Current Vascular Pharmacology - Volume 13, Issue 1, 2015

Although a decline in the all-cause and cardiac mortality rates following myocardial infarction (MI) during the past 3 decades has been reported, MI is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. From a pathological point of view MI consists in a particular myocardial cell death due to prolonged ischemia. After the onset of myocardial ischemia, cell death is not immediate, but takes a finite period of time to develop. On Read More

The innate immune system is well recognized as the first line defense of foreign pathogens; however, it can also recognize endogenous signals released from injured tissues and induce sterile inflammation. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and Nod-like receptors (NLRs) have been identified as its receptors, and they have been shown to play a key role in the disease processes of sterile inflammation, including myocardial infarction Read More

Oxidative stress in heart failure or during ischemia/reperfusion occurs as a result of the excessive generation or accumulation of free radicals or their oxidation products. Free radicals formed during oxidative stress can initiate lipid peroxidation, oxidize proteins to inactive states and cause DNA strand breaks. Oxidative stress is a condition in which oxidant metabolites exert toxic effects because of their increased production Read More

Angiogenesis is central to cardiac repair following myocardial infarction (MI). Cardiac angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)2 significantly increased postMI, which is coincident with activated angiogenesis. The function of ACE2 is to generate angiotensin (Ang)1-7, an active peptide with cellular actions mediated by Mas receptors. The current study is to determine whether Ang(1-7) is involved in cardiac angiogenesis and facilitate Read More

This study investigated the effects of the L-17 compound of the group of substituted 5R1, 6H2- 1,3,4-thiadiazine-2-amines on the immune response and the plasma level of circulating cytokines in acute myocardial infarction (MI) in rats. The study was based upon experimental work which demonstrated the role of local and systemic inflammatory reactions in MI. Acute MI in rats was induced by left coronary artery coagulati Read More

Doxorubicin (DOX) is widely used as an anti-cancer agent although it causes irreversible cardiomyopathy by increasing oxidative stress and deregulating nitric oxide production. Beraprost (BPS), a stable prostacyclin (PGI2) analog, is a potent vasodilator that has beneficial effects on myocardial ischemia. The objectives of the present study were to delineate the uncertain effects of prostcyclin therapy on DOX induced Read More

Myocardial infarction is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. Myocardial infarction may represent a major catastrophic event leading to severe hemodynamic failure or sudden death or it may occur repeatedly in patients with established heart disease. In this context, the role of imaging techniques may become useful for the understanding of the determinants in a preclinical setting before acute coronary events, Read More

Cardiac muscle necrosis is associated with inflammatory cascade that clears the infarct from dead cells and matrix debris, and then replaces the damaged tissue with scar, through three overlapping phases: the inflammatory phase, the proliferative phase and the maturation phase. Western blotting, laser confocal microscopy, Raman microscopy are valuable tools for studying the inflammatory response following myocardial i Read More

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is an age-related disease resulting in aortic wall weakening and dilatation which may progress to the fatal point of abrupt aortic wall rupture. Chronic inflammation is a driving force in the pathogenesis of AAA and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteases are considered central to aortic wall degradation. Considerable effort is dedicated to identifying the proteases responsible as well as the me Read More

Hypertension (HTN) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) often coexist sharing common pathophysiological factors that both in combination and separately induce fibrotic changes in the heart provoking atrial fibrillation (AF). AF, per se, is associated with a 4- to 5-fold increased risk of stroke and a 2-fold increased risk of all-cause death. The co-existence of AF with HTN and renal dysfunction considerably increases morbidity a Read More

Hypertension (HTN) is a major risk factor for atherosclerosis. Flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) is an ultrasonic method used to evaluate endothelial function, which is associated with HTN and related complications. We summarized clinical trials focusing on the effects of non-antihypertensive drugs on endothelial function, as evaluated by FMD, in patients with HTN. Hypercholesterolemic patients with HTN who used the cholest Read More

Levosimendan is a calcium-sensitizing agent that improves cardiac function, hemodynamic performance, and survival in critically ill adult patient. Few data exist on its off-label use in paediatric patients. We therefore performed a systematic review updated in September 2013 of all the published articles describing the use of levosimendan in paediatric patients. We identified 24 studies published in the period 2004-2013 t Read More

Background: The most common complications of chronic kidney disease (CKD) are hypertension and cardiovascular (CV) disorders. Renalase is produced and released by the kidney and also cardiomyocytes. Renalase deficiency was claimed to be responsible for hypertension and CV complication in CKD. There are contradictory data about serum renalase because of low activity and high levels revealed in hypertensiv Read More