Adiponectin, in contrast to leptin, is not associated with body mass index, waist circumference and HOMA-IR in subjects of a west-African population.

Factors associated with plasma levels of adiponectin and leptin were studied in adult subjects without diabetes from Cotonou in Benin (West-Africa). Seventy (70) men and 45 women were included in the study. Anthropometric variables were measured and a venous blood sample was drawn from each subject, after an overnight fasting period, for measurement of plasma glucose, insulin, leptin, and adiponectin levels.

Decreased vascular contractility induced by hemin is associated with a reduced rho-kinase activity.

Objectives: In this study, the role of rho-kinase activity in the modulation of vascular contractility induced by hemin, a heme oxygenase inducer, was investigated.

Methods: Aortic rings from Wistar rats were incubated in physiological saline solution (PSS) containing hemin at 10-(4) M for six hours then contracted with phenylephrine, and a dose-response curve was established. The effect of Y-27632, a rho-kinase inhibitor, on the relaxation of the pre-contracted aortic rings was then studied.

Hemin, a carbon monoxide donor, improves systemic vascular compliance by inhibiting the RhoA-Rhokinase pathway in spontaneous hypertensive rats.

Carbon monoxide donors have nitrite oxide vasorelaxant properties. We performed this study in order to determine the impact of Hemin on smooth muscle layer vasoreactivity in spontaneous hypertensive rats as compared to control Wistar rats. Twenty-one days of peritoneal administration of Hemin decreased the mean arterial blood pressure in spontaneous hypertensive rats (150+/-5 mmHg in spontaneous hypertensive rats treated with Hemin=30 vs.

Electrophysiological maturation of rat mesenchymal stem cells after induction of vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation in vitro.

Previous studies have suggested that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can differentiate into smooth muscle-like cells. However their functionalities remain questionable. The aim of this study was to investigate the functionality of MSCs differentiated into smooth muscle (SM) in vitro by SM-inducing medium.

Undifferentiated mesenchymal stem cells seeded on a vascular prosthesis contribute to the restoration of a physiologic vascular wall.

Background: We evaluated the possibility of restoring a physiologic vascular wall using undifferentiated mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) seeded on a polyurethane vascular prosthesis.

Methods: Undifferentiated MSCs were seeded on a vascular prosthesis and implanted into Wistar male rats (weight, 350 g) to investigate differentiation into smooth muscle cells and to determine graft endothelialization in vivo.

Results: Seeded or nonseeded grafts were surgically implanted.

Increase in serum adiponectin concentration in patients with heart failure and cachexia: relationship with leptin, other cytokines, and B-type natriuretic peptide.

Aims: Adiponectin is a fat-derived hormone involved in the regulation of metabolism. Adiponectin concentration is inversely related to body weight and, in animals, causes weight loss. We, therefore, measured adiponectin concentration in patients with heart failure (HF) and cachexia.

Role of IGF-I and IGFBPs in the changes of mass and phenotype induced in rat soleus muscle by clenbuterol.

Clenbuterol induces hypertrophy and a slow-to-fast phenotype change in skeletal muscle, but the signaling mechanisms remain unclear. We hypothesized that clenbuterol could act via local expression of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). Administration of clenbuterol to 3-mo-old female Wistar rats resulted in a 10 and 13% increase of soleus muscle mass after 3 and 9 days, respectively, reaching 16% after 4 wk.