Does probiotic ingestion reduce the risk of preeclampsia? A systematic review.

We aimed to systematically review the literature on the effects of probiotic consumption on the risk of preeclampsia (PE) development. Eight databases, clinical trial registries, and grey literature were searched until February 2022. Studies were included if they (1) were randomized clinical trials (RCTs), (2) included pregnant women aged ≥ 18 years old, (3) used probiotics products, and (4) were written in the Latin alphabet.

Autonomic Regulation of Inflammation in Conscious Animals.

Bioelectronic medicine is a novel field in modern medicine based on the specific neuronal stimulation to control organ function, cardiovascular, and immune homeostasis. However, most studies addressing neuromodulation of the immune system have been conducted on anesthetized animals, which can affect the nervous system and neuromodulation. Here, we review recent studies involving conscious experimental rodents (rats and mice) to better understand the functional organization of neural control of immune homeostasis.

P2X3 receptor antagonism attenuates the progression of heart failure.

Despite advances in the treatment of heart failure, prognosis is poor, mortality high and there remains no cure. Heart failure is associated with reduced cardiac pump function, autonomic dysregulation, systemic inflammation and sleep-disordered breathing; these morbidities are exacerbated by peripheral chemoreceptor dysfunction. We reveal that in heart failure the carotid body generates spontaneous, episodic burst discharges coincident with the onset of disordered breathing in male rats.

The antinociceptive effect of manual acupuncture in the auricular branch of the vagus nerve in visceral and somatic acute pain models and its laterality dependence.

Aims: The vagus nerve provides an important route to the central nervous system, and its brain projections are involved in nociceptive control and pain perception. We investigated the effect of ABVN stimulation on the inhibition of nociceptive signaling and the role of the cholinergic system in its neurobiological effects in models of visceral-somatic pain in rats, as well as the potential difference in stimulus laterality.

Materials And Methods: Male and female Wistar rats were pretreated with auricular acupuncture in the ABVN and submitted to the visceral-somatic nociception model by acetic acid or somatic nociception by formalin.

Heart rate fragmentation, a novel approach in heart rate variability analysis, is altered in rats 4 and 12 weeks after myocardial infarction.

An approach recently proposed to assess ultra-rapid patterns of heart rate variability, namely heart rate fragmentation (HRF), is increased in aging and coronary disease. We aimed to evaluate and to correlate HRF with cardiac functional parameters in a rat model of myocardial infarction (MI). Wistar rats were submitted to MI (n = 18) or sham operation (n = 20), and after 4 or 12 weeks, their arterial pressure was recorded.

Benefits of pharmacological and electrical cholinergic stimulation in hypertension and heart failure.

Systemic arterial hypertension and heart failure are cardiovascular diseases that affect millions of individuals worldwide. They are characterized by a change in the autonomic nervous system balance, highlighted by an increase in sympathetic activity associated with a decrease in parasympathetic activity. Most therapeutic approaches seek to treat these diseases by medications that attenuate sympathetic activity.

Enhancing respiratory sinus arrhythmia increases cardiac output in rats with left ventricular dysfunction.

Key Points: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is physiological pacing of the heart that disappears in cardiovascular disease and is associated with poor cardiac prognosis. In heart failure, cardiac pacing has little, if any, variation in rate at rest. We proposed that reinstatement of respiratory sinus arrhythmia would improve cardiac function in rats with heart failure.

Heart failure developed after myocardial infarction does not affect gut microbiota composition in the rat.

There is a body of evidence that supports the notion that gut dysbiosis plays a role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Decreased cardiac function can reduce intestinal perfusion, resulting in morphological alterations, which may contribute to changes in the gut microbiota composition in patients with heart failure (HF). In this regard, a germane question is whether changes in gut microbiota composition are a cause or consequence of the cardiovascular disturbance.

Chronic Treatment With Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors Attenuates Vascular Dysfunction in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.

Background: Acetylcholinesterase inhibition prevents autonomic imbalance, reduces inflammation, and attenuates the development of hypertension. Considering that vascular dysfunction is a crucial feature of arterial hypertension, we investigated the effects of chronic administration of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors-pyridostigmine or donepezil-on vascular reactivity of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR).

Methods: Endothelium-dependent relaxant responses to acetylcholine (ACh) and contractile responses induced by electric field stimulation (EFS) and alpha-adrenergic agonist were studied in mesenteric resistance arteries from SHR and Wistar Kyoto rats.

Nonlinearities of heart rate variability in animal models of impaired cardiac control: contribution of different time scales.

Heart rate variability (HRV) has been extensively explored by traditional linear approaches (e.g., spectral analysis); however, several studies have pointed to the presence of nonlinear features in HRV, suggesting that linear tools might fail to account for the complexity of the HRV dynamics.

