International journal of physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology最新文献

The association between hypertension and obesity has been shown to be an important cause of kidney disease. We aimed to investigate the impact of a high-fat diet (HFD) administered in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) after weaning in renal morphology and functional parameters. Male post-weaned SHR were divided into two groups: standard control diet (CD) (3% lipids; n = 8) or HFD (30% lipids; n = 8) during 8 weeks. The group HFD showed an increase in serum triglycerides (HFD: 96 ± 7 vs. CD: 33 ± 2 mg/dL) and glucose intolerance (HFD: 185 ± 7 vs. CD: 149 ± 4 mg/dL/min). Moreover, the HFD also showed an increase in almost 90% of the periepididymal and retroperitoneal adiposity. There was no difference in arterial blood pressure between groups. Renal morphofunctional parameters were decreased in HFD group for glomerular tuft area and diameter (4733 ± 65 µm² and 82 ± 1 µm, respectively) when compared with CD group (5289 ± 171 µm² and 88 ± 2 µm, respectively). HFD also showed a decrease of 50% of the renal function, which was associated with higher renal extracellular matrix and lipid deposition. Therefore, our data suggest that HFD since early period of life may contribute to renal damage in adults with hypertension, and this impairment can be associated with increased renal lipid accumulation.

Introduction: Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men which is mostly slow growing and responses well to treatments if early diagnosed. Urinary prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) assay is a new method with effective results in diagnosing prostate cancer. The aim of this present study was evaluate the correlation between urinary PCA3 and Gleason scores in patients who are suspicious of prostate cancer and undergo tissue biopsies.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which was performed in 2017-2018. The patients included this study complain of prostate problems and were selected from Nour hospital, Ali-Asghar hospital and Ordibehesht clinic in Tehran, Iran. Urinary PCA3 levels were checked in all patients and then they went under prostate biopsies. Amounts of PCA3 and Gleason scores were collected and analyzed using SPSS software.

Findings: We evaluated a total number of 80 patients. 40 patients had prostate cancer and 40 had no cancer. We indicated that no significant relation was reported between Gleason scores and urinary PCA3 levels. Levels of urinary PCA3 were higher in patients with prostate cancer than in patients with no cancer (P=0.007).

Discussion: Generally, urinary PCA3 test is indicated as a non-invasive method to improve the specificity of prostate cancer diagnosis and its potential predictive value was studied in numerous clinical researches, but here we found higher PCA3 levels in patients with prostate cancer than in patients with and other prostate problems. We conclude that PCA3 functions as a diagnostic test and its changes in prostate cancer need to be further studied in different populations and races.

The use of medicinal plants in the treatment and management of diabetes mellitus is not very popular in Europe and USA as it is in Africa due to adequate availability of synthetic drugs and insulin for the effective management of diabetes in the western countries. In Africa, over 80% of the population live in poor resource settings and depend on medicinal plants for the treatment of various diseases including diabetes mellitus. Africa is very rich in medicinal plants and many of these plants are used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. These plants play important role as alternative medicine due to their low cost, perception of their minimal side-effects, availability and knowledge about their use in the treatment of diseases. Many African medicinal plants have been reported to possess pancreatic beta cells regenerating insulin potential, hypoglycaemic effects, increase insulin secretion, enhance glucose uptake by adipose tissue or muscles and inhibit glucose absorption from the intestine and glucose production from the liver. Medicinal plants may potentially provide useful source of new oral hypoglycaemic agents for drug development in pharmaceutical application or as adjuncts for existing therapies in the management of diabetes. This review therefore focuses on selected African medicinal plants with hypoglycaemic and anti-diabetic activities that are used in traditional medicine in the treatment and management of diabetes mellitus. There is an urgent need to document the knowledge of medicinal plants that are used mainly in the treatment and management of diabetes mellitus in various parts of Africa.

Drug addiction is a persistent mental illness and there is no effective treatment. The precise mechanisms underlying addictive responses have not been completely understood, although ion channels, neurotransmitters as well as their receptors, and intracellular endogenous molecules in the brain have been shown to play important roles in cocaine addiction. Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) is an important rate-limiting enzyme found throughout the body that converts the intracellular pool of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) into nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN). It reveals a critical role in physiological and pathophysiological conditions such as NAD biosynthesis, aging, inflammation, obesity, diabetes, stroke, motor dysfunction, and cancer. A recent study published in Experimental Neurology by Cen group demonstrated that NAMPT contributes to cocaine reward through sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) signaling in the brain ventral tegmental area. Thus, targeting NAMPT/SIRT1 signaling pathway may provide a promising therapeutic strategy against cocaine addiction.

The brain is the command center of the body that regulates the vital functions of circulation, respiration, motor function, metabolic activities, or autonomic nervous system outcomes. The brain coordinates these continuous activities at the expense of huge energy utilization. This energy demand is achieved by active transport of nutrients across the endothelial blood-brain barrier (BBB). This review discusses the barrier interfaces in the CNS that include the BBB, blood-spinal cord barrier, the epithelial choroid plexus, and the epithelial arachnoid. While transporting of nutrients across the BBB is a normal physiological function, the trafficking of xenobiotics and inflammatory cells/agents across these interfaces is harmful to brain cells. This leads to production of waste metabolites in the brain. Clearance of these waste metabolites maintains the normal brain homeostasis, while aggregation is detrimental to neurological complications. Since the CNS lacks lymphatic system, the CSF serves as the clearance path for water-soluble peptides/solutes, but not large size waste metabolites like Aβ protein. In particular, this review will focus on the mechanisms of waste metabolites clearance paths in the CNS. This will include the recently discovered waste metabolites movement from interstitial space (IS) directly into perivascular clearance (PVC), or via IS-CSF-PVC, and its exchange from PVC to circulation. Concluding remarks will discuss the therapeutic approach to improve the clearance mechanisms for ameliorating neurological diseases.

Background: The molecular mechanism of bladder cancer is yet not fully understood. Aim of this study was to compare the levels of BLCA-4 nuclear matrix protein in the urine of patients with bladder cancer and non-affected individuals.

Materials and method: The current cross sectional study was conducted on 45 patients with bladder cancer and 45 patients without bladder cancer who were referred to Alzahra Hospital of Isfahan, Iran in 2017. BCLA-4 Urinary Marker was measured in urine of the patients and individuals. Also correlation between the urine levels of BCLA-4 and other variables were evaluated.

Results: The urine levels of BLCA-4 in the patients with bladder cancer was significantly higher than non-bladder cancer group (P<0.001). There was no significant relationship between urine levels of BLCA-4 with tumor stage and size (P>0.05).

Conclusion: The present study indicated that high urine levels of BLCA-4 was presented in patients with bladder cancer and this tumor marker has a high capability for early diagnosis of the disease, which can be used for screening and follow-up of bladder cancer.

Purpose: Asian Americans had high rate of type 2 diabetes and less risk for diabetes complications compared to white. The purpose of this study was to examine diabetic retinopathy and related healthcare management among Asian American adults with diabetes.

Materials and method: Asian and white type 2 diabetes participants from 2005-2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data were used to perform the analysis. SAS 9.4 survey procedures were used to conduct the statistical test. Health care management variables (self-blood sugar check, eye check and HbA1C check with doctors, health care professional visit) were analyzed and compared between Asian and white.

Results: During 2005-2017, diabetic retinopathy (DR) rate among Asian Americans was 10% higher than white, and Asian Americans was more than 100% more likely to develop DR compared to white. Asian Americans was less likely to check their blood sugar once a day (P<0.05 for all years except 2005 and 2007) and more likely to see the health care professional and perform eye and HbA1C check even the relationship was not statistically significant. After adjusting all the demo-social factors and health care management factors, Asian still had higher rate of DR compared to white.

Conclusion: Asian Americans had higher rate of DR rate compared to white. Asian and white all had low rate of selfcare of blood sugar. Interventions for DR need to apply among Asian population.

Background: Lead is a nephrotoxicant probably implicated in the rising incidence of chronic kidney injury in sub-Sahara Africa. With the prohibitive cost and unavailability of metal chelators, chronic kidney disease CKD prevention is very difficult hence the search for affordable alternative. Costus afer have been shown to be organo-protective. The present research investigated the nephroprotective effect of aqueous leaf extract of Costus afer on lead induced nephrotoxicity in male rats.

Methods: Adult male rats were weight matched into five groups of five rats each. Groups 1 & 2 serve as normal and toxic control receiving deionized and leaded (CH₃COO)₂Pb. 3H₂O water respectively. Groups 3, 4 and 5 were administered peroral 750, 1500 and 2250 mg/kg of aqueous leaf extract of Costus afer respectively while receiving Pb²⁺ water ad libitum. Hematological, antioxidant and histological parameters obtained from the result serve as scientific evidence in the study.

Results: Costus afer treatment significantly reversed (P < 0.05) the decrease in the levels of gluthatione peroxidase (GSH-PX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), Glutathione-S-trasferase activity (GST) seen in the lead acetate only treated group. Similarly, the increased malondialdehyde (MDA) level in the lead acetate only treated group was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced in the Costus afer treated groups. There were significant (P < 0.05) decreases in serum serum level of sodium (146 ± 2.1 to 133 ± 6.0) and potassium (5.1 ± 0.4 to 4.4 ± 0.3) in lead acetate alone and treated group respectively. Also recorded was a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in serum levels of total protein and albumin (67 ± 7.9 to 47 ± 5.0 g/dl) and (45 ± 4.4 to 33 ± 5.5 g/dl) in lead acetate alone and Costus afer treated groups respectively.

Conclusions: Aqueous leaf extract of Costus afer may be nephroprotective in albino rats.

Background: Endothelin (ET)-1, a circulatory protein, and its receptors (ET_A and ET_B) in various organs were reported to play a pivotal role in many diseases, including obesity. However, the changes of ET_A and ET_B expression in ventricle and kidney in obesity was less reported. The study is designed to observe the level of circulatory ET-1 and expression of ET_A/ET_B in ventricle and kidney of obese, as compared to non-obese, Wistar rats.

Methods: Groups of obese 14 and 34 weeks Wistar rats were compared to non-obese controls at similar ages. The obesity status was achieved by feeding the with high calories protein diet CP 551 + milk powder, while the control group was fed with a standard calorie protein AD II diet. The concentration of circulatory ET-1, ET_A and ET_B of ventricle and kidney were measured by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique after the termination of both groups at 14^th and 24^th weeks.

Results: The level of circulatory ET-1, expression of ET_A and ET_B in kidney, and LDL of obese rats were significantly higher than control rats (T-Test, P<0.05) in the elder groups, while no differences of the ET_A and ET_B were found in the ventricle. No differences of the levels of circulatory ET-1, ET_A and ET_B expression were found between obese and control groups of younger rats (P>0.05). HDL levels were under normal value for both groups.

Conclusion: Obesity in elder obese rats leads to dysregulation of kidney vessels through activity of ET-1 and ET_A/ET_B.

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. It is also associated with severe mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, that hinder the rehabilitation of surviving patients. Thus, a better understanding of how stroke causes mental illnesses is crucial, but little is known about the neurological mechanisms involved. In this review, we summarized the most common mental illnesses developed after stroke, as well as the underlying mechanisms at the neuronal circuit level.