The effect of cardiac contraction on collateral resistance in the canine heart.
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We determined whether the coronary collateral vessels develop an increased resistance to blood flow during systole as does the cognate vascular bed. Collateral resistance was estimated by measuring retrograde flow rate from a distal branch of the left anterior descending coronary artery while the main left coronary artery was perfused at a constant pressure. Retrograde flow rate was measured before and during vagal arrest. We found that in 10 dogs the prolonged diastole experienced when the heart was stopped caused no significant change in the retrograde flow rate, which indicated that systole has little effect on the collateral resistance. However, when left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was altered by changing afterload or contractility, a direct relationship between end-diastolic pressure and collateral resistance was noted. (+info)
Observations on some additional abnormalities in situs inversus viscerum.
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The abnormal findings in a case of Situs inversus totalis are described. The duodenum was placed abnormally and retained its primitive mesentery. The proximal 22 in of jejunum were retroperitoneal. The attachment of the root of the mesentery to the posterior abdominal wall had a 7-shaped appearance, and there was a partial failure of the primitive mesocolon to adhere to the posterior abdominal wall. The common hepatic artery arose from the superior meseneric artery, which also provided a branch to the proximal jejunal loop. The right vagus nerve was found anterior to the oesophagus at the oesophageal hiatus in the diaphragm, and the left vagus was posterior. A double ureter was present on the right side. The findings are discussed in relation to mid-gut development. (+info)
Pharmacodynamic actions of (S)-2-[4,5-dihydro-5-propyl-2-(3H)-furylidene]-1,3-cyclopentanedione (oudenone).
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The pharmacodynamic actions of (S)-2-[4,5-dihydro-5-propyl-2(3H)-furylidene]-1,3-cyclopentanedione (oudenone) were studied in both anesthetized animals and isolated organs. Oudenone (10--40 mg/kg i.v.) induced an initial rise in blood pressure followed by a prolonged hypotension in the anesthetized rats. In unanesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), oudenone (5--200 mg/kg p.o.) caused a dose-related decrease in the systolic blood pressure. The initial pressor effect was diminished by pretreatments with phentolamine, guanethidine, hexamethonium and was abolished in the pithed rats. In addition, intracisternal administrations of oudenone (100--600 mug/kg) showed a marked increase in blood pressure in the anesthetized rats, suggesting that the pressor effect may be due to centrally mediated actions. Oudenone, given intra-arterially into the femoral artery (400--800 mug/kg), caused a long-lasting vasodilation in anesthetized dogs. At a relatively high dose (40 mg/kg i.v.), oudenone antagonized all pressor responses to autonomic agents and central vagus nerve stimulation in anesthetized rats and dogs, however, oudenone showed no anti-cholinergic,-histaminergic, beta-adrenergic and adrenergic neuron blocking properties. (+info)
Adventitial delivery minimizes the proinflammatory effects of adenoviral vectors.
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PURPOSE: Adenovirus-mediated arterial gene transfer is a promising tool in the study of vascular biology and the development of vascular gene therapy. However, intraluminal delivery of adenoviral vectors causes vascular inflammation and neointimal formation. Whether these complications could be avoided and gene transfer efficiency maintained by means of delivering adenoviral vectors via the adventitia was studied. METHODS: Replication-defective adenoviral vectors encoding a beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) gene (AdRSVnLacZ) or without a recombinant gene (AdNull) were infused into the lumen or the adventitia of rabbit carotid arteries. Two days after infusion of either AdRSVnLacZ (n = 8 adventitial, n = 8 luminal) or AdNull (n = 4 luminal), recombinant gene expression was quantitated by histochemistry (performed on tissue sections) and with a beta-gal activity assay (performed on vessel extracts). Inflammation caused by adenovirus infusion was assessed 14 days after infusion of either AdNull (n = 6) or vehicle (n = 6) into the carotid adventitia. Inflammation was assessed by means of examination of histologic sections for the presence of neointimal formation and infiltrating T cells and for the expression of markers of vascular cell activation (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1). To measure the systemic immune response to adventitial infusion of adenovirus, plasma samples (n = 3) were drawn 14 days after infusion of AdNull and assayed for neutralizing antibodies. RESULTS: Two days after luminal infusion of AdRSVnLacZ, approximately 30% of luminal endothelial cells expressed beta-gal. Similarly, 2 days after infusion of AdRSVnLacZ to the adventitia, approximately 30% of adventitial cells expressed beta-gal. beta-gal expression was present in the carotid adventitia, the internal jugular vein adventitia, and the vagus nerve perineurium. Elevated beta-gal activity (50- to 80-fold more than background; P <.05) was detected in extracts made from all AdRSVnLacZ-transduced arteries. The amount of recombinant protein expression per vessel did not differ significantly between vessels transduced via the adventitia (17.1 mU/mg total protein [range, 8.1 to 71.5]) and those transduced via a luminal approach (10.0 mU/mg total protein [range, 3.9 to 42.6]). Notably, adventitial delivery of AdNull did not cause neointimal formation. In addition, vascular inflammation in arteries transduced via the adventitia (ie, T-cell infiltrates and ICAM-1 expression) was confined to the adventitia, sparing both the intima and media. Antiadenoviral neutralizing antibodies were present in all rabbits after adventitial delivery of AdNull. CONCLUSION: Infusion of adenoviral vectors into the carotid artery adventitia achieves recombinant gene expression at a level equivalent to that achieved by means of intraluminal vector infusion. Because adventitial gene transfer can be performed by means of direct application during open surgical procedures, this technically simple procedure may be more clinically applicable than intraluminal delivery. Moreover, despite the generation of a systemic immune response, adventitial infusion had no detectable pathologic effects on the vascular intima or media. For these reasons, adventitial gene delivery may be a particularly useful experimental and clinical tool. (+info)
Simultaneous identification of static and dynamic vagosympathetic interactions in regulating heart rate.
