Aging ; physiology ; Animals ; Arteries ; physiopathology ; Arteriosclerosis ; physiopathology ; Blood Pressure ; drug effects ; Diabetes Mellitus ; physiopathology ; Glycation End Products, Advanced ; antagonists & inhibitors ; metabolism ; physiology ; Guanidines ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Thiazoles ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) injection on pulmonary artery pressure and the expression of p38MAPK in lung tissue of rats subjected to chronic hypoxia.

METHODSThirty adult male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups (ten in each group): rats in control group were exposed to normoxic condition and the rats in hypoxia group and PNS group were subjected to 4-week hypoxia, and PNS injection (50 mg · kg(-1) · d(-1)) was administrated intraperitoneally at 30 min in the PNS group daily before the rats were kept in the hypoxic chamber, while rats in the other two groups received equal dose of normal saline instead. After chronic hypoxia, mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) and mean carotid artery pressure (mCAP) were measured. The heart and lung tissues were harvested, and right ventricle (RV) and left ventricle plus ventricular septum (LV+S) were weighed to calculate the ratio of RV/(LV+S). The expression of p38MAPK mRNA was determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, the quantity of phosphorylated p38MAPK (p-p38MAPK) in rat lung tissues and pulmonary arterioles was determined by Western blot and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, mPAP and the ratio of RV/(LV+S) in the hypoxia group were increased, the expression of p-p38MAPK in pulmonary arterioles and p38MAPK mRNA in the lung were higher (P<0.05). The changes of these parameters in the hypoxia group were significantly attenuated by PNS treatment (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONPNS injection was shown to prevent hypoxic pulmonary hypertension at least partly by regulating p38MAPK pathway.

Animals ; Arterioles ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Blood Pressure ; drug effects ; Blotting, Western ; Carotid Arteries ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Heart Ventricles ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Hemodynamics ; drug effects ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; complications ; enzymology ; physiopathology ; Hypoxia ; complications ; enzymology ; physiopathology ; Injections ; Lung ; drug effects ; enzymology ; pathology ; physiopathology ; MAP Kinase Signaling System ; drug effects ; Male ; Panax notoginseng ; chemistry ; Pulmonary Artery ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Saponins ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; genetics ; metabolism

Stroke is one of the major diseases that threaten human health, early diagnosis and treatment are very important for stroke. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) is measured noninvasively to diagnosis stroke, and it is a independent predictor for stroke because its thickening can timely predict the incidence and development of stroke. As an important predictor of cardiovascular disease, more and more attention is played on CIMT. In this review, we will make a summary on the important role of CIMT in stroke and the mechanisms of carotid intima-media thickening in stroke as well as the potential use of traditional Chinese medicine in treating carotid intima-media thickening.
Animals ; Carotid Arteries ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Stroke ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the acute effects of aldosterone (ALD) on mesenteric resistance vessels in normal or heart failure (HF) rats and its mechanism.

METHODSHF model was adopted by in vivo ligation of left anterior descending coronary artery in SD rats; segments of third-order branches of mesenteric artery were isolated and dissected into about 2 mm rings for isometric force recording.

RESULTSPretreated with ALD for 10 min,phenylephrine (PE)-induced contraction of normal mesenteric artery decreased first and then increased compared to control group along with the increase of the concentration of PE while decreased in HF rats. This effect was attenuated by ALD receptor-special antagonist eplerenone partially. ALD increased Ach-induced endothelial-dependent vascular relaxation significantly compared to control group both in normal and HF rats. Pretreated with ALD and dexamethasone (DEX) for 10 min, the effects of ALD on PE-induced contraction were weakened in mesenteric artery both of normal and HF rats. And this reaction of DEX to ALD-treated mesenteric in normal rats was attenuated by RU486 partially.

CONCLUSIONALD has biphasic effect in PE-induced response on mesenteric artery of normal rats, while reduces the sensitivity of mesenteric artery to PE in HF rats. DEX attenuates the biphasic effect of ALD on artery of normal rat partially but has no significant effect on that of HF rats.

