ABSTRACT
Objective · To investigate the difference in myocardial strain of left ventricle between obstructive hypertrophy cardiomyopathy (HCM) and nonobstructive HCM. Methods · Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam was performed on 48 sequential enrolled patients with HCM (18 with obstructive HCM, and 30 with nonobstructive HCM), whose left ventricular ejection fractions (LVEF) were over 50%. Twenty-five healthy volunteers were examined as normal controls. Global longitudinal strain (GLS), global radial strain (GRS), global circumferentialstrain (GCS), LVEF, left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV), left ventricularmass (LVM), left ventricular end diastolic volume index (LVEDVI), and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) were collected and compared. Radial strain, circumferential strain and peak radial displacement were also measured in medial segment of left ventricle according to American Heart Association (AHA) 17-segment model. Results · ① LVEF of the patients with obstructive HCM was bigger than those of nonobstructive HCM patients and control group (P<0.05). LVM and LVMI of the HCM groups were bigger than those of control group (P<0.01). ② Left ventricle GLS, GRS, and GCS significantly decreased in the patients with nonobstructive HCM compared to those with obstructive HCM (P<0.05). The three parameters of two HCM groups were significantly lower than those of healthy volunteers (P<0.05). ③ Compared with obstructive HCM patients,the segmental parameters of left ventricule, the medial segment circumferential strain and radial strain of nonobstructive HCM patients significantly decreased (P<0.05), and the two parameters of both HCM groups were lower than those in healthy volunteers. Compared with obstructive HCM patients and healthy volunteers, peak radial displacement of left ventricule medial segment in nonobstructive HCM witnessed a significant decrease, while no significant difference was observed between obstructive HCM patients and healthy volunteers. Conclusion · In the LVEF preserved HCM patients, the myocardial strain of left ventricle in nonobstructive HCM patients decrease significantly than that in obstructive HCM patients, which may result in the different clinical outcomes intwo types of HCM patients. It is suggested that the myocardial strain is more sensitive than ejection fraction in the evaluation of myocardial performance of HCM patients.
ABSTRACT
Quercetin is widely known as potent natural antioxidant and scavenger of reactive oxygen species [ROS] and nitric oxide both in vitro and in vivo. Quercetin has a wide range of biological functions and health-promoting effects. There are more and more interests in the addition of this flavonol to various traditional food products. However, the in vitro toxicity of quercetin to mature human sperm remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the in vitro effects of quercetin on human sperm functions. The results showed that the total sperm motility were significantly inhibited compared to the controls following exposure to 100, 200 and 400micro M quercetin for 6 and 12h; quercetin did not affect human sperm viability. The acrosome reaction and capacitation induced by progesterone were dose-dependently inhibited by quercetin. Furthermore, quercetin induced a significantly decrease of human sperm [Ca2[+]]i after 2 min above 50 micro M, and dose-dependently decreased the protein-tyrosine phosphorylation of human sperm. Our results indicated that quercetin may decrease sperm [Ca2[+]]i, suppresse tyrosine phosphorylation, and subsequently inhibit sperm functions