Effects of CeA lesions on the initiation and expression of sodium appetite in sodium-deficient rats / 中国应用生理学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the effects of central nucleus of amygdala (CeA) lesion on the initiation and expression of sodium appetite in sodium-deficient rats.@*METHODS@#Three groups of SD rats (n=6 in each group) were treated with bilateral CeA lesion, sham lesion or no lesion. After the recovery, the rats were fed with low-sodium diets for 14 days to establish a sodium-deficient rat model. The double-bottle selection in single cage test was used to observe the intake of 0.3 mol/L NaCl and DW in 5 timepoint with 24 hours in sodium-deficient rats. Immunofluorescence staining of aldosterone-sensitive neurons in the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS)was used to investigate the effect of CeA lesion or not on the activity of aldosterone-sensitive neurons in rats with or without sodium deficiency.@*RESULTS@#After fed with low-sodium diet for14 days, the volume and preference rate of 0.3 mol/L NaCl intake of the rats within 24 h were significantly increased compared with those before low-sodium diet (P＜0.01). The intake volume and the preference rate of 0.3 mol/L NaCl in CeA lesion rats were significantly decreased than those in CeA sham lesion rats and normal rats in the sodium-deficient condition (P＜0.01). The CeA lesion had no effects on the activity of aldosterone-sensitive neurons in NTS in rats with low-sodium diet.@*CONCLUSION@#Low-sodium diet induces an increase in the expression of sodium appetite in rats. CeA lesions inhibit the behavioral expression of sodium appetite in sodium-deficient rats but have no effects on the initiation of sodium appetite in rats with sodium-deficient rats.

The electrophysiological response of chorda tympani nerve to taste stimuli in rats with conditioned taste aversion to saltiness / 中国应用生理学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the characteristic changes of the peripheral chorda tympanic nerve (CT) electrophysiological responses to salty stimulus and other taste stimuli in rats with the conditioned taste aversion to saltiness.@*METHODS@#Fourteen adult SD male rats were divided into a conditioned taste aversion to salty group (CTA) and a control group (Ctrl) (n=7/group). On the first day of the experiment, rats were given a 0.1 mol/L NaCl intake for 30 min, then, the rats in CTA and Ctrl groups were injected intraperitoneally with 2 ml of 0.15 mol/L LiCl and the same amount of saline respectively. On day 2, 3 and 4, the 30 min consumption of NaCl and distilled water was measured for both groups of rats. On the 4th day after the behavioral test of that day, CT electrophysiological recording experiments were performed on CTA rats and control rats.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the rats in Ctrl group, the electrophysiological characteristics of CT in CTA group rats did not change significantly the responses to the series of NaCl and other four basic taste stimuli (P＞0.05). The amiloride, the epithelial sodium channel blocker, strongly inhibited the response of CT to NaCl in CTA and Ctrl group rats (P＜0.01).@*CONCLUSION@#The electrophysiological responses of CT to various gustatory stimuli do not significantly change in rats after the establishment of conditional taste aversion to the saltiness.

Rapamycin-eluting stents for unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis in coronary atherosclerosis in the older adults: study protocol for a prospective, non-randomized, controlled trial and preliminary results / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is the gold standard therapy for unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) stenosis in coronary atherosclerosis. However, the treatment of ULMCA stenosis using drug-eluting stents has recently been reported to lead to a relatively low incidence of cardiovascular events.Thus,drug-eluting stents are a potential surrogate for CABG,and could become the new gold standard treatment for ULMCA stenosis; however, this issue remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: To explore the safety and efficacy of CABG versus rapamycin-eluting stents for ULMCA stenosis in older adult patients with degenerative coronary atherosclerosis. METHODS: The proposed prospective, non-randomized, controlled trial will include 224 older adult patients with degenerative coronary atherosclerosis with ULMCA stenosis being treated at the Department of Cardiology at Taihe Hospital and Renmin Hospital of Shiyan, China. Patients will be divided into two groups in accordance with each patient’s treatment choice and indications (n=112/group): the stent group will receive rapamycin-eluting stents, while the CABG group will undergo CABG.All patients will be followed up at 9, 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively. The primary outcome measure will be the rate of repeat revascularizations in the target lesion at 36 months postoperatively.The secondary outcome measures will be the rates of repeat revascularizations in the target lesion at 9, 12, and 24 months postoperatively, the rate of restenosis, mortality, causes of death, and survival at 9, 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively, and the angiographic appearance of the diseased vessels preoperatively and at 9, 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively. The safety indicator will be the incidence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events at 9, 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively. Eighty-six older adult patients with degenerative coronary atherosclerosis who underwent treatment of ULMCA stenosis between January 2016 and December 2017 were included in a pilot study. Pilot study results showed that the stent group (n=48) had a significantly reduced waiting time for surgery, hospitalization time, and rate of complete revascularizations in the target lesion compared with the CABG group (n=38) (P ＜ 0.05). At 6 months postoperatively, there were no significant differences between the two groups in mortality, and incidences of myocardial infarction, repeat revascularizations in the target lesion, and cardiovascular events. The trial was approved by the Ethics Committee of Taihe Hospital (approval No. TH005X) in July 2017 and by the Ethics Committee of Renmin Hospital of Shiyan (approval No. RM011X) in July 2017. All the patients will provide written informed consent with the premise of fully understanding the treatment plan. The study protocol will follow the relevant laws and regulations of the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant hospital’s ethical principles. Design of the trial was completed in January 2018. Recruitment will be initiated in August 2018 and it is expected to be completed in August 2019. Data analysis will be conducted in October 2022 and the trial will be completed in December 2022. The results of the study will be disseminated through presentations at scientific meetings and/or in peer-reviewed publications. The trial has been registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration No. ChiCTR1800016413) and the version number is 1.0 DISCUSSION: The results of this study will indicate the medium-and long-term efficacy and safety of rapamycin-eluting stents versus CABG in older adult patients with ULMCA stenosis, and then identify which of these two treatments has better prognosis, thereby screening out the optimal strategy for treating ULMCA.