Synaptic degradation of cardiac autonomic nerves in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Background: Cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is a common complication in type I diabetes mellitus (DM). Nevertheless, the relationship between functional and structural disturbances of cardiac autonomic nerves remains unclear.

Methods And Results: To clarify this relationship, we studied heart rate variability (HRV) and ultrastructural changes of cardiac autonomic nerves in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced DM in rats.

Cardiac autonomic nerve abnormalities in chronic heart failure are associated with presynaptic vagal nerve degeneration.

Background: Understanding of the functional and structural disturbances of cardiac autonomic nerves in ventricular hypertrophy and eventual chronic heart failure (CHF) remains unclear.

Methods And Results: ECG signals were obtained by a radio transmitter from male Wistar rats that received monocrotaline (MCT) via subcutaneous injection. Heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) were analyzed.

Rescue of pulmonary hypertension with an oral sulfonamide antibiotic sulfisoxazole by endothelin receptor antagonistic actions.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a disease of unknown etiology that ultimately causes right ventricle heart failure with a lethal outcome. An increase in circulating endothelin (ET)-1 levels may contribute to disease progression. This study aimed to examine the possible effects of an orally active ET receptor antagonist, sulfisoxazole (SFX), for the rescue of PH, right ventricular hypertrophy, and eventual right ventricular failure.

Three different bradycardic agents, zatebradine, diltiazem and propranolol, distinctly modify heart rate variability and QT-interval variability.

Zatebradine, diltiazem and propranolol are all antiarrhythmic agents, and all induce bradycardia, but each is known to have a different initial molecular mechanism: zatebradine is a channel blocker of the hyperpolarization-activated inward current (I(f)); diltiazem is a blocker of the L-type Ca(2+) channel (I(CaL)), and propranolol is a beta-blocker. To further investigate the mechanisms underlying their clinical effects, we studied their effects on heart rate variability (HRV) and QT-interval variability (QTV). To this end, guinea pigs were treated with either zatebradine (1.

Inhomogeneous derangement of cardiac autonomic nerve control in diabetic rats.

The present study compared autonomic nervous function in Kob [Spontaneously Diabetic, Bio-Breeding (BB)] rats with control Wistar rats to determine the development of cardiac neuropathy in diabetic rats. Telemetric ECG signals were obtained from an ECG radio-transmitter placed in a dorsal subcutaneous pouch of male Kob and Wistar rats for 30min every 6h at a sample rate of 5kHz. Heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) were analyzed in each group by power spectrograms obtained by a fast Fourier transform algorithm.