Background: Throughout the course of pregnancy, small maternal spiral arteries that are in contact with fetal tissue undergo structural remodeling, lose smooth muscle cells, and become less responsive to vasoconstrictors. Additionally, placental extravillous trophoblasts invade the maternal decidua to establish an interaction between the fetal placental villi with the maternal blood supply. When successful, this process enables the transport of oxygen, nutrients, and signaling molecules but an insufficiency leads to placental ischemia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe endocannabinoid system (eCB) has been studied to identify the molecular structures present in . eCB consists of cannabinoid receptors, endogenous ligands, and the associated enzymatic apparatus responsible for maintaining energy homeostasis and cognitive processes. Several physiological effects of cannabinoids are exerted through interactions with various receptors, such as CB1 and CB2 receptors, vanilloid receptors, and the recently discovered G-protein-coupled receptors (GPR55, GPR3, GPR6, GPR12, and GPR19).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe number of publications on the development of arthritic pain after CHIKV infection is increasing; however, there is still a gap in the pathophysiological mechanisms that explain these outcomes. In this review, we conducted a descriptive analysis of the findings of patients to understand their prognosis and to explore therapeutic options. Here, we searched the Cochrane, BVS, PubMed, and Scielo databases using the keywords "arthritis", "pain", "arbovirus", "disease", "arthritogenic", and "arthralgia" during the 2000 to 2022 period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling is strongly implicated in cardiovascular remodeling in pulmonary hypertension (PH) and right ventricle (RV) failure. The effects of a newly designed p38 inhibitor, LASSBio-1824, were investigated in experimentally induced PH. Male Wistar rats were exposed to hypoxia and SU5416 (SuHx), and normoxic rats were used as controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has significant implications in patients with concomitant cardiovascular disease (CVD) because they are the population at the greatest risk of death. The treatment of such patients and complications may represent a new challenge for the fields of cardiology and pharmacology. Thus, understanding the involvement of this viral infection in CVD might help to reduce the aggressiveness of SARS-CoV-2 in causing multiorgan infection and damage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prevalence of obesity and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) increases significantly in postmenopausal women. Although obesity is a risk factor for left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD), the mechanisms that link the cessation of ovarian hormone production, and particularly estrogens, to the development of obesity, LVDD, and HFpEF in aging females are unclear. Clinical, and epidemiologic studies show that postmenopausal women with abdominal obesity (defined by waist circumference) are at greater risk for developing HFpEF than men or women without abdominal obesity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by the remodeling of pulmonary arteries, with an increased pulmonary arterial pressure and right ventricle (RV) overload. This work investigated the benefit of the association of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) with lodenafil, a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor, in an animal model of PAH. Male Wistar rats were exposed to hypoxia (10% O) for three weeks plus a weekly i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Diabetic obese patients are susceptible to the development of cardiovascular disease, including hypertension and cardiac dysfunction culminating in diabetic cardiomyopathy (DC), which represents a life-threatening health problem with increased rates of morbidity and mortality. The aim of the study is to characterize the effects of a new benzofuran -acylhydrazone compound, LASSBio-2090, on metabolic and cardiovascular alterations in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats presenting DC.
Methods: Male non-diabetic lean Zucker rats (ZL) and ZDF rats treated with vehicle (dimethylsulfoxide) or LASSBio-2090 were used in this study.
Background: Increased mortality due to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been associated with renal and/or cardiovascular dysfunction. Dipeptidyl dipeptidase-4 inhibitors (iDPP-4s) may exert cardioprotective effects through their pleiotropic actions via glucagon-like peptide 1-dependent mechanisms. In this study, the pharmacological profile of a new iDPP-4 (LASSBio-2124) was investigated in rats with cardiac and renal dysfunction induced by T2DM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease characterized by an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance and right ventricular (RV) failure. We aimed to determine the effects of human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) therapy in a SU5416/hypoxia (SuH) mice model of PAH. C57BL/6 mice (20-25 g) were exposure to 4 weeks of hypoxia combined vascular endothelial growth factor receptor antagonism (20 mg/kg SU5416; weekly injections; PAH mice).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
August 2018
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a disease of women (female-to-male ratio 4:1), and is associated with cardiac and skeletal muscle dysfunction. Herein, the activation of a new estrogen receptor (GPER) by the agonist G1 was evaluated in oophorectomized rats with monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PH. Depletion of estrogen was induced by bilateral oophorectomy (OVX) in Wistar rats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by enhanced pulmonary vascular resistance, which causes right ventricle (RV) pressure overload and results in right sided heart failure and death. This work investigated the effectiveness of a combined therapy with PDE5 inhibitor (PDE5i) and a new adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR) agonist in mitigating monocrotaline (MCT) induced PH in rats.
