The effect of artrial natriuretic polypeptides on the intracellular free. calcium concentration of immune cells of spontaneously hypertensive rats has been investigated. It was found that artrial natriuretic polypeptides could raise directly the intracellular free calcium concentration of thymocytes, splenocytes and lymphonode cell, or cooperate with Con A in increasing the intracellular free calcium concentration of rat lymphocytes and T lymphocytes except for B cells. It was also found that artrial natriuretic polypeptides could cooperate with IL-2 in increasing the intracellular free calcium concentration of rat lymphoblast induced by Con A. The extent of increased intracellular free calcium concentration induced by artrial natriuretic polypeptides in immune cells of spontaneously hypertensive rats was lower than that of WKA rats.

Objective To investigate the distribution of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype among different vascular complications and the variation of allele frequency with age in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).Methods 125 NIDDM patients and 50 healthy individuals were selected randomly. Polymerase chain reaction was used to determine their ApoE genotypes.Results The prevalence of ∈3/3 in any vascular complication group was 59.3%, which was significantly lower than 76.0% in controls (P<0.05). The prevalences of ∈3/3, ∈4/3 and ∈4 in coronary heart disease (CHD) group were 51.8%, 33.9% and 20.5%, respectively, which were significantly lower (∈3/3, P<0.01) or higher (∈4/3, P<0.01; ∈4, P<0.05) than those in the controls, respectively. The ∈4 frequency was significantly lower in the elderly than in the non-elderly group of NIDDM (P<0.05).Conclusion ∈4 increases the risk for vascular complications, especially CHD, and ∈4 may affect the life expectancy of NIDDM patients.