentration of 10-5 mg/ml. The relaxant responses to Provinol correlated well with the increase of NO synthase activity in the vascular tissue after administration of cumulative doses of Provinol (10-9 to 10-3 mg/ml). NG-nitro-L-arginine methylester (L-NAME, 3x10-4 M) significantly attenuated the endothelium-dependent relaxation produced by Provinol. Administration of L-arginine (3x10-5 M) restored the relaxation inhibited by L-NAME. The relaxant responses of Provinol were abolished in the presence of Ca2+-entry blocker, verapamil (10-6 M). Administration of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) abolished acetylcholine (10-5 M)-induced relaxation of the rat femoral artery, while administration of Provinol (10-5 mg/ml) together with H2O2 helped to maintain the acetylcholine-induced relaxation. Provinol only partially affected the concentration-response curve for the NO donor sodium nitroprusside-induced relaxation in rings without endothelium. In conclusion, Provinol elicited endothelium-dependent relaxation of rat femoral artery by the Ca2+-induced increase of NO synthase activity and by protecting NO from degradation., W. Zenebe, O. Pecháňová, R. Andriantsitohaina., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The nematode, Camallanus xenentodoni Khan et Yaseen, 1969 recovered from the intestine of the fish, Xenentodon cancila (Ham.) from West Bengal, India was studied by light microscopy. Larval development of this nematode was also studied under laboratory conditions. Two cyclopoid copcpods, Mesocyclops crassus and M. leuckarti maintained at temperatures 28-31.5“C were infected with first-stage larvae from gravid females. In the haemocoelic cavity of the copepod the larvae moulted twice to attain third, infective stage and a phase of growth, development and morphometric changes occurred between the two moults. Detailed descriptions of the adult worms and the three larval stages are given. Data obtained from the morphological and metrical studies of the present adult worms are compared with those available on C. xenentodoni and another related species C. cancelai Gupta et Verma, 1978, which is considered as synonym of C. xenentodoni.
Gangesia parasiluri Yamaguti, 1934 (Cestoda: Proteocephalidae) is redescribed on the basis of adults obtained from the intestine of Silurus asotus Linnaeus (Teleostei: Siluridae) from Lake Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan. Its life cycle was studied in the field and laboratory. Rostellar hooks of the adults showed a wide variation in number, ranging from 35 to up to 57. Plerocercoids were found in the rectum of Chaenogobius urotaenia (Hilgendorf) and Rhinogobius brunneus (Temminck et Schlegel) (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the same lake. Procercoids were formed in the haemocoel of Mesocyclops leuckarti (Claus) (Copepoda: Cyclopidae) 7 days post infection at 21-25°C. They developed into plerocercoids in the intestine of Pseudorasbora puntila pumila Miyadi (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), R. brunneus and S. asotus. Plerocercoids from naturally and experimentally infected fishes were fed to S. asotus, from which immature worms were recovered. It is considered that the life cycle involves three hosts: a copepod as the intermediate host in which procercoids are formed, small fish as paratenic hosts which retain plerocercoids and transport them into S. asotus, and S. asotus as the definitive host in which adults develop. Rostellar hooks of the adults were much fewer, much larger and arranged in fewer circles than those of the plerocercoids. It is suggested that the former are newly formed and replace the latter in an early stage of development of plerocercoids into adults in 5. asotus.
Eucoleus schvalovoj Kontrimavichus, 1963 (Nematoda: Capillariidae) is redescribed. The original description of this species was brief and inadequate in thal it was based on just a few specimens removed from the Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Khabarovsk region, USSR. Detailed morphological study of several specimens of E. schvalovoj from the oesophagus of L. lutra from Spain revealed new characters, above all in males, and allows for a better characterisation of this species. Since its original description £. schvalovoj has only been recorded in Spain.
Proteocephalus macrophallus (Diesing, 1850), considered by several authors as species inquireruia, was recently found in Cichla ocellaris in Venezuela. This material is compared with voucher specimens from the same host (C. ocellaris) from Brazil, identified and redescribed as P. macrophallus by Woodland (1933). The specific status of P. macrophallus is confirmed. This species is characterized by: 1 ) the shape of the body, which is wide and short, 2) the absence of a neck, 3) the distribution of the vitelline follicles, which converge posteriorly to the ovarian lobes, and 4) the structure of the uterus, which is evacuated in the last proglottides and transformed to thick-walled diverticles apparently separated each from other. A neotype is designated.
The nematode Rhabdochona anguillae Spaul, 1927, a specific intestinal parasite of the European eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.), is redescribed and illustrated from specimens collected from eels of the Sousa River, northern Portugal (prevalence 20%, intensity 2-13). The species is characterized by the presence of 14 anterior teeth in the prostom, small non-bifurcate deirids, absence of lateral preanal papillae, by the length (0.460-0.660 and 0.130-0.150 mm) and the shape of spicules, fairly large (0.041-0.054 x 0.025-0.030 mm) mature eggs without filaments, and by the bluntly pointed to rounded tip of the tail. Its morphological features are discussed in relation to other congeneric species. This nematode has hitherto been recorded only from eels in southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria).
The syntypes of Deltokeras omitheios Meggitt, 1927 (the type-species of Deltokeras Meggitt, 1927), a parasite of Urocissa erythrorhyncha (Passeriformes, Corvidae) in South Asia, are redescribed. Deltokeras is considered a monotypie genus. An amended generic diagnosis is presented.
Trichodina kamchatika Konovalov, Shevlyakov et Krasin, 1970 is redescribed based on specimens obtained from the gills and body surface of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) from Nova Scotia and Quebec, Canada and its taxonomic history briefly reviewed. This is the first report of T. kamchatika from North America.
Genetic component represents an important factor in the development of hypertension, which is known to be associated with changes in expression of vascular gap junction protein connexin 43 (Cx43). The aim of the study was to examine the distribution and expression of Cx43 in the aortic endothelium of adult normotensive Wistar rats (W), borderline hypertensive rats (BHR) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Rings of the thoracic aorta were processed for immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis of endothelial Cx43 and for electron microscopy. Both, BHR and SHR exhibited significantly increased blood pressure vs. W (132±2 mm Hg and 185±3 mm Hg vs. 110±2 mm Hg). Reduced Cx43 immunofluorescence was observed in the endothelium of BHR and these alterations were more pronounced in SHR. Western blot analysis showed significant suppression of Cx43 expression in the aorta of both BHR (p<0.05) and SHR (p<0.001) vs. W. Electron microscopy revealed local subcellular alterations of interendothelial connections in BHR including extended tight junctions. These alterations were more frequent and marked in SHR. The results indicate that connexin 43 expression is reduced in the aortic endothelium already in prehypertensive period, which may affect cell-to-cell communication and thus participate in acceleration of hypertensive disease., K. Dlugošová, M. Mitašíková, I. Bernátová, P. Weismann, Ľ. Okruhlicová., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy