Ivabradine restores tonic cardiovascular autonomic control and reduces tachycardia, hypertension and left ventricular inflammation in post-weaning protein malnourished rats.

Unlabelled: Malnutrition results in autonomic imbalance and heart hypertrophy. Overexpression of hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (HCN) in the left ventricles (LV) is linked to hypertrophied hearts and abnormal myocardium automaticity. Given that ivabradine (IVA) has emerging pleiotropic effects, in addition to the widely known bradycardic response, this study evaluated if IVA treatment could repair the autonomic control and cardiac damages in malnourished rats.

Organoids as a novel tool in modelling infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases worldwide affect human health and have important societal impacts. A better understanding of infectious diseases is urgently needed. In vitro and in vivo infection models have brought notable contributions to the current knowledge of these diseases.

Biomarkers in Hypertension and Hypertension-related Disorders.

Systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) is a major risk factor for several secondary diseases, especially cardiovascular and renal conditions. SAH has a high prevalence worldwide, and its precise and early recognition is important to prevent the development of secondary outcomes. In this field, the study of biomarkers represents an important approach to diagnosing and predicting the disease and its associated conditions.

Linear and non-linear analysis of heart rate variability in HIV-positive patients on two different antiretroviral therapy regimens.

Background: Cardiac autonomic dysfunction in HIV+ patients on different antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens has been described. We aimed to characterize parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) and correlate with different classes of ART in HIV+ patients in three experimental conditions: rest, cold face, and tilt tests.

Methods: Cross-sectional study with three groups of age- and gender-matched individuals: group 1, 44 HIV+ patients undergoing combination therapy, with two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) and one non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI); group 2, 42 HIV+ patients using two NRTI and protease inhibitors (PI's); and group 3, 35 healthy volunteers with negative HIV serology (control group).

Exercise training ameliorates adrenergic control in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The goal of this study was to examine vascular control after sympathetic stimulation by tyramine infusion in hypertensive rats submitted to swimming training. To this end, male rats were assigned to the following groups: sedentary (SN) and trained normotensive (TN), sedentary (SH) and trained hypertensive (TH). Arterial pressure (AP), heart rate (HR), HR variability (HRV), AP variability (APV), and cardiac autonomic function were recorded.

T-Cell Immunophenotyping and Cytokine Production Analysis in Patients with Chagas Disease 4 Years after Benznidazole Treatment.

The major problem with Chagas disease is evolution of the chronic indeterminate form to a progressive cardiac disease. Treatment diminishes parasitemia but not clinical progression, and the immunological features involved are unclear. Here, we studied the clinical course and the immune response in patients with chronic-phase Chagas disease at 48 months after benznidazole treatment.

Effects of diabetes mellitus on myenteric neuronal density and sodium channel expression in the rat ileum.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) may lead to gastrointestinal motility disorders. Rodent models of DM indicate the presence of morpho-functional abnormalities of the enteric nervous system. Here, we evaluated whether experimental DM can cause changes in the excitatory cholinergic fibers, neuronal density, and voltage-gated sodium channel (Nav) expression in the myenteric plexus of the ileum.

Cardiac autonomic modulation and long-term use of amiodarone in patients with chronic Chagasic cardiopathy.

Background: Patients with chronic Chagas cardiopathy (CCC), which may be associated with cardiac arrhythmias, frequently use amiodarone, an antiarrhythmic drug that, experimentally, appears to modulate the cardiac autonomic function.

Objective: The present cross-sectional observational study aimed to evaluate autonomic cardiac modulation in patients with CCC undergoing chronic amiodarone therapy.

Methods: Three groups were investigated: Group 1 included patients with CCC not treated with amiodarone (n = 27); Group 2 included patients with CCC with prolonged use (at least 6 months) of amiodarone (n = 16); and Group 3 included non-Chagasic control patients (n = 23).

Reference values for short-term resting-state heart rate variability in healthy adults: Results from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health-ELSA-Brasil study.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a psychophysiological phenomenon with broad implications, providing an accessible index of vagal function, underpinning psychological constructs, including the capacity for social engagement and emotion regulation, and may predict future morbidity and mortality. However, the lack of reference values for short-term HRV indices for participants of both sexes across the age spectrum is a limiting factor. This was the objective of the present study.

Long-term anabolic steroids in male bodybuilders induce cardiovascular structural and autonomic abnormalities.

Objective: The aims of this study were to examine the hypothesis that users of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) would have cardiac autonomic disorders and that there is a correlation between sympathetic modulation, high blood pressure (BP) and alterations to cardiac dimensions.

Methods: Forty-five male subjects were enrolled in the study. They were categorized into three groups comprising bodybuilders actively using AAS (AAS users; n = 15), bodybuilders who had never used AAS (nonusers; n = 15) and age-paired healthy sedentary controls (n = 15).

Exercise training improves hypertension-induced autonomic dysfunction without influencing properties of peripheral cardiac vagus nerve.

