Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; administration & dosage ; Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists ; Adrenergic beta-Agonists ; administration & dosage ; Asthma ; drug therapy ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Humans ; Patient Compliance ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; drug therapy

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of combined beta(1) adrenergic receptor (AR) antagonist with beta(2)AR agonist therapy on cardiac function and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in heart failure rats.

METHODSHeart failure was induced by isoproterenol and rats were randomly divided into metoprolol group (50 mg/kg twice daily/gavage, n = 11), combined treatment group (fenoterol 125 microg/kg and metoprolol 50 mg/kg twice daily/gavage, n = 11) and placebo group (saline, n = 10), another normal 9 male Wistar rats served as control group. After 8 weeks' treatment, cardiac function, apoptosis index (AI), Caspase-3 activity, expression levels of bcl-2 and bax protein, organ weight/body weight and collagen volume fraction (CVF) were evaluated.

RESULTS(1) Left ventricular end diastolic dimension, left ventricular end systolic dimension and E/A ratio were significantly increased and fractional shortening, ejection fraction significantly reduced post isoproterenol (all P < 0.05 vs. control) and these changes were significantly attenuated by metoprolol alone (all P < 0.05 vs. placebo) and further attenuated by the metoprolol and fenoterol combination therapy (all P < 0.05 vs. placebo and metoprolol). (2) Left ventricular weight to body weight ratio, lung weight to body weight ratio and CVF were also significantly reduced in metoprolol and combined treatment group than those in placebo group (all P < 0.01). (3) Compared with placebo group, AI and Caspase-3 activity were significantly lower in metoprolol group (all P < 0.01 vs. placebo) and further reduced in combined treatment group (all P < 0.01 vs. metoprolol). (4) The expression level of bax protein was significantly lower in metoprolol group while bcl-2/bax significantly higher than those in placebo group. These changes were more significant in combined treatment group (all P < 0.01 vs. metoprolol).

CONCLUSIONSbeta(1)AR antagonist in combination with beta(2)AR agonist further improved the cardiac function and prevented cardiac remodeling compared with using beta(1)AR antagonist alone in heart failure rats. Downregulated bax and upregulated bcl-2/bax expressions might contribute to the observed beneficial therapy effects by reducing cardiomyocyte apoptosis in these animals.

Adrenergic beta-1 Receptor Antagonists ; Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists ; Adrenergic beta-Agonists ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Adrenergic beta-Antagonists ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Heart Failure ; drug therapy ; Male ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; cytology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Ventricular Remodeling

AIMTo study the effects of beta 2-adrenergic receptor-selective agonist clenbuterol on nitrogen metabolism and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity of rat hepatocyte and its pharmacological mechanism.

METHODSBiochemical methods were used to study the influence of clenbuterol on urea-nitrogen concentration of hepatocyte culture medium, 3H-leucine incorporation into hepatocyte, insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) production and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) activity of rat hepatocyte.

RESULTSThe results showed that urea-nitrogen production by cultured rat hepatocytes was markedly affected with clenbuterol treatment (1 x 10(-6) mol.L-1), urea-nitrogen concentration of culture medium was decreased by 25.51% (P < 0.05) compared with control. The inhibitory effect of hepatocyte urea-nitrogen production of clenbuterol was blocked by propranolol, a beta-adrenoreceptor antagonist (1 x 10(-6) mol.L-1), but hepatocyte urea-nitrogen level was not affected with propranolol treatment only (P > 0.05). The content of 3H-leucine incorporation in rat hepatocyte was significantly increased by 23.35% (P < 0.05) with clenbuterol-treatment (1 x 10(-6) mol.L-1), and the enhanced effect of 3H-leucine incorporation into hepatocyte was antagonized by propranolol (1 x 10(-6) mol.L-1. The level of 3H-leucine incorporation of rat hepatocyte was not influenced by propranolol alone. IGF-I production of rat hepatocyte might be affected by clenbuterol. IGF-I concentration of culture medium was increased by 39.46% with clenbuterol (1 x 10(-6) mol.L-1), but no significant difference was found compared with the control (P > 0.05). Moreover, G6PDH activity of rat hepatocyte was significantly decreased by 43.36% (P < 0.05) with clenbuterol treatment (1 x 10(-6) mol.L-1), and the declined effect of clenbuterol was antagonized by propranolol. G6PDH activity of rat hepatocyte was not affected on condition that propranolol was administered alone (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONIt is suggested that clenbuterol may regulate nitrogen and fat metabolism by means of increasing nitrogen retention and protein synthesis, and decreasing G6PDH activity of rat hepatocyte for pharmacological effects.

Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists ; Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Clenbuterol ; pharmacology ; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase ; metabolism ; Hepatocytes ; drug effects ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Nitrogen ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

The studies on gene polymorphisms in biological pathways of the drugs for the treatment of asthma refer to the studies in which pharmacogenetic methods, such as genome-wide association studies, candidate gene studies, genome sequencing, admixture mapping analysis, and linkage disequilibrium, are used to identify, determine, and repeatedly validate the effect of one or more single nucleotide polymorphisms on the efficacy of drugs. This can provide therapeutic strategies with optimal benefits, least side effects, and lowest costs to patients with asthma, and thus realize individualized medicine. The common drugs for asthma are &beta;2 receptor agonists, glucocorticoids, and leukotriene modifiers. This article reviews the research achievements in polymorphisms in biological pathways of the common drugs for asthma, hoping to provide guidance for pharmacogenetic studies on asthma in future and realize individualized medicine for patients with asthma soon.
Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists ; therapeutic use ; Asthma ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Glucocorticoids ; therapeutic use ; Leukotrienes ; genetics ; therapeutic use ; Metabolic Networks and Pathways ; Pharmacogenetics ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Precision Medicine

