Membrane testosterone receptors in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To determine the presence of membrane testosterone receptors in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC), and investigate their relationship with classical intracellular androgen receptors (iAR).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>VSMCs were cultured from the thoracic aorta of male Sprague-Dawley rats by the explant method. Subconfluent VSMCs were incubated with serum-free medium for 24 h to obtain quiescent non-dividing cells, and then treated with the indicated agents. The aliquots of VSMCs were labeled with testosterone-BSA-FITC (T-BSA-FITC) and analyzed by flow cytometry. Classical iARs in intact- and permeabilized-cells were detected with anti-iAR antibodies and FITC-labeled secondary antibodies by immunofluorescence, followed by flow cytometry analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Incubation of VSMCs with T-BSA-FITC obviously increased their relative fluorescence intensity at 10 sec as compared with the untreated controls (P < 0.01), and so did it at 10 min in comparison with the treatment with BSA-FITC alone or together with free testosterone (P < 0.01). Pretreatment with iAR antagonist flutamide exhibited no significant influence on the relative fluorescence intensity of VSMCs (P = 0.318). Traditional iARs were not detectable on the surface of intact VSMCs, although permeabilized cells contained iARs.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>VSMCs contain testosterone receptors in the plasma membrane, and these membrane receptors are not identical to classical iARs.</p>

Effect of depside salt from salvia miltiorrhizae in repairing advanced glycation end products-induced late endothelial progenitor cell dysfunction and its molecular mechanism / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of depside salt from salvia miltiorrhizae (DSSM) in repairing advanced glycation end products (AGE)-induced late endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) dysfunction, and its possible molecular mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Mononuclear cells (MNCs) were separated using density gradient centrifugation from human umbilical cord blood, and cultured with EGM-2-MV culture fluid to late EPCs. Then the EPCs were divided into 5 groups: Group A incubated with 200 microg/mL AGE-modified bovine serum albumin (AGE-albumin) alone (A), Groups B, C and D with equal dosage of AGE-albumin plus DSSM at different dosages (0.1 microg/mL, 1 microg/mL, and 10 microg/mL), Group E with 200 microg/mL of unmodified-AGE. The late EPCs apoptosis was detected by Annexin V+/PI double-stain, angiogenic capacity was detected by ECMatrix-gel, mRNA expressions of the receptor for AGE (RAGE) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) were measured by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and the protein expressions of RAGE, eNOS and protein kinase (Akt) were measured by Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with Group E, in Group A, the Annexin V+/PI- ratio and expression of RAGE in EPCs increased, the angiogenic capacity, mRNA and protein expressions of eNOS, and protein expression of Akt decreased significantly. These abnormal changes in Groups C and D were significantly smaller than those in Group A (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). And all the indices in Group D were adjacent to those in Group E, showing insignificant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>AGE could injure the function of EPCs, revealing increase of cell apoptosis and migration, deprivation of angiogenic capacity in vitro. DSSM could repair the EPCs dysfunction induced by AGE-albumin. Up-regulation of eNOS and Akt in these cells may be involved in the mechanism.</p>

Testosterone at physiological level inhibits PGF2alpha-induced increase in intracellular Ca2+ in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the acute effects of testosterone at the physiological level on PGF2alpha-induced increase in intracellular Ca2+ in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>VSMCs from the thoracic aorta of male Sprague-Dawley rats were cultured using the explant method. The subconfluent VSMCs were incubated with serum-free medium for 24 hours to obtain quiescent non-dividing cells and then treated with the indicated agents. For the measurement of [Ca2+]i, the VSMCs were loaded with fura-2. Changes of [Ca2+]i were determined ratiometrically with a Nikon TE-2000E system.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The resting level of [Ca2+]i was around 100 nmol/L in the VSMCs. Exposing cells to perfusate containing 10 micromol/L PGF2alpha triggered an immediate and transient peak in [Ca2+]i, which gradually decreased afterwards. Interference at the peak with the physiological concentration (40 nmol/L) of testosterone significantly decreased the peak-to-baseline time of [Ca2+]i, compared with ethanol vehicle (104.9 +/- 27.0 s vs 153.5 +/- 40.4 s, P < 0.01). Pretreatment with testosterone at 40 nmol/L for 2 minutes also reduced the peak-to-baseline time of [Ca2+]i significantly in comparison with the ethanol control (120.6 +/- 32.0 s vs 151.4 +/- 27.4 s, P < 0.01), but it had no significant effect on the peak level of PGF2alpha-induced intracellular Ca2+ (390.0 +/- 126.0 nmol/L vs 403.4 +/- 160.7 nmol/L, P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Testosterone at physiological concentration inhibits PGF2alpha-induced Ca2+ fluxes, probably via receptor-operated calcium channels by a non-genomic mechanism in VSMCs, which may be involved in the vasodilatory effect of testosterone.</p>

