Vascular health years after a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy: The EPOCH study.

Background: Preeclampsia is associated with a two-fold increase in a woman's lifetime risk of developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), but the reasons for this association are uncertain. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between vascular health and a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy among women ≥ 2 years postpartum.

Methods: Pre-menopausal women with a history of either a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (cases: preeclampsia or gestational hypertension) or a normotensive pregnancy (controls) were enrolled.

Loss of smooth muscle cell hypoxia inducible factor-1α underlies increased vascular contractility in pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is an often fatal disease with limited treatment options. Whereas current data support the notion that, in pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs), expression of transcription factor hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is increased, the role of HIF-1α in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) remains controversial. This study investigates the hypothesis that, in PASMCs from patients with PAH, decreases in HIF-1α expression and activity underlie augmented pulmonary vascular contractility.

Human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes can mobilize 1,4,5-inositol trisphosphate-operated [Ca2+]i stores: the functionality of angiotensin-II/endothelin-1 signaling pathways.

Because previous findings showed that in human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CM) the machinery for Ca2+-induced release of calcium is immature, we tested the hypothesis that hESC-CM contain functional 1,4,5-inositol triphosphate (IP3)-operated intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) stores. We investigated the effects of angiotensin II (AT-II) and endothelin 1 (ET-1), which activate the 1,4,5-IP3 pathway, on [Ca2+]i transients and contractions in hESC-CM. Our major findings were that in hESC-CM, both AT-II (10(-9)-10(-7) M) and ET-1 (10(-9)-10(-7) M) exert inotropic and lusitropic effects.

Molecular characterization and functional properties of cardiomyocytes derived from human inducible pluripotent stem cells.

In view of the therapeutic potential of cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells (iPS-derived cardiomyocytes), in the present study we investigated in iPS-derived cardiomyocytes, the functional properties related to [Ca(2+) ](i) handling and contraction, the contribution of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+) release to contraction and the b-adrenergic inotropic responsiveness. The two iPS clones investigated here were generated through infection of human foreskin fibroblasts (HFF) with retroviruses containing the four human genes: OCT4, Sox2, Klf4 and C-Myc. Our major findings showed that iPS-derived cardiomyocytes: (i) express cardiac specific RNA and proteins; (ii) exhibit negative force-frequency relations and mild (compared to adult) post-rest potentiation; (iii) respond to ryanodine and caffeine, albeit less than adult cardiomyocytes, and express the SR-Ca(2+) handling proteins ryanodine receptor and calsequestrin.

TVP1022 protects neonatal rat ventricular myocytes against doxorubicin-induced functional derangements.

Our recent studies demonstrated that propargylamine derivatives such as rasagiline (Azilect, Food and Drug Administration-approved anti-Parkinson drug) and its S-isomer TVP1022 protect cardiac and neuronal cell cultures against apoptotic-inducing stimuli. Studies on structure-activity relationship revealed that their neuroprotective effect is associated with the propargylamine moiety, which protects mitochondrial viability and prevents apoptosis by activating Bcl-2 and protein kinase C-epsilon and by down-regulating the proapoptotic protein Bax. Based on the established cytoprotective and neuroprotective efficacies of propargylamine derivatives, as well as on our recent study showing that TVP1022 attenuates serum starvation-induced and doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs), we tested the hypothesis that TVP1022 will also provide protection against doxorubicin-induced NRVM functional derangements.

1,4,5-Inositol trisphosphate-operated intracellular Ca(2+) stores and angiotensin-II/endothelin-1 signaling pathway are functional in human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

On the basis of previous findings suggesting that in human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CM) the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-induced release of calcium machinery is either absent or immature, in the present study we tested the hypothesis that hESC-CM contain fully functional 1,4,5-inositol trisphosphate (1,4,5-IP(3))-operated intracellular Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](i)) stores that can be mobilized upon appropriate physiological stimuli. To test this hypothesis we investigated the effects of angiotensin-II (AT-II) and endothelin-1 (ET-1), which activate the 1,4,5-IP(3) pathway, on [Ca(2+)](i) transients and contractions in beating clusters of hESC-CM. Our major findings were that in paced hESC-CM both AT-II and ET-1 (10(-9) to 10(-7) M) increased the contraction amplitude and the maximal rates of contraction and relaxation.

Vagal stomach afferents inhibit somatic pain perception.

Vagal stimulation inhibits systemic pain perception in animals, probably via the nucleus tractus solitarius and its connections with descending nuclei in the brainstem which inhibit pain. Pain-inhibiting effects of such stimulation in humans, obtained from epileptic patients treated by vagal stimulation, are controversial. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether vagal stomach afferent activation inhibits pain perception in healthy humans.