TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR AND ARTERIAL STIFFNESS IN PATIENTS WITH UNCONTROLLED ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION.

The aim of our study was to identify the relationship between TGF-ß1, arterial stiffness, and target organ damage in patients with uncontrolled arterial hypertension (UAH). The study included 140 patients with hypertension: 30 people with uncontrolled hypertension (UAH), 80 people with controlled hypertension (CAH) and 30 people in the control group. All patients underwent determination of arterial stiffness using cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) and TGF-ß1 level. The TGF-ß1 level was 19,2 [17,2; 24,7] ng/ml in the CAH group. In the UAH group - 22,6 [20,6; 25,6] ng/ml. In the control group - 17.4 [11,8; 19,3] ng/ml. The maximum and minimum values of the CAVI indices were observed in the group UAH 9,2 [8,5; 9,9] and control group 7 [6,5; 7,5], respectively (p<0,05), in the CAH group there was an intermediate value of the CAVI index 7.8 [7,0; 8,5] (p<0,05). The correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship between the TGF-ß1 level and CAVI for patients with hypertension (CAG r=0,777; NAG r=0,753; p<0.05). There was a significant difference in the TGF-ß1 levels depending on the stage of hypertension in patients CAH (p <0,05). According to the results of the one-way regression analysis, it was revealed that in hypertensive patients with a TGF-ß1 value, the most significant interactions are between myocardial mass (MM) (p<0,05), CAVI (p<0,05) and creatinine (p<0,05). An increase in the concentration of TGF-ß1 and an increase of arterial stiffness were revealed in patients of the UAH group in comparison with the other groups. The relationship between TGF-ß1 and arterial stiffness was also found.

THE ROLE OF BURSTS IN SENSORY DISCRIMINATION AND RETENTION OF FAVORED INPUTS IN THE CULTURED NEURAL NETWORKS.

The capacity of neural tissue to discriminiate the sensory signals determines how we recognise the world diversity. Dissociated cortical culture (DCC) homed in a multielectrode array allows mimicking neural networks of the brain and using it for investigation of neural computation processes. This in vivo-like in vitro system allows tracking and assessing structural and functional refinement, as well as the ability for information acquisition, processing, and coding in neural networks. We had an increased interest to the burst phenomenon as it represents one of the strongest tools for information coding. We were interested in whether the neural circuitry of DCC was capable of sensory discrimination and memorization of the preferred electric stimuli and to determine the role of bursts in these processes.Matured DCC from the 30th to 50th day of in vitro cultivation were used for the study. In order to simulate a variety of sensory inputs, 300 mV of single, paired-pulse (20 ms interstimulus interval), 1, 5, 10, 20 and 100 Hz stimuli for 1 sec were repeated at random time interval (>10 secs) from effective pairs of electrodes; Activity was registered from all active channels.The data revealed that during the variety of electric stimulations neurons increased activity in response to one of the stimulus types while responding less effectively to others. Single, 5Hz, and notably PP stimuli were the favored paradigms. The training phase frequently showed a progressive increase in activity level, with short burst prevalence. However, repetition of the preferred stimuli enhanced the occurrence of both tonic and burst evoked responses with prolonged duration throughout the testing phase.Data shows that neural circuits of DCC have high selectivity to physical properties and spatial position of the sensory inputs and produces early and late responses that include burst elements that may serve as the robust mechanism for reinforcement of the coding information needed for sensory discrimination and learning.

VASCULAR AGE AND CARDIO-ANKLE VASCULAR INDEX IN PATIENTS WITH UNCONTROLLED ARTERIAL HYPERTENSON.

Age is used in various algorithms to estimate cardiovascular risk. It is known that at the same age the health status of different patients can differ dramatically. The term vascular age (VA) was introduced in order to assess the severity of pathological process in the arterial wall. Arterial stiffness is most commonly used to estimate VA. The aim of our study was to investigate the arterial stiffness, VA in patients with uncontrolled and controlled course of arterial hypertension (AH), as well as to study the relationship between age, VA and markers of hypertension - mediated organ damage (HMOD). We put in our study 140 patients, including 80 patients with controlled course of hypertension (CH), 30 patients with uncontrolled course of hypertension (UH). 30 patients made up the control group. All groups were similar regarding age, sex, duration of hypertension and some biochemical characteristics. For all patients in our study the arterial stiffness, by means of cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), and VA were investigated, as well as the relationship between age, VA and markers of hypertension - mediated organ damage (HMOD) was studied. The average CAVI value in the CH group was 7,8±1,19, in the UH = 9,2+1,14, in the control group 7±0,64. The difference in CAVI values among all groups was significant (p<0,05). A positive correlation between CAVI and IMT, age and a negative correlation between CAVI and GFR was found in all three groups (p<0.05). A correlation was also found between CAVI and average daytime PBP (CH r=0.311; UH r=0, 484; p<0.05) and average night-time PBP (CH r=0.374, UN r=0.306, p<0.05) and with average night-time SBP in the group UH (r=0.349; p<0.05). VA (CH= 59[49;69], UH=71,5 [64;74], control group =54[44; 59] (p<0,05)) was significantly higher than the age of patients in the patients with AH, while in the control group no significant difference between ages was found. Significant positive correlation was found between VA and such markers of HMOD as IMT, ESV, GFR, LVPW thickness, IVS thickness. When VA was used instead of age, it was found that third of patients in CH and UH groups moved to the group of higher risk of cardiovascular (CV) events. The absence of antihypertensive therapy and target blood pressure values in patients lead to the progression of arterial stiffness and acceleration of VA in comparison to patients committed to the therapy. Use of VA in assessing the risk of CV events allows us to identify up to 30% of patients with an underestimated risk level.

Double-step procedure screening for modeling reactive (exogenous) depression in rats.

Depressive disorders, which show ever increasing prevalence, urgently require relevant medications. In its turn search for the antidepressant drugs requires valid animal models of depression for a drug screening. The goal of the present study was construction of affordable and simple model of reactive depression in rats, which model could be implemented in the antidepressants screening. To this end the two experimental paradigms have been modified and combined in groups of rats, which had no signs of depressive behavior. In the first experiment animals were subjected to the so-called immobilization stress. In the next step the animals, in which immobilization stress has been elicited, were introduced into the modified Forced Swim Test (FST) apparatus with an exercise wheel. Testing procedure in the FST apparatus lasted 10 min, and it was determined that 120 revs/10 min was minimal activity index for non-depressive animals, while lesser number of revolutions pointed at existence of acquired depressive status. Immobilization-induced depressive behavior was stable enough and remained two weeks following the stress. Therefore, our double-step procedure constitutes versatile, reliable, affordable, and humane screening means for modeling reactive (exogenous) depression in rats.