Testosterone therapy improves cardiac function of male rats with right heart failure / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Clinical studies have shown decreased levels of sexual hormones, particularly testosterone deficiency, in men with chronic heart failure (CHF). The authors aimed to investigate the effect of testosterone on cardiac function and the possible mechanism of androgen protecting the heart in male rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-three male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: right heart failure (RHF, n = 15), physiologic testosterone treatment (TT, n = 15) and control (n = 13). The RHF group was given intraperitoneal injection of monocrotaline at 60 mg/kg to make RHF models; the TT group was injected with testosterone at 5 mg/kg 3 days after monocrotaline administration; and the control group received equal volume of saline. The CD34+ cells in the peripheral blood of each rat were counted by flow cytometry. The levels of serum testosterone and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) were measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. The hearts, lungs and livers of all the surviving rats were excised at 6 weeks for pathological and immunohistochemical examinations.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The level of serum testosterone was gradually decreased, while that of TNF-alpha obviously increased in the RHF group. After testosterone treatment, the TT group showed a remarkable improvement of cardiac performance and a significant decrease in the level of serum TNF-alpha as compared with the RHF group. Statistically significant differences were observed neither in the CD34+ cell count in the peripheral blood nor in the CD34+ expression of the myocardial cells between the TT and RHF groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Physiological supplementation of testosterone can improve the cardiac function of RHF male rats, probably through its inhibition of TNF-alpha rather than by autologous mobilization of bone marrow stem cells.</p>

Coronary artery lesion comparison between Chinese and Australian patients with coronary artery disease / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare coronary lesion characteristics by coronary angiography (CAG) between yellows and whites.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>CAG results of 3021 Chinese patients, defined as yellows, from Nanjing and 3230 Australian patients, defined as whites, from Sydney were analyzed. The coronary artery lesion was evaluated by the number and location of coronary lesion and Gensini scores.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) Coronary stenosis was diagnosed in 69.4% Chinese patients and 75.5% in Australians. The involved coronary arteries were left anterior descending branch, right coronary artery, left circumflex branch and left main coronary artery in a descending order in both Chinese and Australians. (2) The incidences of three-vessel disease and left main disease of yellows were significantly lower than that of whites in both male (29.8% vs. 34.0% and 9.6% vs. 14.2%) and female patients (15.8% vs. 26.2% and 4.9% vs. 11.6%) respectively, all P < 0.05. (3) There was an age-dependent Gensini scores increase in both yellows and whites patients and Gensini scores at age 40 and more of whites were significantly higher than those of yellows in comparable age groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The incidences of three-vessel disease and left main disease as well as Gensini score were significantly higher in Australian patients than those of Chinese patients.</p>

Evaluation of regional myocardial function after coronary stenting pulsed wave Doppler tissue imaging / 医学研究生学报

Objective: To assess the regional systolic and diastolic function of left ventricle before and after coronary stent implantation by pulsed wave Doppler tissue imaging (PW-DTI). Methods: Twenty-six patients with coronary artery disease ( CAD) involving only left anterior descending coronary artery ( LAD) were examined within 1-3 days before, 7 days and 30 days after coronary stenting with PW-DTI. Peak systolic , peak early diastolic, and peak late diastolic motion velocities ( Sm, Em, and Am respectively) were measured at 6 different sites on the basal and medial segments corresponding to the anteroseptal, postero-septal, lateral, anterior, inferior, and posterior walls of the left ventricle. Results:In corresponding segments depending on LAD blood flow supply, Sm was increased significantly 7 days after the stenting proce- dure. Em was also increased 7 days after the procedure in most of the corresponding segments. There were little changes in other segments that were independent on LAD blood flow supply. Conclusion: These findings suggest that there is an early improvement in the regional systolic and diastolic function of the left ventricle after the coronary stenting, and that PW-DTI techniques could evaluate quantitatively the regional ventricular performance in patients receiving percutaneous coronary intervention.

The molecular cytologic research progress of Carvedilol on myocardial and vascular injury / 医学研究生学报

Carvedilol is a non-selective beta-blocker with additional blockade of alpha_(1)-adrenoceptors.It has been applied in the treatment of hypertention、stable angina pectoris、chronic heart failure.In addition,Carvedilol exerts antioxidant and anti-apoptosis effects,it can inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation、migration and neointimal formation following vascular injury.The article makes a review on the molecular cytologic mechanism of Carvedilol in these aspects.

Risk factor and angiograph comparison of myocardial infarction between Chinese and Australians / 医学研究生学报

Objective:To compare the cardiovascular risk factors and the characteristics of coronary lesion between Chinese and Australian patients with myocardial infarction(MI). Methods:Five hundred and seventy-eight Chinese and 399 Australian MI patients received selective coronary angiography after hospitalization.The cardiovascular risk factors and coronary angiograms were compared and analyzed.Results:Five hundred and fifty Chinese cases(95.16%)and 376 Australian cases(94.24%)showed angiographically coronary stenosis.The comparing results of MI cases between Chinese and Australians were as follows:the percentage of patients below 40 years old,2.08% vs 6.02%(P0.05);the percentage of patients with three vessel disease and total occlusion,32.87% vs 24.31% and 45.50% vs 32.33%,respectively(P