Aldosterone ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Heart Failure ; physiopathology ; Male ; Mesenteric Arteries ; drug effects ; physiology ; Phenylephrine ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Vasoconstriction ; drug effects

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the applicability of carotid Doppler echography for the assessment of changes of peripheral hemodynamics in the hypertensives. SUBJECTS: 28 hypertensives (17 males, 11 females), mean age of 64 yrs and 40 normal controls (24 males, 16 females) mean age of 49 yrs. METHODS: We recorded the right common carotid arterial Doppler flow velocity (BFV) pattern and measured the peak velocities of the percussion wave (P) and late rising tidal wave (T), the ratio of the two (P/T), the time interval between the two peaks corrected by heart rate (P-Tc), systolic flow velocity integral (FVI) and carotid artery diameter (CAD) before and after 0.4 mg dose of subligual nitroglycerin (NTG). RESULTS: 1) In hypertensives, the P wave velocity showed lower and P-Tc interval shorter than those of the normal controls at baseline. 2) After NTG, the P-Tc and P/T increased, but the T and FVI decreased significantly in both groups of subjects. 3) The P/T ratio was less significantly increased after NTG in the hypertensives than in the controls. These results suggest that NTG might have been involved in concomitant reduction and delay of the wave reflection from the peripheral vessels, preferentially in the normal subjects than in hypertensives. CONCLUSIONS: The carotid Doppler echography can be useful for the evaluation of the changes of hemodynamics in the peripheral vessel such as carotid artery in hypertensive subjects.
Administration, Sublingual ; Blood Flow Velocity/drug effects ; Carotid Arteries/ultrasonography ; Carotid Arteries/drug effects ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Human ; Hypertension/ultrasonography ; Hypertension/physiopathology* ; Hypertension/drug therapy* ; Male ; Middle Age ; Nitroglycerin/administration & dosage* ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color ; Vasodilator Agents/administration & dosage*

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of combined application of Xuezhikang Capsule (XZK) and hypotensive drugs on the dynamic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure index (PPI), pulse wave velocity (PWV) and smoothness index (SI), and to study the relationship between SI and related factors (age, BP, dynamic PPI, and vascular elasticity).

METHODSOne hundred and ten patients with essential hypertension were randomly assigned to 2 groups: 54 in the control group and 56 in the treated group. Both were treated with hypertensive drugs, but with oral medication of XZK given additionally to the treated group at the dose of 60 mg, twice a day. PWV and DBP were measured before treatment and at the terminal of a 6-month treatment. Meantime, the 24-h average systolic and diastolic pressures were recorded to calculate the 24-h dynamic pulse pressure (24 hPP), PPI, SI of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SISBP and SIDBP) for comparing the changes between groups and analyzing the SI related factors.

RESULTSAll patients' blood pressure levels were well controlled; after a 6-month treatment, the PP and PPI in the treated group were 45 +/- 8 mm Hg and 0.35 +/- 0.08 respectively, which were significantly lower than those in the control group (51 +/- 10 mm Hg and 0.38 +/- 0.05, P < 0.05); while SISBP and SIDBP in the treated group were higher than those in the control group (1.37 +/- 0.16 vs 1.26 +/- 0.20, P < 0.01; and 1.28 +/- 0.14 vs 1.18 +/- 0.23, P < 0.05) respectively; and PWV in the former was significantly lower than that in the latter group (10.4 +/- 3.68 m/s vs 12.5 +/- 4.27 m/s, P < 0.05). Multiple factor stepwise regression analysis showed that the SISBP was negatively correlated with age, PPI and PWV, while the SIDBP was negatively correlated with PPI (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe combined application of XZK and hypotensive drugs can decrease PP and PPI, improve the endothelial function and arterial elasticity, enhance the efficacy of treatment on SI. After treatment SI shows a significant negative correlation with PPI, PWV and age in patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Antihypertensive Agents ; therapeutic use ; Arteries ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Blood Pressure ; drug effects ; Compliance ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy

