The aim of the study was to evaluate skin microvascular reactivity (MVR) and possible influencing factors (fibrinolysis, oxidative stress, and endothelial function) in patients with Cushing’s syndrome. Twenty-nine patients with active Cushing’s syndrome (ten of them also examined after a successful operation) and 16 control subjects were studied. Skin MVR was measured by laser Doppler flowmetry during post-occlusive (PORH) and thermal hyperemia (TH). Malondialdehyde and Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase were used as markers of oxidative stress. Fibrinolysis was estimated by tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and its inhibitor (PAI-1). N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase, E-selectin, P-selectin, and ICAM-1 were used as markers of endothelial function. Oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction was present in patients with hypercortisolism, however, increased concentration of ICAM-1 was also found in patients after the operation as compared to controls (290.8±74.2 vs. 210.9±56.3 ng.ml-1, p<0.05). Maximal perfusion was significantly lower in patients with arterial hypertension during PORH and TH (36.3±13.0 vs. 63.3±32.4 PU, p<0.01, and 90.4±36.6 vs. 159.2±95.3 PU, p<0.05, respectively ) and similarly the velocity of perfusion increase during PORH and TH was lower (3.2±1.5 vs. 5.2±3.4 PU.s-1, p<0.05, and 0.95±0.6 vs. 1.8±1.1 PU.s-1, p<0.05, respectively). The most pronounced impairment of microvascular reactivity was present in patients with combination of arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus., M. Prázný, J. Ježková, E. Horová, V. Lazárová, V. Hána, J. Kvasnička, L. Pecen, J. Marek, J. Škrha, M. Kršek., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is newly discovered protein, which play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of systemic inflammation. Recent studies showed that HMGB1 is one of the important pathophysiological mechanisms in the occurrence and development of atherosclerosis. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between serum HMGB1 levels and endothelial function in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Eighty newly diagnosed patients with PCOS and eighty normal women of similar age were selected. Metformin treatment (1,500 mg/day) was initiated in all patients for a period of consecutive 3 months. Serum HMGB1 levels were measured by ELISA. High resolution ultrasound was used to measure the brachial artery diameter at rest, after reactive hyperemia (flow-mediated arterial dilation, FMD) and after sublingual glyceryltrinitrate. Serum HMGB1 levels in PCOS were 24.87±14.93 ng/ml, which were significantly higher than that in controls (8.82±3.55 ng/ml, p<0.01). After 3 months treatment, serum HMGB1 levels decreased significantly (p<0.05). By dividing the distribution of HMGB1 levels into quartiles, serum HMGB1 levels were increased gradually with the increase of testosterone levels (p<0.05), whereas the FMD levels decreased (p<0.05). Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis showed that FMD (estimated coefficient β=-0.69, p=0.005), testosterone (β=0.31, p=0.045), TBARS (β=0.69, p=0.012) and hs-CRP levels (β=0.68, p=0.001) were significantly associated with HMGB1. The absolute changes in HMGB1 showed a positive correlation with the changes in testosterone (p<0.05) and negative correlation with the changes in FMD (p<0.05) in patients with PCOS during the course of metformin therapy. Serum HMGB1 levels are correlated with endothelial dysfunction in patients with PCOS. Our study suggests that HMGB1 may contribute to the early stage of atherosclerosis in patients with PCOS.
As wine polyphenols were show n to possess many positive effects in mammals, including improvement of vascular function, this study investigated the effect of the Slovak Alibernet red wine extract (AWE) on blood pressure and vascular function in young normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats. Six weeks old, male, WKY and SHR were treated with AWE for three weeks at the dose of 24.2 mg/kg/day. Blood pressure (BP), determined by tail-cuff plethysmography, was significantly elevated in SHR vs. WKY and AWE failed to affect it. Lipid peroxidation was evaluated by determination of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances. Vascular function was assessed in rings of the femoral artery using Mulvany-Halpern’s myograph. Maximal endothelium-dependent acetylcholine (ACh)-induced rela xation was reduced in control SHR vs. WKY rats by approximatel y 9.3 %, which was associated with a significant decrease of its NO-independent component. AWE failed to affect maximal AC h-induced relaxation, both its NO-dependent and independen t components, compared to controls of the same genotype. AWE however reduced lipid peroxidation in the left ventricle of both WKY and SHR and in the liver of SHR. In conclusion, three-week administration of AWE failed to reduce BP and to improve endothelial function in the femoral arteries of both genotypes investigated., P. Bališ ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Fourier spectral analysis of fore arm skin laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) signal was performed in fifteen hypercholesterolemic patients (HP), without clinically manifest arterial diseases, and in fifteen age-matched healthy control subjects (CS), in order to investigate skin blood flowmotion (SBF). The LDF frequency intervals studied were: 0.01-1.6 Hz total spectrum, as well as 0.01-0.02 Hz (endothelial), 0.02-0. 06 Hz (sympathetic), 0.06-0.2 Hz (myogenic), 0.2-0.6 Hz (respiratory) and 0.6-1.6 Hz (cardiac). Skin microvascular reactivity (MVR ) to acetylcholine (ACh) and to sodium nitroprusside (SNP) iontophoresis was also investigated. HP showed a lower post-ACh increase in power spectral density (PSD) of the 0.01-0.02 Hz SBF subinterval compared to CS (1.80±1.73 PU 2 /Hz vs 3.59±1.78 PU 2 /Hz, respectively; p<0.005), while they did not differ in MVR from CS. In eleven HP the 0.01-0.02 Hz SBF subinterval showed a higher post-ACh PSD increase near to the statistical significance after 10 weeks of rosuvastatin therapy (10 mg/day) compared to pretreatment test (3.04±2.95 PU 2 /Hz vs 1.91±1.94 PU 2 /Hz; p=0.07). The blunted post-ACh increase in PSD of the 0.01-0.02 Hz SBF subinterval in HP suggests a skin endothelial dysfunction in these patients. This SBF abnormality showed a tendency to improve after rosuvastatin therapy in eleven treated patients., M. Rossi ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
To propose a test to evaluate endothelial function, based on VO 2 on-transition kinetics in sub -anaerobic threshold (AT) constant load exercise, we tested healthy subjects and patients with ischemic -hypertensive cardiopathy by two cardiopulmonary te sts on a cycle ergometer endowed with an electric motor to overcome initial inertia: a pre-test and, after at least 24 h, one 6 min constant load exercise at 90 % AT. We measured net phase 3 VO2-on kinetics and, by phase 2 time constant (τ), valued endothe lial dysfunction. We found shorter τ in repeated tests, shorter time between first and second test, by persisting endothelium -dependent arteriolar vasodilatation and/or several other mechanisms. Reducing load to 80 % and 90 % AT did not produce significant changes in τ of healthy volunteers, while in heart patients an AT load of 70 %, compared to 80 % AT, shortened τ(∆=4.38±1.65s, p=0.013). In heart patients, no correlation was found between NYHA class, ejection fraction (EF), and the two variables derived from incremental cycle cardio - pulmonary exercise, as well as between EF and τ; while NYHA class groups were well correlated w ith τ duration (r=0.92, p=0.0001). Doxazosin and tadalafil also significantly reduced τ. In conclusion, the O2 consumption kinetics during the on transition of constant load exercise below the anaerobic threshold are highly sensitive to endothelial functi on in muscular microcirculation, and constitute a marker for the evaluation of endothelial dysfunction. and D. Maione, A. F. G. Cicero, S. Bacchelli, E. R. Cosentino, D. Degli Esposti, D. N. Manners, E. R. Rinaldi, M. Rosticci, R. Senaldi, E. Ambrosioni, C. Borghi.