effect of L - carnitine on acute myocardial infarction in albino rats

Recently, there is increased interest in the use of over-the-counter supplements and naturally occurring nutriceuticals for enhancement of cardiac and skeletal muscle performance. These include amino acids such as creatine, L-carnitine, and L-arginine, as well as vitamins and cofactors such as alpha-tocopherol and coenzyme Q. The present work was designed to study the effect of L-carnitine on acute myocardial infarction in anaesthetized male albino rats. The animals were divided into three groups. In the 1[st] group, the animals were injected with normal saline and served as control. In the 2[nd] group, the animals were injected with isoprenaline [300 mg/kg, S.C. as single dose] to induce acute myocardial infarction [AMI]. In the 3[rd] group the animals were pretreated with L-carnitine in a single daily dose of [500 mg/kg], orally for three successive days with the 3[rd] dose given one hour before isoprenaline injection. The studied parameters were heart rate, T -wave voltage,serum level of total creatine kinase [CK], and its isoenzyme CK-MB, and the size of infarction. The results of the present study demonstrated that isoprenaline induced AMI as proved by significant increase in all studied parameters compared with control group with infarction size around 65%. L-carnitine produced significant decrease in all studied parameters in comparison to isoprenaline. It is concluded that pretreatment with L-carnitine is effective in reducing the myocardial damage. Thus, L-carnitine has myocardial protective effect in case of AMI as proved by the results of the present study

Comparative effects of garlic oil with bezafibrate in patients with hyperlipidemia

In the present study, comparison of the effect of garlic oil [Garline] with that of bezafibrate [Bezalip] on the serum lipids was investigated in patients with hyperlipidemia. Both agents were given continuously for 3 months and the serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol were estimated monthly and the percent changes were calculated in respect to the pretreatment levels. The present work demonstrated that both garlic oil and bezafibrate produced significant reduction in the total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol levels. On the other hand, both agents produced significant increase in the HDL-cholesterol level. These changes in the serum lipids became significant when estimated after the first month of treatment with no further significant changes when determined after 2 or 3 months of treatment with either agents. Also, there was no significant difference between the effect of garlic oil and that of bezafibrate. The latter finding could suggest that garlic oil is a low cost effective hypolipidemic agent

Propafenone in experimentally induced acute myocardial infarction

In the present work, the effect of propafenone on experimental acute myocardial ischemia induced by either total left coronary artery [LCA] ligation [persistent and transient for 30 and 60 minutes] or by s.c. injection of isoprenaline [300 mg/kg] was investigated in albino rats. Propafenone was given as a single selected for evaluation of the severity of ischemia and the effect of propafenone were the voltage of T-wave, the heart rate, the CK-MB enzyme serum level and the percent of infarct area. In addition, the effect of propafenone on the coronary outflow in vitro was, also, investigated on the rabbit heart. The present work demonstrated that propafenone produced significant decrease in almost all examined parameters, when it was given before or after induction of ischemia. However, pretreatment with propafenone produced significantly greater effects as compared with those produced when the drug was administered after induction of ischemia. Such finding suggested a protective rather than a curative effect for propafenone against myocardial damage caused by ischemia. Investigating the effect of propafenone on the isolated perfused rabbit heart revealed a significant increase in the coronary outflow, which could, in part, explain the cardioprotective effect of this drug in myocardial ischemia

effect of some cyclooxygenase inhibitors on picrotoxin induced convulsions in mice

The present study was designed to study the effect of pre-treatment with the cyclooxygenase inhibitors non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDS]; indomethacin, ketoprofen and tiaprofenic acid on the picrotoxin-induced seizures in albino mice. Picrotoxin was injected i.p in two doses of 8 and 16 mg/kg one hour after i.p injection of indomethacin [25 mg/kg], ketoprofen [100 mg/kg] or tiaprofenic acid [200 mg/kg]. Convulsions were assessed by the following parameters: the protection from convulsions, the time to onset of colonic or tonic seizures, the duration of convulsion [terminated by death] and the incidence of death occurring in one hour. The results of the present work demonstrated that non of the fore mentioned parameters for assessment of seizures induced by 8 or 16 mg/kg picrotoxin were significantly changed by prior administration of indomethacin, ketoprofen and tiaprofenic acid indicating that prostaglandins are not involved in such process

Some haemodynamic effects of diatrizoate, [Urografin], in anaesthetised dogs

The effect of urografin, a contrast medium commonly used for intravenous urography, on the arterial blood pressure and ECG of anaesthetised dogs was studied. In addition the interaction of this agent with some drugs was also investigated. Urografin given i.v as a single shot injection of 1.0 ml/kg produced significant reduction in the systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure. These changes reached the maximum level 5 minutes after the injection and gradually returned to became completely normal 10 minutes after administration of the agent. However, no changes in the heart rate or any other ECG abnormality could be demonstrated. The hypotensive effect of urografin did not change if the agent was given 15 minutes after prior treatment of the animals with atropine, propranolol, pheneramine salicylate, cimetidine, dexamethasone or combination of pheneramine salicylate and cimetidine. The present study could demonstrate that the hypotension induced by urografin was most probably mediate through a direct action rather than an effect on the muscarinic, beta-adrenergic or histamine receptors or the release of leukotriens