Hydromorphone hydrochloride preconditioning combined with postconditioning attenuates myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats by improving mitochondrial function and activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Thrombolytic therapy or percutaneous coronary intervention for myocardial infarction often cause myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MIRI) and poor prognosis of patients. This study aimed to explore the protective effect and potential mechanism of hydromorphone hydrochloride (HH) on MIRI. Fifty Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly divided into Sham group, I/R group, HH-pre group, HH-post group, and HH-pre + post group. Except Sham group, MIRI models were established by ligating and relaxing the left anterior descending coronary artery, followed by tail vein injection of HH (0.3 µmol/L) 10 min before ligation (HH-pre group), 10 min after reperfusion (HH-post group), and twice at the above two time points (HH-pre + post group). After intervention, the cardiac function of rats was evaluated by echocardiography, and the levels of myocardial injury markers, oxidative stress indicators, and mitochondrial function indicators were detected. Next, the myocardial infarction area was evaluated by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining, mitochondrial biogenesis, and phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway by western blot. Compared with the I/R group, HH intervention improved cardiac function, decreased myocardial infarction area, reduced serum myocardial injury markers, alleviated oxidative stress, improved mitochondrial function, up-regulated mitochondrial biogenesis, and activated PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Moreover, the HH-pre + post group was superior to the HH-pre and HH-post groups in the above aspects. Collectively, HH had protective effect on MIRI rats, and HH preconditioning combined with postconditioning showed optimal efficacy. Such efficacy may be achieved by promoting mitochondrial biogenesis to improve mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stress, and activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Blocking of Caveolin-1 Attenuates Morphine-Induced Inflammation, Hyperalgesia, and Analgesic Tolerance via Inhibiting NLRP3 Inflammasome and ERK/c-JUN Pathway.

Morphine is generally used to treat chronic pain in clinic. But long-term use of morphine can inevitably induce analgesic tolerance and hyperalgesia. Caveolin-1 is reported to affect morphine-mediated signaling transduction. However, the action mechanism of morphine-induced analgesic tolerance is still unknown. In this study, morphine-induced analgesic tolerance model was established in Sprague-Dawley rats. The effects of Caveolin-1 blocking on neuroinflammation and ERK/c-JUN pathway were then explored. Morphine can remarkably elevate the expression level of Caveolin-1. Based on paw withdrawal latency behavior test, we found that Caveolin-1 blocking can effectively attenuate morphine-induced analgesic tolerance and neuroinflammation. Activation of ERK/c-JUN significantly reversed the above influences caused by Caveolin-1 blocking. Taken together, blocking of Caveolin-1 can attenuate morphine-induced inflammation and analgesic tolerance through inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome and ERK/c-JUN pathway.

Protective Effect of Sufentanil on Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Rats by Inhibiting Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.

Objective: Sufentanil is the most common drug in clinical practice for the treatment of ischemic heart disease. This study is to investigate the protective mechanism of sufentanil on rat myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Methods: A rat I/R model was established by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery. A total of 24 SD male rats were enrolled and divided randomly into the control group, I/R group, sufentanil group (SUF; 3 µg/kg), and diltiazem group (DLZ; 20 mg/kg; positive control). The rat hearts were subjected to 30 min of ischemia followed by 120 min of reperfusion. Subsequently, hemodynamics, pathological changes of myocardial tissue, serum biochemical parameters, oxidative stress factors, the level of serum inducible nitric oxide synthases (iNOS), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and other bioactive factors were analyzed in the rats. Result: Compared with the I/R group, sufentanil significantly improved cardiac action, myocardial fiber, and cardiomyocyte morphology and reduced inflammatory cell infiltration in rats in the SUF group. And the level of creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), troponin (cTn), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malondialdehyde (MDA), iNOS, and IL-6 was significantly declined in the serum of SUF group, while the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were significantly activated in the myocardial tissues. In addition, sufentanil also significantly decreased the protein expression of GRP78, CHOP, Caspase 12, and ATF6 in the myocardial tissue of the SUF group. Conclusion: Sufentanil has a significant protective activity on myocardial I/R injury in rats, the mechanism of which may be associated with the inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum stress and oxidative stress.

Palmatine plays a role in sedation and hypnosis by increasing 5-hydroxytryptamine.

Objective of this study was to investigate the sedative and hypnotic effects of palmatine and to observe whether its mechanism is related to 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and GABA. The sedative and hypnotic effects of palmatine on mice were observed with mouse autonomic activity test, direct sleep test, pentobarbital sodium in suprathreshold and subthreshold dose sleep test. The content of GABA and 5-HT in brain homogenate was determined by ELISA  method. Mouse brain specimens were observed by immunohistochemistry for 5-HT expression in the nucleus of mouse brain. Palmatine could reduce spontaneous activities of mice, prolong the sleep time of mice induced by pentobarbital sodium in suprathreshold dose and shorten the sleep latency.  And it could increase the number of mice falling asleep induced by pentobarbital sodium in subthreshold dose and the incidence of falling asleep, but with no direct sleep effect. In addition, it enhanced the 5-HT content in brain, but had no effect on GABA content, and had no toxicity to PC12 cells. Palmatine plays a significant role in sedation and hypnosis, which may be associated with the increase of intra-cerebral 5-HT.