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We earlier reported that stimulation of either one of the sympathetic and vagal nerves augments the dynamic heart rate (HR) response to concurrent stimulation of its counterpart. We explained this phenomenon by assuming a sigmoidal static relationship between nerve activity and HR. To confirm this assumption, we stimulated the sympathetic and/or vagal nerve in anesthetized rabbits using large-amplitude Gaussian white noise and determined the static and dynamic characteristics of HR regulation by a neural network analysis. The static characteristics approximated a sigmoidal relationship between the linearly predicted and the measured HRs (response range: 212.4 +/- 46.3 beats/min, minimum HR: 96.0 +/- 28.4 beats/min, midpoint of operation: 196.7 +/- 31.3 beats/min, maximum slope: 1.65 +/- 0.51). The maximum step responses determined from the dynamic characteristics were 7.9 +/- 2.9 and -14.0 +/- 4.9 beats. min-1. Hz-1 for the sympathetic and the vagal system, respectively. Because of these characteristics, changes in sympathetic or vagal tone alone can alter the dynamic HR response to stimulation of the other nerve. (+info)
Hypoxia inhibits baroreflex vagal bradycardia via a central action in anaesthetized rats.
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It is known that arterial baroreflexes are suppressed in stressful conditions. The present study was designed to determine whether and how hypoxia affects arterial baroreflexes, especially the heart rate component, baroreflex vagal bradycardia. In chloralose-urethane-anaesthetized rats, baroreflex vagal bradycardia was evoked by electrical stimulation of the aortic depressor nerve, and the effect of 15 s inhalation of hypoxic gas (4% O2) was studied. Inhalation of hypoxic gas was found to inhibit baroreflex vagal bradycardia. The inhibition persisted after bilateral transection of the carotid sinus nerve. Cervical vagus nerves were cut bilaterally and their peripheral cut ends were stimulated to provoke vagal bradycardia of peripheral origin so as to determine whether hypoxia could inhibit vagal bradycardia by acting on a peripheral site. In contrast to baroreflex vagal bradycardia, the vagus-induced bradycardia was not affected by hypoxic gas inhalation. It is concluded that baroreflex vagal bradycardia is inhibited by hypoxia and the inhibition is largely mediated by its direct central action. (+info)
Interleukin-1beta in immune cells of the abdominal vagus nerve: a link between the immune and nervous systems?
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Intraperitoneal administration of the cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) induces brain-mediated sickness symptoms that can be blocked by subdiaphragmatic vagotomy. Intraperitoneal IL-1beta also induces expression of the activation marker c-fos in vagal primary afferent neurons, suggesting that IL-1beta is a key component of vagally mediated immune-to-brain communication. The cellular sources of IL-1beta activating the vagus are unknown, but may reside in either blood or in the vagus nerve itself. We assayed IL-1beta protein after intraperitoneal endotoxin [lipopolysaccharide (LPS)] injection in abdominal vagus nerve, using both an ELISA and immunohistochemistry, and in blood plasma using ELISA. IL-1beta levels in abdominal vagus nerve increased by 45 min after LPS administration and were robust by 60 min. Plasma IL-1beta levels increased by 60 min, whereas little IL-1beta was detected in cervical vagus or sciatic nerve. IL-1beta-immunoreactivity (IR) was expressed in dendritic cells and macrophages within connective tissues associated with the abdominal vagus by 45 min after intraperitoneal LPS injection. By 60 min, some immune cells located within the nerve and vagal paraganglia also expressed IL-1beta-IR. Thus, intraperitoneal LPS induced IL-1beta protein within the vagus in a time-frame consistent with signaling of immune activation. These results suggest a novel mechanism by which IL-1beta may serve as a molecular link between the immune system and vagus nerve, and thus the CNS. (+info)
Inspiration-promoting vagal reflex under NMDA receptor blockade in anaesthetized rabbits.
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1. This study describes a novel vagal respiratory reflex in anaesthetized rabbits. In contrast to the well-known inspiratory (I) off-switching by vagal afferent excitation, this vagal reflex initiates and maintains the central I activity of phrenic nerve discharges in rabbits pre-treated with antagonists of N-methyl-D-aspartate-type excitatory amino acid receptors (NMDA-Rs). 2. Under NMDA-R blockade with either dizocilpine (0.025-0.3 mg kg-1), D-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (AP5, 0.5-1 mg, i.c.v.) or ketamine (10 mg kg-1), vagal stimulation at low frequencies (5-40 Hz) during the I phase prevented or markedly delayed the spontaneous I termination. In contrast, stimulation of the same vagal afferent at the same intensity but at a higher frequency (100-160 Hz) during the I phase immediately terminated the I phase. 3. In non-vagotomized rabbits, maintaining the tidal volume at end-expiratory levels during the I phase prevented spontaneous I termination and maintained apneusis after NMDA-R blockade with dizocilpine. 4. Brief stimulation of vagal afferents at low frequency (5-40 Hz) during the expiratory (E) phase constantly initiated phrenic I discharge after NMDA-R block. 5. We conclude that low-frequency discharge of vagal pulmonary stretch receptor afferents, as when lung volume is near functional residual capacity, promotes central I activity under NMDA-R blockade. (+info)