Strong Relationship Between Vascular Function in the Coronary and Brachial Arteries.

Early detection of coronary artery dysfunction is of paramount cardiovascular clinical importance, but a noninvasive assessment is lacking. Indeed, the brachial artery flow-mediated dilation test only weakly correlated with acetylcholine-induced coronary artery function ( r=0.36).

Therapeutic synergy and complementarity for ischemia/reperfusion injury: β1-adrenergic blockade and phosphodiesterase-3 inhibition.

The β1-blocker when administered before reperfusion activates myocyte prosurvival signaling via β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) and protein kinase A (PKA)-dependent mechanism during ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). The heart is endowed with powerful self-protective ability executed by endogenous β2-adrenopeptide receptor activation. I/R triggers cardiac epinephrine and neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) release.

Safety of combination therapy with milrinone and esmolol for heart protection during percutaneous coronary intervention in acute myocardial infarction.

Purpose: Ischemia/reperfusion injury remains an untreated clinical problem in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) despite significant advances in emergent revascularization through percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Pharmacological intervention for infarct size reduction is unavailable. We have identified that the medications milrinone and esmolol, when administered together at the beginning of the reperfusion, significantly decrease infarct size via reducing reperfusion injury in an experimental model.

Reducing ischaemia/reperfusion injury through delta-opioid-regulated intrinsic cardiac adrenergic cells: adrenopeptidergic co-signalling.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to determine whether intrinsic cardiac adrenergic (ICA) cells release calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), exerting synergistic adrenopeptidergic cardioprotection.

Methods And Results: In situ hybridization coupled with immunostaining demonstrated that ICA cells exclusively expressed CGRP mRNA and co-expressed CGRP and delta-opioid receptor in human and rat left ventricular (LV) myocardium. Radioimmunoassay detected constitutive CGRP release from ICA cells in human and rat hearts.

Prolonged survival in 2 nonagenarians with heart failure and severe aortic stenosis.

The prevalence of severe aortic stenosis is 6% in persons 85 to 86 years of age according to a Finnish population-based report. In the United States, the population over 80 years old is projected to rise from the current 7 million to 25 million by the year 2050. Thus, aortic stenosis in aging adults, and the management questions it poses, will be increasingly common.

The cardioprotective effect of a statin and cilostazol combination: relationship to Akt and endothelial nitric oxide synthase activation.

Background: Atorvastatin (ATV) protects against ischemia-reperfusion by upregulating Akt and subsequently, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation at Ser-1177. However, when given orally, high doses of ATV (10 mg/kg/d) are needed to achieve maximal protective effect in the rat. Protein kinase A (PKA) also phosphorylates eNOS at Ser-1177.

Mediating delta-opioid-initiated heart protection via the beta2-adrenergic receptor: role of the intrinsic cardiac adrenergic cell.

Stimulation of cardiac beta(2)-adrenergic receptor (beta(2)-AR) or delta-opioid receptor (DOR) exerts a similar degree of cardioprotection against myocardial ischemia in experimental models. We hypothesized that delta-opioid-initiated cardioprotection is mediated by the intrinsic cardiac adrenergic (ICA) cell via enhanced epinephrine release. Using immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization methods, we detected in situ tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) mRNA and TH immunoreactivity that was colocalized with DOR immunoreactivity in ICA cells in human and rat hearts.

Aspirin before reperfusion blunts the infarct size limiting effect of atorvastatin.

We assessed whether aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid, ASA), administered before reperfusion, abrogates the infarct size (IS)-limiting effect of atorvastatin (ATV). Statins reduce IS. This dose-dependent effect is mediated by upregulation of cycloxygenase-2 (COX2) and PGI(2) production.

Oxidative stress and apoptosis in cardiomyocyte induced by high-dose alcohol.

Binge drinking of alcohol causes cardiac dysfunction in some people. The mechanism remains unclear. This study was designed to investigate high doses of alcohol-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in cardiomyocytes and protective effects of antioxidants.

Paradoxical effect of prostacyclin infusion in a patient with primary pulmonary hypertension-a case report.

Prostacyclin treatment successfully delays the need for lung transplantation in many patients with progressive primary pulmonary hypertension by vasodilating pulmonary arteries. However, the treatment of pulmonary hypertension with prostacyclin may cause a paradoxical increase in pulmonary artery pressure, as shown in this case.

Severe obstruction of the left main coronary artery by mycotic aortic psuedoaneurysm following orthotopic heart transplantation.

Mycotic aneurysm of the ascending aorta is a rare complication following orthotopic heart transplantation. This article describes a case of mycotic pseudoaneurysm caused by Candida albicans that developed shortly after orthotopic heart transplantation. The pseudoaneurysm compressed the left main coronary artery, which led to the development of congestive heart failure symptoms mimicking sub-acute transplant rejection.