Pharmacological significance of the blocking action of the intravenous general anesthetic propofol on the slow component of cardiac delayed rectifier K+ current.

Propofol is a widely used intravenous general anesthetic. The negative inotropic effect of propofol has been best explained by inhibition of the L-type Ca(2+) current (I(Ca)). Using guinea-pig cardiac preparations, however, we found that the propofol concentration producing a 50% decrease in force of contraction was more than 10 times higher than that producing a 50% inhibition of I(Ca), implying that a compensatory mechanism may be present to counteract the negative inotropic effect associated with the I(Ca) inhibition.

Priming by lipopolysaccharide exaggerates acute lung injury and mortality in responses to peptidoglycan through up-regulation of Toll-like receptor-2 expression in mice.

Invasive infection mixed with Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria often results in severe sepsis and septic shock, the prognosis of which is extremely poor and the mortality is high. Here, we hypothesized that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria may exert a priming effect on the innate immune response to peptidoglycan (PepG) from Gram-positive bacteria and if so, examined the molecular mechanism of this priming. We found that mice who underwent intratracheal instillation with PepG (5 mg/kg) following prior administration of LPS (5 mg/kg) had a marked decline in survival as compared with the animals given each bacterial cell wall component alone.

End-tidal carbon dioxide and resuscitation.

In this review, we attempted to summarize the effectiveness and the limitation of end-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. End-tidal carbon dioxide can be an indicator of the real return of spontaneous circulation and can also be an indicator of the effectiveness of cardiac massage. We cannot, however, estimate the prognosis of cardiopulmonary resuscitation from the end-tidal carbon dioxide value.

Role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in acute lung injury in mice with acute pancreatitis complicated by endotoxemia.

Acute pancreatitis accompanied by a subsequent infectious attack can often lead to multisystem organ dysfunction, including acute lung injury (ALI), but the molecular mechanisms are poorly defined. In this study, we explored the role of the priming insult by induction of cerulein pancreatitis, which was followed by the second attack due to endotoxemia, in the development of ALI in mice. Experiments revealed that LPS injection in mice with acute pancreatitis caused the development of ALI, as indicated by blood-gas derangements, pulmonary vascular hyperpermeability, increased inflammatory cell counts in bronchoalveolar lavage, and histologic lung damage.

Performance of a tonometer for arterial pressure measurement during anesthesia in the elderly.

We investigated performance of an arterial tonometer during anesthesia in the elderly. Thirty patients (17 men and 13 women), ranging from 70 to 86 years old, were included, and agreement between tonometric arterial pressure (TAP) and intraarterial pressure (IAP) was calculated. A total of 6487 paired points was sampled, and values for precision (mean absolute difference +/- SD) were 6.