Compensatory effect by sigma1 (sigma1) receptor stimulation during alcohol withdrawal in mice performing an object recognition task.

Chronic alcohol consumption (CAC) provokes intense neurobiological alterations, which lead, notably, to an important abstinence syndrome upon withdrawal with deleterious cognitive consequences. We here examined the effect of activation or inactivation of the sigma(1) receptor during CAC withdrawal on the cognitive abilities of Swiss mice. Animals consumed an alcohol 10%/sucrose 30 g/l solution during 4 months.

ERK1/2-mediated vasoconstriction normalizes wall stress in small mesenteric arteries during NOS inhibition in vivo.

As in essential hypertension, chronic nitric-oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition leads to hypertrophic remodeling in conduit and muscular arteries and inward eutrophic remodeling in small resistance arteries with activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) in both vessel types. The authors tested the hypothesis that this remodeling heterogeneity could be related to distinct vasoreactivity patterns in small and larger arteries, with a vessel-specific function of ERK1/2 signaling. Using intravital microscopy in rats we have demonstrated that acute NOS inhibition (l-NA injection, 100 mg/kg) produced vasoconstriction of small mesenteric arteries.

Comparison of the cardiovascular protection by omapatrilat and lisinopril treatments in DOCA-salt hypertension.

Objective: To compare the cardiovascular protection provided by omapatrilat and lisinopril in an experimental model of hypertension.

Methods: Four-week deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertensive (HT) and age-matched normotensive (NT) rats were treated either with omapatrilat (40 mg/kg per day) or lisinopril (20 mg/kg per day) for 2 weeks before sacrifice, and compared with untreated HT and NT rats sacrificed at ages corresponding to either before or after the drug regimens.

Results: Systolic arterial pressure (SAP) of 2 and 4 week HT rats was increased in comparison to age-matched NT rats (P <0.

Vessel-specific stimulation of protein synthesis by nitric oxide synthase inhibition: role of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2.

Although conduit arteries develop hypertrophy after chronic NO synthesis blockade, resistance arteries remodel without hypertrophy under the same conditions. Similar findings have been described in essential hypertension. We postulated that this regional difference may be related to a heterogeneous effect of endogenous NO on proliferation along the vascular tree.