ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND@#Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) has become one of the most important opportunistic pathogens inducing nosocomial pneumonia and increasing mortality in critically ill patients recently. The interaction between A. baumannii infection and immune response can influence the prognosis of A. baumannii related pneumonia. The target of the present study was to investigate the role of immunodeficiency in A. baumannii induced pneumonia.@*METHODS@#Male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into the normal immunity control (NIC) group, normal immunity infection (NIA) group, immune compromised control (CIC) group, and immune compromised infection (CIA) group (n = 15 for each group). Intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide and intranasal instillation of A. baumannii solution were used to induce compromised immunity and murine pneumonia, respectively. The mice were sacrificed at 6 and 24 h later and the specimens were collected for further tests. Seven-day mortality of mice was also assessed.@*RESULTS@#After A. baumannii stimulation, the recruitment of neutrophils in mice with normal immunity increased sharply (P = 0.030 at 6 h), while there was no significant raise of neutrophil counts in mice with compromised immune condition (P = 0.092 at 6 h, P = 0.772 at 24 h). The Th cell polarization presented with pulmonary interleukin (IL)-4 and interferon (IFN)-γ level in response to the A. baumannii in CIA group were significantly depressed in comparison with in NIA group (IFN-γ: P = 0.003 at 6 h; P = 0.001 at 24 h; IL-4: P < 0.001 at 6 h; P < 0.001 at 24 h). The pulmonary conventional dendritic cell accumulation was even found to be inhibited after A. baumannii infection in immunocompromised mice (P = 0.033). Correspondingly, A. baumannii associated pneumonia in mice with compromised immunity caused more early stage death, more severe histopathological impairment in lung.@*CONCLUSION@#A. baumannii could frustrate the immune response in immunocompromised conditions, and this reduced immune response is related to more severe lung injury and worse outcome in A. baumannii induced pneumonia.
ABSTRACT
Harpagoside (HAR) is believed to be a main compound in Scrophularia ningpoensis which possess a broad of biological activities.Human serum albumin (HSA) has important physiological roles in transportation, distribution and metabolism of many endogenous and exogenous substances in body.It is great significance in pharmacology to investigate the interaction mechanism of HAR and HSA.In this work, the interaction between HAR and HSA was investigated by fluorescence and ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy at different pH (pH=4.0, 7.4, and 9.0) and temperatures (297, 310 and 323 K).The experimental results showed that the HAR could cause the fluorescence quenching of HSA through a static quenching procedure, showing that the HAR regularly quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of HSA, and a decrease in the quenching constant was observed with an increase in temperature.Under different conditions, all the magnitude of binding constants (KA) was larger than 105 L/mol and the number of binding sites (n) in the binary system were approximate to 1.Base on the magnitude of enthalpy and entropy changes, the negative values of ΔG, ΔH and ΔS revealed that the binding of HAR with HSA was spontaneous and exothermic process, and the main interaction forces of the HAR with HAR were van der Waals forces and/or hydrogen bonding interaction.The binding distance (r) between the HAR and HSA was calculated to be about 4.2 nm based on the theory of F(o)rster′s nonradiation energy transfer, which indicated that the energy transfer from HSA to HAR occurred with high possibility.What was more, the synchronous florescence spectroscopy confirmed the conformational changes of HSA during the binding reaction.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Early goal-directed therapy (EGDT) has become an important therapeutic management in early salvage stage of septic shock. However, splenic organs possibly remained hypoperfused and hypoxic despite fluid resuscitation. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of EGDT on hepatic perfusion in septic shock patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A prospective observational study was carried out in early septic shock patients who were admitted to Intensive Care Unit within 24 h after onset and who met all four elements of the EGDT criteria after treatment with the standard EGDT procedure within 6 h between December 1, 2012 and November 30, 2013. The hemodynamic data were recorded, and oxygen metabolism and hepatic functions were monitored. An indocyanine green clearance test was applied to detect the hepatic perfusion. The patients' characteristics were compared before treatment (T0), immediately after EGDT (T1), and 24 h after EGDT (T2). This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.org, NCT02060773.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Twenty-one patients were included in the study; however, the hepatic perfusion data were not included in the analysis for two patients; therefore, 19 patients were eligible for the study. Hemodynamics data, as monitored by pulse-indicator continuous cardiac output, were obtained from 16 patients. There were no significant differences in indocyanine green plasma disappearance rate (ICG-PDR) and 15-min retention rate (R15) at T0 (11.9 ± 5.0%/min and 20.0 ± 13.2%), T1 (11.4 ± 5.1%/min and 23.6 ± 14.9%), and T2 (11.0 ± 4.5%/min and 23.7 ± 15.3%) (all P > 0.05). Both of the alterations of ICG-PDR and R15 showed no differences at T0, T1, and T2 in the patients of different subgroups that achieved different resuscitation goal numbers when elected (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There were no hepatic perfusion improvements after EGDT in the early phase of patients with septic shock.</p><p><b>TRIAL REGISTRATION</b>Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02060773 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02060773).</p>
Subject(s)
Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Cardiac Output , Physiology , Disease Management , Fluid Therapy , Hemodynamics , Physiology , Intensive Care Units , Prospective Studies , Shock, Septic , TherapeuticsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Recent clinical observation reported that there was a significant correlation between change in circulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels and the occurrence of severe acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), but the action mechanisms of VEGF in GVHD have not been demonstrated. METHODS: This study investigated whether or not blockade of VEGF has an effect on acute GVHD in a lethally irradiated murine allo-HSCT model of B6 (H-2b)-->B6D2F1 (H-2b/d). Syngeneic or allogeneic recipient mice were injected subcutaneously with anti-VEGF peptides, dRK6 (50 microg/dose) or control diluent every other day for 2 weeks (total 7 doses). RESULTS: Administration of the dRK6 peptide after allo-HSCT significantly reduced survival with greaterclinical GVHD scores and body weight loss. Allogeneic recipients injected with the dRK6 peptide exhibited significantly increased circulating levels of VEGF and expansion of donor CD3+ T cells on day +7 compared to control treated animals. The donor CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell subsets have differential expansion caused by the dRK6 injection. The circulating VEGF levels were reduced on day +14 regardless of blockade of VEGF. CONCLUSION: Together these findings demonstrate that the allo-reactive responses after allo-HSCT are exaggerated by the blockade of VEGF. VEGF seems to be consumed during the progression of acute GVHD in this murine allo-HSCT model.