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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the relationship between visit-to-visit blood pressure (BP) variability (BPV) and vascular endothelial function in a cohort of elderly hypertensive patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 174 elderly patients with essential hypertension were included in the study. The participants had their office BP measured during the 12-month follow-up. Right brachial artery diameter was assessed at rest, during reactive hyperemia (flow-mediated dilation, FMD), and after nitroglycerin administration (nitroglycerin-mediated dilation, NMD). The participants were divided into two groups according to FMD% or FMD/NMD ratio. The correlations between BPV and endothelial function were analyzed by univariate analysis and multiple linear regression analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The participants classified as having a decreased endothelial function according to FMD/NMD ratio had significantly lower FMD% and higher BPV and NMD% (P<0.05). The percentage of CCBs use in normal endothelial function group was significantly higher than that in decreased endothelial function group (79.55% vs 63.95%, P<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed a significant negative association between FMD/NMD ratio and BPV, and this association remained significant after adjustment for age, body mass index, and mean BP levels.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>FMD/NMD ratio is a better marker of endothelial function than FMD, and an increased visit-to-visit variability of BP is associated with a decreased endothelial function.</p>
Subject(s)
Aged , Humans , Blood Pressure , Brachial Artery , Endothelium, Vascular , Essential Hypertension , Hypertension , Multivariate Analysis , Nitroglycerin , Regression Analysis , VasodilationABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:Skeletal muscle satelite cels are muscle-derived stem cels with proliferation and differentiation potential distributing between the muscle cel membrane and the base film. Studies have shown that skeletal muscle satelite cels are of efficacy and safety, but the survival rate of the transplanted stem cels is very low, which greatly limits the application of skeletal muscle satelite cels. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Fasudil on apoptosis of skeletal muscle satelite cels induced by H2O2. METHODS: Skeletal muscle satelite cels cultured in vitro were randomly divided into three groups including H2O2group, H2O2+Fasudil group (Fasudil group) and control group. Apoptosis rates were observed by flow cytometry. The concentrations of interleukin-4 and tumor necrosis factor-a in each group were detected by ELISA. Western blot was employed to measure the protein level of Bax in each group. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the H2O2group, a significant decrease was found in the apoptosis rate of cels, protein level of Bax, and concentrations of interleukin-4 and tumor necrosis factor-a in the Fasudil group (alP < 0.05). These findings indicate that Fasudil can play anti-apoptosis protection by inhibiting Rho-kinase signaling pathway, which may be related to the reduced expression of Bax.
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BACKGROUND:Previous studies have shown that a certain dose of acidic fibroblast growth factor can promote skeletal muscle satelite cel proliferationin vitro. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of transfection with acidic fibroblast growth factor by electroporation on growth, proliferation and differentiation of skeletal muscle satelite cels. METHODS: Skeletal muscle satelite cels were cultured and purified, and then transfected with plasmid pSectag-GFP-aFGF by electroporation. The expression of green fluorescent protein was observed under fluorescence microscope, and the transfection efficiency was calculated. After transfection, cel cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry to draw the growth curve of skeletal muscle satelite cels. Western blot assay was employed to measure protein level of acidic fibroblast growth factor. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Immunocytochemistry detection: The skeletal muscle satelite cels were positive for a-sarcomeric actin. (2) Transfection efficiency: At 12 hours after transfection with pSectag-aFGF, several cels showed green fluorescence, and the green fluorescent expression reached the peak at 72-96 hours after transfection with a positive rate of about 90%. (3) Cel cycle: After electrotransfection, the proportion of cels at S phase in the electroporation group was higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). (4) Cel growth curve: At 3 days after electrotransfection, the cels entered logarithmic growth phase but the proliferation slowed down at 5 days. (5) Differentiation capacity: There were fewer myotubes and aging cels in the electroporation group than the control group. (6) Western blot assay: Acidic fibroblast growth factor protein was highly expressed in the cels transfected with target gene detected by western blot assay. These findings indicate that by using electroporation method, acidic fibroblast growth factor can be transferred into skeletal muscle satelite cels and have a high-efficiency and long-term expression, which can promote the proliferation of skeletal muscle satelite cels and inhibit formation of myotubes.
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AIM:As a factor that can improve cell growth,there are few studies about the effect of insulin-like growth factor Ⅰ(IGF-Ⅰ) on the apoptosis of endothelial cell.The study investigated the inhibition and mechanism of IGF-Ⅰ on the apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVEC) induced by oxidized low density lipoprotein(ox-LDL).METHODS:The experiment was performed in the Institute of Cardiovascular Disease,Union Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from December 2006 to July 2007.①Fresh human umbilical cord was obtained(the informed consent) to isolate and culture HUVECs.The cells were divided into four groups.Except the control group,HUVEC cells were cultured with IGF-Ⅰ(1?10-9mmol/L),ox-LDL(200 mg/L)+IGF-Ⅰ(1?10-9mmol/L),and ox-LDL(200 mg/L),respectively after cultured for 24 hours.②Cell viability was determined by MTT assay,morphology and apoptosis by DAPI fluorescence staining,and expressions of caspase-3 were analyzed.RESULTS:①Ox-LDL could significantly inhibit HUVEC cell proliferation.After treated with both IGF-Ⅰand ox-LDL,the cell proliferation increased obviously compared with the cells treated with ox-LDL(P