Research progress of autophagy in heart failure.

Heart failure poses a significant threat to global public health within the realm of cardiovascular diseases. Its pathological progression involves various alterations in cardiomyocytes, among which autophagy, a crucial intracellular degradation mechanism, plays a pivotal role. Autophagy facilitates the breakdown of damaged organelles and proteins, thereby maintaining cellular homeostasis.

Effect of moxibustion combined with intraperitoneal injection of benazepril on endoplasmic reticulum stress-related protein phosphorylation in rats with chronic heart failure.

Objectives: To observe the effect of moxibustion at "Xinshu"(BL15) and "Feishu"(BL13) combined with intraperitoneal injection of benazepril on cardiac function and phosphorylation of protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) and eukaryotic initiation factor 2α (elF2α) proteins in myocardium of rats with chronic heart failure (CHF), so as to explore its potential mechanism underlying improvement of CHF.

Methods: A total of 42 male SD rats were randomly assigned to blank control (=10), CHF model (=7), medication (benazepril, =8), moxibustion (=8) and moxibustion+benazepril (=9) groups, after cardiac ultrasound model identification and elimination of the dead. The CHF model was established by intraperitoneal injection of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX), once every week for 6 weeks.

An extraordinary fossil captures the struggle for existence during the Mesozoic.

Dinosaurs and mammals have coexisted for the last ~ 230 million years. Both groups arose during the Late Triassic and diversified throughout the Mesozoic and into the Cenozoic (the latter in the form of birds). Although they undoubtedly interacted in many ways, direct fossil evidence for their interaction is rare.

[Qibai Pingfei capsule alleviates inflammation and oxidative stress in a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease rat model with syndromes of Qi deficiency and phlegm and blood stasis by regulating the SIRT1/FoxO3a pathway].

Objective To explore the effect of Qibai Pingfei capsule (QPC) on the inflammation and oxidative stress in a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rat models with the syndromes of qi deficiency and phlegm and blood stasis by regulating the SIRT1/FoxO3a pathway. Methods A total of 80 male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups with 20 animals in each group: a non-diseased group, a non-treated diseased group, a diseased group treated with QPC, and a diseased group treated with placebo. The COPD rat models with the syndromes of qi deficiency and phlegm and blood stasis were then developed with established protocols.

Protective role of autophagy in palmitate-induced INS-1 beta-cell death.

Autophagy, a vacuolar degradative pathway, constitutes a stress adaptation that avoids cell death or elicits the alternative cell-death pathway. This study was undertaken to determine whether autophagy is activated in palmitate (PA)-treated beta-cells and, if activated, what the role of autophagy is in the PA-induced beta-cell death. The enhanced formation of autophagosomes and autolysosomes was observed by exposure of INS-1 beta-cells to 400 microm PA in the presence of 25 mm glucose for 12 h.