Objective To observe the expression of free Ca2+ and Angiotensin Ⅱ 1 type receptor(AT1 R)in vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs)of patients with hypertensive or normotensive coronary artery diseases(CAD).Methods During the coronary artery bypass graft operation,the surplus saphenous vein of patients who admitted to our Cardiac Surgery Department was collected and cultured.All patients were divided into hypertensive or normotensive group.Free Ca2+ in the cultured human VSMCs was determined by confocal laser scanning microscope(CLSM)after different kinds of AngiotensinⅡ being added,respectively.Total RNA was extracted from cultured VSMCs.Then RT-PCR was conducted for the observation of the expression of AT1R in both groups.Results Ca2+in human VSMCs rapidly increased when stimulated by Angtensin Ⅱ in two groups.After stimulated by Angiotensin Ⅱ,both free Ca2+ level and the expression of AT1R in VSMCs of hypertensive patients were higher than those of the normotensive patients(P＜0.05).Conclusion There are certain changes of free calcium in the cultured human vascular smooth muscle cells,when stimulated by Angiotensin Ⅱ.There are also difierences in AT1R expression between hypertensive CAD patients and normotensive CAD patients.

Two hundred and fourteen patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).Serum ischemic modified albumin (IMA) levels were measured in patients at admission.The major adverse cardiac events (MACE),including cardiac death,nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) and recurrent ischemia leading to urgent revascularization were observed during 1-y period of follow-up.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves,Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression were used to assess the prognostic value of IMA for 1-y MACE.Twenty one patients experienced major adverse cardiac events during 1-y follow up period,including 6 cases of cardiac death,8 cases of new or recurrent MI,7 cases of target vessel/lesion revascularization or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).ROC showed that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.667,and when IMA was used to predict 1-y major adverse cardiac events,the cut-off value of 65.3 kU/L was most effective.Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that IMA was significantly correlated with the occurrence of 1-y MACE(P ＜ 0.01).But Cox regression model showed that IMA levels were not independent risk factor for 1-y MACE in NSTEACS patients,when adjusted with other risk factors.

PURPOSE: Mitofusin2 gene (Mfn2, also named Hyperplasia suppressive gene, HSG) is very important in the origin and development of hypertension. However, the mechanism of Mfn2/HSG expression regulation was not uncovered. This study was designed to explore the association of a novel 5'-uncoding region (UCR) -1248 A>G variation of HSG/Mfn2 gene and hypertension. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 472 healthy, normotensive subjects [normotension (NT) group], 454 prehypertensive subjects [prehypertension (PH) group] and 978 hypertensive patients [essential hypertension (EH) group] were screened for an association study between 5'-UCR -1248 A>G of Mfn2/HSG and hypertension by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing after venous blood was drawn and DNA was extracted. RESULTS: When comparing the A and G frequency in EH, PH and NT groups, in total, NT group significantly had higher A frequency than in PH group [odds ratio (OR)=1.605, confidence interval (CI) 95%=1.063-2.242, p=0.025] and EH group (OR=5.395, CI 95%=3.783-7.695, p<0.01). When subgrouped by gender, A frequency in NT group was still significantly higher than in EH group (male: OR=4.264, CI 95%=2.780-6.543, p<0.01; female: OR=8.897, CI 95%=4.686-16.891, p<0.01), but not from PH group, either in male group or in female group. Ordinal Logistic Regression analysis showed that A>G variation was significantly related with blood pressure level (B=-1.271, Wald=40.914, CI 95%=-1.660 - -0.881, p<0.01). CONCLUSION: 5'-UCR -1248 A>G variation of Mfn2/HSG gene was a novel variation and may be associated with hypertension in Chinese.
China ; Female ; GTP Phosphohydrolases/*genetics ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Genetic Association Studies ; Genotype ; Humans ; Hypertension/*genetics ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mitochondrial Proteins/*genetics ; *Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Sequence Analysis, DNA