Lipid accumulation in the vessel wall and tunica intima vasorum pathological changes are important factors in the development of atherosclerosis, which are closely related with hemodynamics. In this paper, we established a model of local low shear stress in rabbits using carotid artery cannula and a high cholesterol diet for 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 8 weeks. The effects of Shenlian extract on blood flow, vascular pathology formation and lipid metabolism were assessed by electromagnetic blood flow meter and hematoxylin-eosin staining of the proximal end in carotid artery at different times. The results demonstrate that the relationship between blood flow and shear stress for control, atorvastatin, Shenlian extract high-dose, Shenlian extract middle-dose, and Shenlian extract low-dose were linearly related. The blood flow and the shear stress of proximal end in carotid artery of Shenlian extract (1.12, 2.24, 4.48 g x kg(-1)), and atorvastatin (4.7 x 10(-4) g x kg(-1)) were significantly (P < 0.05)increased compared with the control. Plasma total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) ,and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were markedly decreased with the increasing of dose and time. This study is the first to prove that the inhibition of Shenlian extract on low shear stress (LSS) induces rabbits carotid atherosclerosis with increasing blood flow and decreasing lipids and vessel pathological changes.
Animals ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Blood Flow Velocity ; drug effects ; Carotid Arteries ; chemistry ; drug effects ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Carotid Artery Diseases ; drug therapy ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Male ; Rabbits ; Stress, Mechanical

BACKGROUNDMany patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) have complicated with hypertension and may be prescribed with antihypertension medications to control their blood pressure. But whether antihypertension medications can also decrease arterial stiffness or control the blood pressure increasing following obstructive events is not well described. This study aimed to investigate whether antihypertensive medications can ameliorate the changes in arterial stiffness and blood pressure associated with OSA.

METHODSSixty-one OSAS patients [13 women, 48 men, mean age (53.4 +/- 12.3) years], 26 normotensive patients (N), 7 hypertensive patients on no antihypertension medications (H), and 28 hypertensive patients on various combination antihypertension therapy (HM), were prospectively diagnosed with standard nocturnal polysomnography. Beat-to-beat blood pressure was continuously recorded from the radial artery by applanation tonometry during baseline sleep. As a measure of arterial stiffness, arterial augmentation index (AAI) was calculated as the ratio of augmented systolic blood pressure (SBP) to pulse pressure and expressed as a percentage for the following conditions: awakening, the first 10 ("early apnea") and last 10 ("late apnea") cardiac cycles of obstructive events (apnea or hypopnea), and the first 15 cardiac cycles following event termination ("post apnea") for all events with nadir O2 saturation

RESULTSSystolic blood pressure (SBP) post-apnea [(142.74 +/- 13.06) mmHg (N), (137.06 +/- 26.56) mmHg (H), (136.94 +/- 14.1) mmHg (HM)] was significantly increased from awakening [(135.76 +/- 14.76) mmHg (N), (135.58 +/- 23.17) mmHg (H), (129.77 +/- 14.00) mmHg (HM)], early apnea [(130.53 +/- 12.65) mmHg (N), (124.47 +/- 24.97) mmHg (H), (126.04 +/- 13.12) mmHg (HM)], and late apnea [(129.8 +/- 12.68) mmHg (N), (124.78 +/- 25.15) mmHg (H), (124.48 +/- 13.82) mmHg (HM)] respectively (P < 0.001, repeated measures ANOVA). AAI was significantly increased for the N group (P < 0.001) from awakening to late apnea [(10.45 +/- 2.62)% vs (14.43 +/- 3.21)%] and from early apnea to late apnea [(10.61 +/- 2.34)% vs (14.43 +/- 3.21)%], and also for H group (P < 0.05) from awakening to late apnea [(11.23 +/- 3.87)% vs (16.32 +/- 8.02)%] and from early apnea to late apnea [(11.75 +/- 3.79)% vs (16.32 +/- 8.02)%]. Meanwhile, no significant differences in AAI among awakening, early apnea, late apnea, and post-apnea conditions were found in HM group.

CONCLUSIONSThe current data demonstrate that systemic blood pressure increases significantly during the post-apneic phase of OSAS, compared with that during awakening and intra-apnea phases even with the use of combined antihypertensive therapy which could normalize BP during awakening in the hypertensive patients. However, increases in arterial stiffness during obstructive events could be ameliorated by combined antihypertension medications.

