Regulatory effect of liraglutide on the expression of eNOS in the corpus cavernosum of diabetic rats / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>UNLABELLED</b>OCTOBER: To explore the effects of the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) liraglutide on the penile erectile function of rats with diabetic erectile dysfunction (DED) by observing the impact of liraglutide on the expression of eNOS in the corpus cavernosum of diabetic rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We randomly divided 30 six-week-old male SD rats into a normal control (n = 10) and an experimental group (n = 20) , established models of diabetes mellitus (DM) in the experimental rats, and subdivided them into a DM (n = 8) and a GLP-1 group (n = 8) to receive intramuscular injection of normal saline and liraglutide at 5 mg per kg of the body weight per day, respectively. After 12 weeks of intervention, we obtained the levels of FPG, FINS, TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, testosterone, and IL-6 and the indexes of Homa-IR and Homa-β, detected the expressions of Akt/p-Akt and eNOS/p-eNOS in the corpus cavernosum by Western blot, and compared the erectile function between different groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The frequency and rate of penile erection were significantly lower in the DM group than in the GLP-1 and normal control groups (P < 0.05) and also lower in the GLP-1 group than in the normal controls (P < 0.05). Immunofluorescence staining showed the expression of eNOS mainly in the cytoplasm of the cavernosal vessels and sinusoidal endothelial cells, markedly lower in the DM and GLP-1 groups than in the normal rats (P < 0.05), but higher in the GLP-1 than in the DM group (P < 0.05). The level of eNOS/p-eNOS in the penile tissue was significantly decreased in the DM and GLP-1 groups in comparison with the normal controls (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), while that of p-eNOS was markedly increased in the GLP-1 group as compared with the DM group (P < 0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in the Akt level among the three groups of animals (P > 0.05). The expression of p-Akt was remarkably reduced in the DM and GLP-1 groups in comparison with the control rats (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), but higher in the GLP-1 than in the DM group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>GLP-1 can protect the function of endothelial cells in the corpus cavernosum and improve the erectile function of DED rats by regulating the Akt/ eNOS signaling pathway, which indicates that GLP-1 could be an important option for the treatment and prevention of DED.</p>

Role of angiotensin II type 1 receptor agonistic autoantibody in cardiac hypertrophy of hyperthyroidism rats and its relationship with PI3K/Akt signaling pathway / 第二军医大学学报

Objective To investigate the serum level of angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) agonistic autoantibody (AT1-AA) in hyperthyroidismratswith cardiac hypertrophy and the expression of PI3K and protein kinase B (Akt) in cardiac tissue, so as to study the relationship between AT1-AA and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Methods Hyperthyroidism rats models were established by gavaging with levothyroxine sodium. Totally 54 SD rats were divided into three groups: hyperthyroidism group (group A), hyperthyroidism+ olmesartan group (group B) and control group (group C). The heart weight index (HWI) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) mRNA were taken as the indices for cardiac hypertrophy. Serum AT1-AA level was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the expression of ATiR and PI3K/Akt was detected by Western blotting analysis. According to the determination results of AT1-AA, group A and B rats were subdivided into AT1-AA positive group and negative group; the expressions of AT1R and PI3K/Akt were compared between these groups. Results (1) Compared with group C, HWI and the expression of ANP mRNA in group A and B were significantly increased (all P<0. 05); and those in group A were significantly higher than those in group B (P<0. 05). (2) The positive rates and OD values of AT1-AA in group A and B (61.11%, 72. 22% and 0. 44±0. 12, 0. 49 ±0. 08) were significantly higher than those in group C (16. 67% and 0. 28±0. 05) (all P<0. 01). (3)The expressions of AT1R and PI3K/p-Akt in group A and B were significantly higher than those in group C (P<0. 05, P<0. 01). Compared with group A, the expression levels of PI3K, p-Akt were significantly decreased in group B (P<0. 01, P<0. 05). (4) In group A, the expression levels of PI3K and p-Akt in AT1-AA positive group were significantly higher than those in AT1-AA negative group(P<0. 01); in group B, the expression levels of PI3K and p-Akt in AT1-AA positive group were significantly decreased than those in AT1-AA negative group (P<0. 05). Conclusion AT1-AA may be involved in the pathophysiology of cardiac hypertrophy in hyperthyroidism by activating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway through AT1R.

Measurement of the retinal fovea and nerve fiber layer thickness in patients with unilateral myopic anisometropic amblyopia using optical coherence topography / 中华实验眼科杂志

Background Both functional and morphological changes in amblyopic development are known to occur at various levels in the central visual pathway.However,whether the retina is involved or not during amblyopic progression remains controversial.Objective This study was designed to compare the thicknesses of the fovea and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) of the normal fellow eye of amblyopic eye using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in children with myopic anisometropia.Methods Twenty-two patients with unilateral myopic anisometropic amblyopia were included as the anisometropia amblyopia group.Ten unilateral myopic anisometropic amblyopia subjects received treatment and recovered were used as the amblyopic cure group,and 11 individuals with simple myopic anisometropia without amblyopia were enrolled as the control group.OCT was performed on both eyes of all the subjects with informed consent.Fovea retinal thickness and RNFL thickness from the superior,inferior,nasal and temporal quadrants in the peripapillary region were evaluated.The measurement parameters were bilaterally compared in all the individuals by paired t test.The multiple regression model was used to analyze the correlation of retinal thickness with amblyopia patients.This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of this hospital.Written informed consent was obtain from each subject prior to the eye examination.Results Fovea retinal thickness increased in the amblyopic eyes compared with the fellow eyes,showing a statistically significant difference between them (P =0.001).However,no significant differences were found in the fovea retinal thickness between both eyes in the amblyopic cure group and simple myopic anisometropia without amblyopia group (P =0.778,0.943).Among the anisometropia amblyopia group,amblyopia cure group and simple myopic anisometropia without amblyopia group,the RNFL thicknesses of the temporal quadrant was significantly thicker in the higher myopic lateral eyes than those of the fellow eyes (P＜0.001,P =0.003,P =0.046).However,the differences in the superior,inferior,nasal and the average RNFL thickness were not statistically significant between the two eyes (P＞0.05).A negative correlation was found between the inferior retinal thickness with age (r=-0.559,P=0.016).Conclusions The fovea may be affected in unilateral myopic anisometropic amblyopia.There is no significant difference in the RNFL thickness between simple myopic eye and unilateral myopic anisometropia amblyopic eye.Improvement in amblyopia is coming along with the reduction of the thickness of the fovea.