Methods: An in vitro isobolographic analysis was performed to identify possible synergistic relaxation effect between sildenafil and LASSBio 1359 in rat pulmonary arteries (PAs).
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a clinical condition characterized by pulmonary arterial remodeling and vasoconstriction, which promote chronic vessel obstruction and elevation of pulmonary vascular resistance. Long-term right ventricular (RV) overload leads to RV dysfunction and failure, which are the main determinants of life expectancy in PAH subjects. Therapeutic options for PAH remain limited, despite the introduction of prostacyclin analogs, endothelin receptor antagonists, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, and soluble guanylyl cyclase stimulators within the last 15 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by pulmonary vascular remodeling that leads to pulmonary congestion, uncompensated right-ventricle (RV) failure, and premature death. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) is cardioprotective in male rats and that its activation elicits vascular relaxation in rats of either sex.
Objectives: To study the effects of GPER on the cardiopulmonary system by the administration of its selective agonist G1 in male rats with monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PH.
The molecular mechanisms of muscle weakness and sarcopenia in postmenopausal women are largely unknown. To determine the effect of a new estrogen receptor, GPR30, in the maintenance of exercise capacity and skeletal muscle function in females, the selective GPR30 agonist, G1 (100 μg/kg/day), or vehicle (V, soybean oil) was administered subcutaneously daily (n = 7 per group) to ovariectomized (OVX) 27-month-old Fischer 344 × Brown Norway (F344BN) female rats. Following 8 weeks of treatment, the exercise capacity (treadmill walk time to exhaustion) was reduced in OVX vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAge-associated changes in cardiac structure and function, together with estrogen loss, contribute to the progression of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in older women. To investigate the effects of aging and estrogen loss on the development of its precursor, asymptomatic left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, echocardiograms were performed in 10 middle-aged (20 months) and 30 old-aged (30 months) female Fischer344×Brown-Norway rats, 4 and 8 weeks after ovariectomy (OVX) and sham procedures (gonads left intact). The cardioprotective potential of administering chronic G1, the selective agonist to the new G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER), was further evaluated in old rats (Old-OVX+G1) versus age-matched, vehicle-treated OVX and gonadal intact rats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe incidence of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) increases in women after menopause, yet the mechanisms are unclear. Because mast cells participate in the pathological processes of various cardiac diseases, we hypothesized that mast cell inhibition would protect against estrogen loss-induced LVDD. The mast cell stabilizer, cromolyn sodium (30 mg·kg·d), or vehicle was administered subcutaneously by osmotic minipump to ovariectomized (OVX) female Fischer 344 × Brown Norway (F344BN) rats starting at 4 weeks after surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To test the relaxation effect of a new adenosine receptor agonist N-acylhydrazone derivative, 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl-N-methyl-benzoylhydrazide (LASSBio-1359), on in vitro and in vivo preparation of corpus cavernosum (CC), and its interaction with type-5 phosphodiesterase enzyme inhibitor, sildenafil.
Methods: For in vitro study, an increasing concentration of LASSBio-1359 was added in the solution at the plateau isometric tension recording of isolated guinea pig CC induced by phenylephrine (30 μM). Concentration-response curve was repeated in the presence of A2A receptor antagonist, ZM 241385 (10 μM).
Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease that results in right ventricular (RV) dysfunction. While pulmonary vascular disease is the primary pathological focus, RV hypertrophy and RV dysfunction are the major determinants of prognosis in PAH. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of (E)-N'-(3,4-dimethoxybenzylidene)-4-methoxybenzohydrazide (LASSBio-1386), an N-acylhydrazone derivative, on the lung vasculature and RV dysfunction induced by experimental PAH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by enhanced pulmonary vascular resistance, right ventricular hypertrophy and increased right ventricular systolic pressure. Here, we investigated the effects of a N-acylhydrazone derivative, 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl-N-methyl-benzoylhydrazide (LASSBio-1359), on monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension in rats.
Experimental Approach: PAH was induced in male Wistar rats by a single i.