Adult ; Aged ; Antihypertensive Agents ; pharmacology ; Arteries ; drug effects ; physiology ; Blood Pressure ; drug effects ; Calcium Channel Blockers ; pharmacology ; Endothelium, Vascular ; drug effects ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; etiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Regression Analysis ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; drug therapy ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the therapeutic effect of L-arginine (L-Arg) administration on fetus growth retardation (FGR) due to pregnancy-induced hypertension and explore its mechanism.

METHODSSixty-eight pregnant women with pregnancy-induced hypertension and FGR were enrolled in this study, and 25 of them were given L-Arg in addition to routine therapy. Umbilical artery flow parameters and serum NO concentrations in maternal and umbilical blood were measured, and the therapeutic effects were evaluated according to neonatal birth weight.

RESULTSL-Arg therapy markedly decreased the systolic/diastolic value, pulse index and resistant index (P=0.000,0), while increased the fast blood velocity rate(P=0.000,0). NO contents in maternal and umbilical blood were 60.45-/+22.68 and 28.45-/+11.35 micromol/L in L-Arg group, respectively, significantly higher than those in routine treatment group (P=0.000,0 and 0.001,7, respectively) but lower than those in the control group (P=0.000,8 and 0.000,0, respectively). The neonatal birth weights were 2.9-/+0.3 kg in L-Arg group, significantly higher than that in routine treatment group (2.7-/+0.3 kg, P=0.006,8) and similar with that of the control group (3012.9-/+295.9 g, P=0.176,2).

CONCLUSIONL-Arg promote intrauterine growth of the fetus by increasing NO production and improving the umbilical artery flow in pregnant women with pregnancy-induced hypertension and FGR.

Adult ; Arginine ; therapeutic use ; Blood Flow Velocity ; drug effects ; Female ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; physiopathology ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced ; blood ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Nitric Oxide ; blood ; Pregnancy ; Umbilical Arteries ; physiopathology

Our previous studies suggest that the vascular local renin-angiotensin system (L-RAS) plays a pivotal role in the region-specific vascular adaptation due to simulated weightlessness. The present study was designed to determine whether simulated weightlessness still induced adaptive changes in rat vessels when angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT(1)R) was chronically blocked by the administration of losartan, and whether the expressions of key elements in the L-RAS in the large arteries would change. Tail suspension for 4 weeks was used to simulate the physiological effect of weightlessness. The responses of the basilar, anterior tibial, carotid arteries and abdominal aorta were observed by morphometric technique with light microscopy. The expressions of angiotensinogen (AGT) and AT(1)R in the walls of common carotid artery and abdominal aorta were determined using immunohistochemical technique. The results showed that simulated weightlessness induced hypertrophy of the media of basilar artery and smooth muscle layers of carotid artery, but atrophic change in the anterior tibial artery and abdominal aorta. After 4 weeks of losartan treatment, all these arteries showed significant atrophic changes. However, simulated weightlessness still induced relative hypertrophy of the basilar artery and carotid artery and atrophy of the abdominal aorta when AT(1)R was blocked. After 4 weeks of simulated weightlessness, the expressions of AGT and AT(1)R were upregualted in the wall of carotid artery, but downregulated in the wall of abdominal aorta and perivascular tissues. Losartan decreased AGT and AT(1)R expressions only in the wall of abdominal aorta; whereas simulated weightlessness further decreased AT(1)R expression in the wall of abdominal aorta when AT(1)R was blocked. We conclude that simulated weightlessness for 4 weeks still induces structural changes and upregulates or downregulates the key elements in L-RAS in the large and medium-sized arteries from fore and hind body parts of rats when AT(1)R is blocked. The results suggest that the L-RAS in arterial tissue plays a pivotal role in these differential structural changes. However, there still exist other regulatory pathways to mediate the adaptive regulation of cerebral vessels when AT(1)R is blocked.
Adaptation, Physiological ; Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Blockers ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Aorta, Abdominal ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Carotid Arteries ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Hindlimb Suspension ; Losartan ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Receptor, Angiotensin, Type 1 ; Weightlessness Simulation