A novel rapid method for detection of the illicit beta2-agonist additives in health foods and traditional Chinese patent medicines was developed with the desorption corona beam ionization mass spectrometry (DCBI-MS) technique. The DCBI conditions including temperature and sample volume were optimized according to the resulting mass spectra intensity. Matrix effect on 9 beta2-agonists additives was not significant in the proposed rapid determination procedure. All of the 9 target molecules were detected within 1 min. Quantification was achieved based on the typical fragment ion in MS2 spectra of each analyte. The method showed good linear coefficients in the range of 1-100 mg x L(-1) for all analytes. The relative deviation values were between 14.29% and 25.13%. Ten claimed antitussive and antiasthmatic health foods and traditional Chinese patent medicines from local pharmacies were analyzed. All of them were negative with the proposed DCBI-MS method. Without tedious sample pretreatments, the developed DCBI-MS is simple, rapid and sensitive for rapid qualification and semi-quantification of the illicit beta2-agonist additives in health foods and traditional Chinese patent medicines.
Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists ; analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Food, Organic ; analysis ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization ; Substance Abuse Detection ; methods ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; metabolism ; Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists ; metabolism ; Humans ; Multiple Pulmonary Nodules ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; World Health Organization

The effects of glucagon and epinephrine on gluconeogenesis in young (4 month) and old (24 month) Fisher 344 rat hepatocytes were compared. In contrast to glucagon, which had a similar effect on gluconeogenesis in both young and old cells, epinephrine caused a smaller increase in gluconeogenesis in old rat hepatocytes than in young hepatocytes. beta2 adrenergic receptor (beta2-AR) expression slightly decreased in aged rat liver, and there were differences between young and old hepatocytes in their patterns of G protein coupled receptor kinases, which are involved in the activation of beta2-AR receptor signal desensitization. The major isoform of the kinase changed from GRK2 to GRK3 and the expression of beta-arrestin, which is recruited by the phosphorylated beta2-AR for internalization and degradation, increased in aged rat liver. GRK3 overexpression also decreased the glucose output from young rat hepatocytes. We conclude that an age-associated reduction in epinephrine-induced gluconeogenesis occurs through the epinephrine receptor desensitizing system.
Adrenergic beta-Agonists/*pharmacology ; Aging/*drug effects ; Animals ; Epinephrine/*pharmacology ; G-Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase 2/metabolism ; G-Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase 3/metabolism ; Glucagon/pharmacology ; *Gluconeogenesis/drug effects ; Male ; Models, Biological ; Phosphorylation ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred F344 ; Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-2/agonists/metabolism

The effects of glucagon and epinephrine on gluconeogenesis in young (4 month) and old (24 month) Fisher 344 rat hepatocytes were compared. In contrast to glucagon, which had a similar effect on gluconeogenesis in both young and old cells, epinephrine caused a smaller increase in gluconeogenesis in old rat hepatocytes than in young hepatocytes. beta2 adrenergic receptor (beta2-AR) expression slightly decreased in aged rat liver, and there were differences between young and old hepatocytes in their patterns of G protein coupled receptor kinases, which are involved in the activation of beta2-AR receptor signal desensitization. The major isoform of the kinase changed from GRK2 to GRK3 and the expression of beta-arrestin, which is recruited by the phosphorylated beta2-AR for internalization and degradation, increased in aged rat liver. GRK3 overexpression also decreased the glucose output from young rat hepatocytes. We conclude that an age-associated reduction in epinephrine-induced gluconeogenesis occurs through the epinephrine receptor desensitizing system.
Adrenergic beta-Agonists/*pharmacology ; Aging/*drug effects ; Animals ; Epinephrine/*pharmacology ; G-Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase 2/metabolism ; G-Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase 3/metabolism ; Glucagon/pharmacology ; *Gluconeogenesis/drug effects ; Male ; Models, Biological ; Phosphorylation ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred F344 ; Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-2/agonists/metabolism

Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists ; pharmacology ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Asthma ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Chloroquine ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds ; pharmacology ; Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-2 ; metabolism ; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled ; agonists ; metabolism ; Receptors, Interleukin-4 ; antagonists & inhibitors ; metabolism ; Respiratory System ; drug effects ; metabolism ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo compare tulobuterol patch and oral salbutamol sulfate in terms of efficacy and safety in children with mild or moderate acute attack of bronchial asthma.

METHODSA total of 92 children with mild and moderate acute asthmatic attack were randomly divided into salbutamol group (n=46) and tulobuterol group (n=46). Both groups received routine treatment with antihistamine, selective leukotriene receptor antagonist and glucocorticoid. In addition, the salbutamol group was given slow-release capsules of salbutamol sulfate, and the tulobuterol group was treated with tulobuterol patch. The two groups were compared with respect to symptom scores of cough, wheeze, respiratory rate, wheezing sound, three depression sign and peak expiratory flow, as well as adverse events.

RESULTSAs the treatment proceeded, symptom scores decreased in both groups; on the third day of treatment, all symptom scores except cough score showed a significant decrease in both groups (P<0.05), but the tulobuterol group had significantly lower symptom scores than the salbutamol group (P<0.05). On the fourteenth day of treatment, both groups had a significant decrease in cough score (P<0.05), but the tulobuterol group had a significantly lower cough score than the salbutamol group (P<0.05). One child developed hand trembling in the salbutamol group, while no adverse event occurred in the tulobuterol group.

CONCLUSIONSCompared with oral salbutamol sulfate, tulobuterol patch has a better therapeutic efficacy and a higher safety in children with mild or moderate acute asthmatic attack.

Acute Disease ; Administration, Oral ; Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists ; therapeutic use ; Albuterol ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Asthma ; drug therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Terbutaline ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use