Carotid inflammation is unaltered by exercise in hypercholesterolemic Swine.

INTRODUCTION: Reduction of vascular inflammation might contribute to the beneficial effects of exercise. We hypothesized that 1) exercise would reduce carotid endothelial vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and that 2) in vivo detection of carotid inflammation can be achieved in a large animal model using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEU) with VCAM-1-targeted microbubbles (MBs). METHODS: Familial hypercholesterolemic (FH) swine were divided into sedentary (Sed) and exercise-trained (Ex) groups. Ex pigs underwent 16-20 wk of treadmill aerobic exercise. At the end of the study, in vivo CEU with VCAM-1-targeted MBs and assessment of endothelial-dependent dilation (EDD) were performed in carotid arteries. VCAM-1 mRNA and protein expression were compared with markers of atherosclerotic disease and health, and in vitro EDD was assessed in carotid arteries. RESULTS: Exercise training neither reduced inflammation nor improved EDD in carotid arteries of FH swine. Markers of atherosclerosis including VCAM-1 were prominent in the bifurcation compared with the proximal or distal common carotid artery and inversely associated with phosphorylated and total endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Signal intensity from VCAM-1-to-control MBs positively correlated with carotid VCAM-1 protein expression, validating our technique. CONCLUSION: These results first demonstrate that aerobic exercise has no effect on carotid endothelial inflammatory markers and EDD in FH swine. Second, our findings indicate that CEU using VCAM-1-targeted MBs can detect inflammation in vivo, providing strong foundations for longitudinal studies examining the effect of therapeutic interventions on the inflammatory status of the endothelium.

Thrombendarteriitis pulmonalis carcinomatosa Ceelen: an immunohistological investigation.

A 65-year-old woman died in sudden right heart failure caused by thrombendarteriitis pulmonalis carcinomatosa Ceelen 16 months after resection of a rectal carcinoma. Autopsy disclosed a complex picture of multiple tumour cell emboli in small pulmonary arteries associated with local thrombosis and thrombus-associated vessel wall reaction. This was characterized by movement of medial muscle cells into the thrombus. In addition, affected vessels showed a prominent perivascular tumour-related infiltration by lymphocytes which are identified immunohistochemically as CD3-reactive T-cells.

Focal endothelial cell degeneration and proliferative endarteritis in trauma-induced early lesions of necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum.

Microangiopathy is an essential component in diabetic vascular pathology. We report ultrastructural observations of ballooning degeneration involving isolated endothelial cells of cutaneous capillaries, while leaving adjacent endothelial cells relatively intact in six diabetic patients with early lesions of necrobiosis lipoidica induced by trauma. Focal proliferation of endothelial cells encroaching upon the vascular lumina (obliterative endarteritis) was also observed. Lectin studies on biopsy specimens of older lesions of necrobiosis lipoidica revealed paucity of dermal blood vessels. These observations enable us to gain further insight into the pathophysiological mechanisms that underlie diabetic microvascular disease.

[Effect of prolonged nicotinic acid load on the tolbutamide test]. / L'azione del carico prolungato di acido nicotinico sul test alla tolbutamide.

The action of prolonged, high doses of nicotinic acid on carbohydrate metabolism has been studied. Results were discordant and did not throw light on the problem, and nor does the literature.

[Changes in gas metabolism and tissue oxygen balance during the hyperbaric oxygenation of patients with chronic thrombotic obliterating diseases of the extremities]. / Izmeneniia gazoobmena i kislorodnogo balansa tkanei pri giperbaricheskoi oksigenatsii u bol'nykh s khronicheskimi tromboobliteriruiushchimi zabolevaniiami konechnostei.

The study of some indices of external respiration through spirography, studies of acid-base status and oxygenation parameters of arterialized capillary blood, evaluation of tissue oxygen tension by means of polarography in 44 cases of chronic thromboobliterating disease of the extremities before and after therapy with 1.7--2.0 ata at 40 to 60 minutes exposure in single oxygen barochambers were carried out with the aim of investigation of alterations of gas exchange and tissue oxygen balance. It was found that in hyperbaric oxygenation the normalization of metabolic processes in an ischemic tissue takes place together with the elimination of oxygen deficit and deviations in acid-base status.