ABSTRACT
This study was carried out to investigate the role of intrinsic neuroprotective mechanisms in the occurrence and development of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) with the goal of providing a target for the treatment and prevention of VCI. Inpatients with proven cerebral infarction on cranial computed tomography (CT) were recruited as the ischemic cerebrovascular diseases (ICVD) group, and the patients with mixed stroke were excluded. In ICVD group, 12 patients were diagnosed as having VCI and served as VCI group. Inpatients undergoing surgical operation in our hospital were enrolled as control group. Double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was employed to detect the levels of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with ICVD. Associations between the levels of these factors and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score were evaluated. In ICVD and VCI groups, the levels of HIF-1α and NGF in the cerebrospinal fluid were markedly lower than those in control group (P=0.037 and P=0.000; P=0.023 and P=0.005). In ICVD and VCI groups, the MMSE score was negatively related to VEGF level in the cerebrospinal fluid (r=-0.327, P=0.021; r=-0.585, P=0.046). In VCI group, HIF-1α level was correlated with NGF level (r=0.589, P=0.044). HIF-1α and NGF are involved in ischemic and hypoxic cerebral injury. The HIF signaling pathway plays an important role in intrinsic neuroprotection. Upregulation and maintenance of HIF-1α and NGF expression may attenuate VCI. Changes in VEGF levels are related to the occurrence and development of cognitive impairment.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Biomarkers , Cerebrospinal Fluid , Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor , Cerebrospinal Fluid , Cerebral Infarction , Cerebrospinal Fluid , Diagnosis , Cognition Disorders , Cerebrospinal Fluid , Diagnosis , Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit , Cerebrospinal Fluid , Nerve Growth Factor , Cerebrospinal Fluid , Reproducibility of Results , Sensitivity and Specificity , Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A , Cerebrospinal FluidABSTRACT
This study was carried out to investigate the role of intrinsic neuroprotective mechanisms in the occurrence and development of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) with the goal of providing a target for the treatment and prevention of VCI. Inpatients with proven cerebral infarction on cranial computed tomography (CT) were recruited as the ischemic cerebrovascular diseases (ICVD) group, and the patients with mixed stroke were excluded. In ICVD group, 12 patients were diagnosed as having VCI and served as VCI group. Inpatients undergoing surgical operation in our hospital were enrolled as control group. Double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was employed to detect the levels of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with ICVD. Associations between the levels of these factors and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score were evaluated. In ICVD and VCI groups, the levels of HIF-1α and NGF in the cerebrospinal fluid were markedly lower than those in control group (P=0.037 and P=0.000; P=0.023 and P=0.005). In ICVD and VCI groups, the MMSE score was negatively related to VEGF level in the cerebrospinal fluid (r=-0.327, P=0.021; r=-0.585, P=0.046). In VCI group, HIF-1α level was correlated with NGF level (r=0.589, P=0.044). HIF-1α and NGF are involved in ischemic and hypoxic cerebral injury. The HIF signaling pathway plays an important role in intrinsic neuroprotection. Upregulation and maintenance of HIF-1α and NGF expression may attenuate VCI. Changes in VEGF levels are related to the occurrence and development of cognitive impairment.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The present study was aimed to investigate the usage of aspirin for the secondary prevention of ischemic stroke, evaluate the correlated factors, and analyze the reasons for not taking and irregularly taking aspirin.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The patients in this group were all stroke survivors who have formerly been diagnosed with a cerebral infarction or transient ischemic attack (TIA) in our hospital. We investigated their use of aspirin over a three-year period following their hospitalization. According to the patients' aspirin usage, they were divided into treatment and non-treatment groups. In addition, the reasons for not taking or irregularly taking aspirin were analyzed in the two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 1240 patients were studied, including 367 (29.60%) in the treatment group and 873 (70.40%) cases in the non-treatment group. In addition, 201 (16.20%) cases in the treatment group had been regularly taking aspirin (50 - 325 mg of aspirin daily) for 1 to 3 years or longer. The results demonstrated that the main reasons for not taking aspirin in this study were related to patients' concerns regarding the side effects of taking aspirin (46.45%), as well as the doctors' inadequacy in informing their patients to take aspirin (38.71%). The major reasons for patients to irregularly take aspirin were that the doctors did not notify the length of aspirin usage to their patients (41.57%), and that doctors did not prescribe aspirin upon the patients' follow-up visit (26.51%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The most effective way to increase patient's compliance for aspirin consumption is to promote the guidelines for stroke treatment and to relay these advances in stroke therapy to the patient.</p>
Subject(s)
Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Aspirin , Therapeutic Uses , Patient Compliance , Retrospective Studies , Secondary Prevention , Methods , Stroke , PsychologyABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the expression of cyclin dependent kinases 5(CDK5)in the temporal lobes of the epilepsy patients and to explore the possible roles of CDK5 in the pathogenesis of refractory epilepsy.Methods The brain tissues of intractable epilepsy(IE)were studied by fluorescence quantative polymerase chain reaction(FQ-PCR)for CDK5 mRNA,while immunohistochemistry and Western blot were used to study the protein expression.Nonepileptogenic control brain tissues were used for comparison.Results FQ-PCR analysis showed that the expression of CDK5 mRNA in epilepsy patients was significant higher than those in the control group.And immunohistochemistry showed that the protein mainly existed in the neuron and glial.At the 35000 relative molecular mass,Western blot could been seen that there is a limpid strap.The optical density of CDK5 in IE(temporal lobe 1.4293?0.1839,hippocampus 2.0733?0.4738)was significantly higher than that in the control(temporal lobe 0.9680?0.4147, hippocampus 1.4030?0.6160,P