Objectives: To assess the effects of tocilizumab on pregnancy outcomes in Japanese patients with rheumatic disease.
Methods: Data from Chugai's tocilizumab safety database (April 2005 to October 2014) were retrospectively analyzed to identify pregnancy outcomes in patients exposed to tocilizumab.
Results: Data were available for 61 pregnancies exposed to tocilizumab, and outcomes were reported for 50 of those pregnancies.
Sirolimus (SRL) is widely used to prevent restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention. However, its beneficial effect is hampered by complications of thrombosis. Several studies imply that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a critical role in endothelial dysfunction and thrombus formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Cardioprotective effects induced by delayed ischemic preconditioning and by nicorandil are mediated via expression of cardioprotective factors such as COX-2. The present study was undertaken to evaluate whether nicorandil could induce COX-2 in rats and to elucidate its mode of induction pharmacologically.
Methods And Results: Three hours after administration of nicorandil (10 mg/kg, p.
Proteinuria, a symptom of hypertensive renal injury, is a powerful predictor of mortality in chronic kidney disease patients with hypertension. The present study investigated whether a nonhypotensive dose of nicorandil could decrease hypertensive renal injury in male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Nicorandil (15 mg/kg/day, for 20 weeks) was administered in the drinking water to rats from 11 weeks old.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPaclitaxel-eluting stents dramatically reduce rates of in-stent restenosis; however, paclitaxel is known to lead to endothelial dysfunction. Protective effects of nicorandil on paclitaxel-induced endothelial dysfunction by examining flow-mediated dilation (FMD) were investigated in anesthetized rats. After 7-day osmotic infusion of paclitaxel (5 mg/kg per day), FMD was measured by high-resolution ultrasound in the femoral artery of living rats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Nicorandil, an anti-angina agent, reportedly improves outcomes even in angina patients with diabetes. However, the precise mechanism underlying the beneficial effect of nicorandil on diabetic patients has not been examined. We investigated the protective effect of nicorandil on endothelial function in diabetic rats because endothelial dysfunction is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease in diabetes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe pathological influences of inflammation on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) were studied in subtotal nephrectomized (SNx) rats after 0.3% NaCl loading for 5 weeks. We found that mild hypertension, increased plasma levels of creatinine, inorganic phosphate, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were observed in the present SNx rats without LVH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent clinical studies on chronic kidney disease (CKD) reported that renal dysfunction was a critical risk factor for cardiovascular events (CVE), which lead us to reconsider the effect of cardioprotective agents on the kidney. Glomerulonephritis, which is the major cause of CKD, is characterized by mesangial cell proliferation and extracellular matrix deposition. Nicorandil, a therapeutic drug for angina and acute heart failure, have been reported to show antiproliferative activity in mesangial cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although nicorandil has a number of beneficial cardiovascular actions, its effects on endothelial cells in the context of thrombosis have not been elucidated.
Methods And Results: Arterial thrombosis was induced by endothelial injury caused by FeCl(3) in the mouse testicular artery. Thrombus growth led to complete occlusion 12 min after endothelial injury in control mice.
Objective: It was studied to determine if nicorandil can improve frequent urination in rats with partial bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) without changing the blood pressure.
Materials And Methods: Voiding behavior was observed 6 to 8 d after obstruction in female rats with BOO that loaded 30 ml/kg of water. A drug was administered orally.
Objectives: To investigate the effects of nicorandil, an ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channel opener with a nitric oxide (NO) donor property, on overactive bladder (OAB) in animal models. Nicorandil is currently used clinically to treat ischaemic heart disease.
Materials And Methods: Three animal OAB models were used: (i) C-fibre mediated bladder overactivity by infusion of a low concentration of acetic acid (AA) into the bladder in female Wistar rats; (ii) bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) created by partial urethral obstruction in female Wistar rats; and (iii) neuronal NO synthase (nNOS) knockout (KO) mice with urinary frequency.
Nicorandil increased the anti-platelet aggregation activity of endothelial cells when endothelial cells were exposed to hypoxia-reoxygenation conditions. However, nicorandil (0.1-10 muM) did not inhibit platelet aggregation directly.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNicorandil, a hybrid compound of an ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP ) channel opener and a nitric oxide donor, has been reported to preserve microvascular integrity in patients with reperfused myocardial infarction. The aim of the current study was to test the hypothesis that nicorandil suppresses activation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs), resulting in reduction of PMNL migration into tissue upon ischemia/reperfusion. Nicorandil, along with the mitochondrial KATP channel opener diazoxide and the nitric oxide donors nitroglycerin and isosorbide dinitrate, suppressed pseudopod projection in human PMNLs treated with 10(-9)-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) and subjected to shear stress (5 dyn/cm(2)) with a cone-and-plate shear device.
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