Elastase-2, a Tissue Alternative Pathway for Angiotensin II Generation, Plays a Role in Circulatory Sympathovagal Balance in Mice.

and experiments indicate that elastase-2 (ELA-2), a chymotrypsin-serine protease elastase family member 2A, is an alternative pathway for angiotensin II (Ang II) generation. However, the role played by ELA-2 is unclear. We examined ELA-2 knockout (ELA-2KO) mice compared to wild-type (WT) mice and determined whether ELA-2 played a role in hemodynamics [arterial pressure (AP) and heart rate (HR)], cardiocirculatory sympathovagal balance and baroreflex sensitivity.

Baroreflex control of renal sympathetic nerve activity in early heart failure assessed by the sequence method.

Key Points: The integrity of the baroreflex control of sympathetic activity in heart failure (HF) remains under debate. We proposed the use of the sequence method to assess the baroreflex control of renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA). The sequence method assesses the spontaneous arterial pressure (AP) fluctuations and their related changes in heart rate (or other efferent responses), providing the sensitivity and the effectiveness of the baroreflex.

Multiscale entropy analysis of heart rate variability in heart failure, hypertensive, and sinoaortic-denervated rats: classical and refined approaches.

The analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) by nonlinear methods has been gaining increasing interest due to their ability to quantify the complexity of cardiovascular regulation. In this study, multiscale entropy (MSE) and refined MSE (RMSE) were applied to track the complexity of HRV as a function of time scale in three pathological conscious animal models: rats with heart failure (HF), spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), and rats with sinoaortic denervation (SAD). Results showed that HF did not change HRV complexity, although there was a tendency to decrease the entropy in HF animals.

Utility of a Novel Biofeedback Device for Within-Breath Modulation of Heart Rate in Rats: A Quantitative Comparison of Vagus Nerve vs. Right Atrial Pacing.

In an emerging bioelectronics era, there is a clinical need for physiological devices incorporating biofeedback that permits natural and demand-dependent control in real time. Here, we describe a novel device termed a central pattern generator (CPG) that uses cutting edge analog circuitry producing temporally controlled, electrical stimulus outputs based on the real time integration of physiological feedback. Motivated by the fact that respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), which is the cyclical changes in heart rate every breath, is an essential component of heart rate variability (HRV) (an indicator of cardiac health), we have explored the versatility and efficiency of the CPG for producing respiratory modulation of heart rate in anesthetized, spontaneously breathing rats.

Electrical stimulation of the aortic depressor nerve in conscious rats overcomes the attenuation of the baroreflex in chronic heart failure.

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is characterized by autonomic dysfunction combined with baroreflex attenuation. The hypotensive and bradycardic responses produced by electrical stimulation of the aortic depressor nerve (ADN) were examined in conscious CHF and control male Wistar rats (12-13 wk old). Furthermore, the role of parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system in mediating the cardiovascular responses to baroreflex activation was evaluated by selective β1-adrenergic and muscarinic receptor antagonists.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improve Heart Rate Variability and Baroreflex Sensitivity in Rats with Chronic Heart Failure.

Heart failure induced by myocardial infarct (MI) attenuates the heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex sensitivity, which are important risk factors for life-threatening cardiovascular events. Therapies with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown promising results after MI. However, the effects of MSCs on hemodynamic (heart rate and arterial pressure) variability and baroreflex sensitivity in chronic heart failure (CHF) following MI have not been evaluated thus far.

Acetylcholinesterase Inhibition Attenuates the Development of Hypertension and Inflammation in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.

Background: It is hypothesized that chronic increase of availability of acetylcholine, resulting from the effect of antiacetylcholinesterases, may prevent autonomic imbalance and reduce inflammation yielding benefic effects for cardiovascular disorders in hypertension. The effect of long-term administration of antiacetylcholinesterase agents with central and/or peripheral action, i.e.

Increase in parasympathetic tone by pyridostigmine prevents ventricular dysfunction during the onset of heart failure.

Heart failure (HF) is characterized by elevated sympathetic activity and reduced parasympathetic control of the heart. Experimental evidence suggests that the increase in parasympathetic function can be a therapeutic alternative to slow HF evolution. The parasympathetic neurotransmission can be improved by acetylcholinesterase inhibition.

Myocardial infarction area quantification using high-resolution SPECT images in rats.

Background: Imaging techniques enable in vivo sequential assessment of the morphology and function of animal organs in experimental models. We developed a device for high-resolution single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging based on an adapted pinhole collimator.

Objective: To determine the accuracy of this system for quantification of myocardial infarct area in rats.