Cellular Injury of Cardiomyocytes during Hepatocyte Growth Factor Gene Transfection with Ultrasound-Triggered Bubble Liposome Destruction.

We transfected naked HGF plasmid DNA into cultured cardiomyocytes using a sonoporation method consisting of ultrasound-triggered bubble liposome destruction. We examined the effects on transfection efficiency of three concentrations of bubble liposome (1 × 10(6), 1 × 10(7), 1 × 10(8)/mL), three concentrations of HGF DNA (60, 120, 180 µg/mL), two insonification times (30, 60 sec), and three incubation times (15, 60, 120 min). We found that low concentrations of bubble liposome and low concentrations of DNA provided the largest amount of the HGF protein expression by the sonoporated cardiomyocytes. Variation of insonification and incubation times did not affect the amount of product. Following insonification, cardiomyocytes showed cellular injury, as determined by a dye exclusion test. The extent of injury was most severe with the highest concentration of bubble liposome. In conclusion, there are some trade-offs between gene transfection efficiency and cellular injury using ultrasound-triggered bubble liposome destruction as a method for gene transfection.

Differential gene expression in the rat skeletal and heart muscle in glucocorticoid-induced myopathy: analysis by microarray.

Administration of glucocorticoids results in hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, and general myopathy. The present study analyzed the acute effect of dexamethasone (0.5 mg/100 g for 3 days) or dexamethasone plus insulin-like growth factor-1 (0.35 mg/100 g for 3 days) on differential gene expression in the gastrocnemius muscle and the left ventricular myocardium of rats. Dexamethasone induced atrophy of gastrocnemius muscle. Cathepsin L, and not ubiquitin, was the earliest mediator of skeletal muscle proteolysis induced by dexamethasone. Insulin-like growth factor-1 reversed gastrocnemius muscle mass, and deleted a part of downregulated genes by dexamethasone. On the other hand, dexamethasone administration did not result in cardiac hypertrophy or hypertension. Only prostaglandin D synthase gene was upregulated by dexamethasone in myocardium, and genes related to extracellular matrix and proteinase inhibitor were downregulated. Molecular alteration for hypertrophy might have initiated. Dexamethasone-induced proteolysis and reversal with insulin-like growth factor-1 occurred rapidly in skeletal muscle; but was relatively delayed in the myocardium.

Failure to prevent progressive dilation of ascending aorta by aortic valve replacement in patients with bicuspid aortic valve: comparison with tricuspid aortic valve.

BACKGROUND: Patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) have been frequently complicated with ascending aortic dilation possibly because of hemodynamic burdens by aortic stenosis (AS) or regurgitation (AR) or congenital fragility of the aortic wall. METHODS AND RESULTS: To clarify if the aortic dilation could be prevented by aortic valve replacement (AVR) in BAV patients, we studied 13 BAV (8 AR dominant, 5 AS dominant) and 14 tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) patients (7 AR, 7 AS) by echocardiography before and after AVR (9.7+/-4.8 years). We also studied 18 BAV (11 AR, 7 AS) without AVR. Diameters of the sinuses of Valsalva, sinotubular junction and the proximal aorta were measured. The annual dilation rate was calculated by dividing changes of diameters during the follow-up period by the body surface area and the observation interval. We found that aortic dilation in BAV patients tended to be faster than that in TAV patients, although a significant difference was found only at the proximal aorta (0.18+/-0.08 versus -0.08+/-0.08 mm/(m2/year), P=0.03). BAV patients with and without AVR showed similar progressive dilation. AR dominant group showed tendency of more progressive dilation than AS dominant group in BAV, although it did not reach statistical significance. TAV patients did not show further aortic dilation after AVR. CONCLUSIONS: AVR could not prevent progressive aortic dilation in BAV. Since the aorta did not dilate in TAV, progressive aortic dilation in BAV seems mainly due to the fragility of the aortic wall rather than hemodynamic factors.

Bicuspid aortic valve stenosis complicated by descending aortic dissection mimicking coarctation of the aorta.

We report a rare case of bicuspid aortic stenosis complicated by an ascending aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection of DeBakey type IIIb. A 35-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital to examine her systolic murmur identified at birth. Severe aortic stenosis, dilatation of the ascending aorta, and the narrow color flow signal in the descending aorta were detected by transthoracic echocardiography. Initially, coarctation of the descending aorta was suspected, but aortic dissection, DeBakey type IIIb, was revealed by transesophageal echocardiography. Transesophageal echocardiography is indicated when only insufficient information is available on valve and aortic morphology in patients with bicuspid aortic valve.