We examined the vagal transfer function of autonomic heart rate (HR) control in anesthetized sedentary and exercise-trained Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR). To this end, male SHR and Wystar-Kyoto (WKY) rats with 48-50weeks of age-old were divided into 4 groups: sedentary (SHR, n=12) and trained (SHR, n=14) hypertensive rats, sedentary (WKY, n=13) and trained (WKY, n=13) normotensive rats. The trained groups were submitted to swimming protocol for 9weeks.

Biological properties of cardiac mesenchymal stem cells in rats with diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Unlabelled: Cardiomyopathy is a major outcome in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and contributes to the high morbidity/mortality observed in this disease.

Aims: To evaluate several biological properties of cardiac mesenchymal stem cells (cMSCs) in a rat model of streptozotocin-induced DM with concomitant diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Main Methods: After 10weeks of DM induction, diabetic and control rats were assessed using ECG and ventricular hemodynamics monitoring.

Amiodarone and itraconazole improve the activity of pentavalent antimonial in the treatment of experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Leishmaniasis affect millions of people, causing morbidity and mortality, especially in developing tropical and subtropical countries. Unfortunately, the possibilities of treatment for these infections are still quite limited and most of the available drugs present serious side effects. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the therapeutic role of amiodarone and itraconazole in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis.

Comparison between symbolic and spectral analyses of short-term heart rate variability in a subsample of the ELSA-Brasil study.

Linear and nonlinear analyses of heart rate variability (HRV) have been largely used to evaluate the autonomic balance directed to the cardiovascular system. However, comparative studies evaluating the agreement between methods are scarce. Therefore, our aim was to examine the relationship between spectral (SPA; linear) and symbolic analyses (SYA; nonlinear) indexes.

Priming Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Endothelial Growth Medium Boosts Stem Cell Therapy for Systemic Arterial Hypertension.

Systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), a clinical syndrome characterized by persistent elevation of arterial pressure, is often associated with abnormalities such as microvascular rarefaction, defective angiogenesis, and endothelial dysfunction. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which normally induce angiogenesis and improve endothelial function, are defective in SAH. The central aim of this study was to evaluate whether priming of MSCs with endothelial growth medium (EGM-2) increases their therapeutic effects in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs).

Modulation of sympathetic activity and heart rate variability by ivabradine.

Aims: Bradycardic agents are currently used in the treatment of angina and heart failure; direct information on their effects on cardiac sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) may be relevant to their chronic use. The present study evaluates the effect of pacemaker inhibition on SNA; direct nerve recordings and indirect autonomic indexes are compared.

Methods And Results: Experiments were performed in 18 anaesthetized rats.

Endogenous resident c-Kit cardiac stem cells increase in mice with an exercise-induced, physiologically hypertrophied heart.

Physical activity evokes well-known adaptations in the cardiovascular system. Although exercise training induces cardiac remodeling, whether multipotent stem cells play a functional role in the hypertrophic process remains unknown. To evaluate this possibility, C57BL/6 mice were subjected to swimming training aimed at achieving cardiac hypertrophy, which was morphologically and electrocardiographically characterized.

Effects of cholinergic stimulation with pyridostigmine bromide on chronic chagasic cardiomyopathic mice.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of an anticholinesterase agent, pyridostigmine bromide (Pyrido), on experimental chronic Chagas heart disease in mice. To this end, male C57BL/6J mice noninfected (control:Con) or chronically infected (5 months) with Trypanosoma cruzi (chagasic:Chg) were treated or not (NT) with Pyrido for one month. At the end of this period, electrocardiogram (ECG); cardiac autonomic function; heart histopathology; serum cytokines; and the presence of blood and tissue parasites by means of immunohistochemistry and PCR were assessed.

Opposite effects of bone marrow-derived cells transplantation in MPTP-rat model of Parkinson's disease: a comparison study of mononuclear and mesenchymal stem cells.

The 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) animal model is a useful tool to study Parkinson's disease (PD) and was used in the present study to investigate the potential beneficial as well as deleterious effects of systemic bone-marrow mononuclear cell (BMMC) or mesenchymal stem cell (BM-MSC) transplantation. MPTP administration resulted in a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier and motor impairment in the open field test 24 h after surgery. Three and 7 days after receiving the lesion, the injured animals showed remaining motor impairment compared to the sham groups along with a significant loss of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive (TH-ir) cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc).

Remodeling of elastic layer of aortic artery after training by swimming in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, in which the elastic properties of arteries are subjected to high pressure levels, and networks of elastic fibers may develop cleft longitudinal, transverse, breaks and fragmentation, and such structural changes (fibrosis and degradation of elastin) may lead to a decrease in the elasticity of the artery. The descending thoracic aortas of normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) subjected to physical training through swimming or those of sedentary rats were prepared with hematoxylin-eosin and Verhoff to assess the artery medial. The images were captured with a videocamera coupled to an ordinary light microscope and the images were analyzed with the same program.

Symptoms of anxiety and mood disturbance alter cardiac and peripheral autonomic control in patients with metabolic syndrome.

Previous investigations show that metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) causes sympathetic hyperactivation. Symptoms of anxiety and mood disturbance (AMd) provoke sympatho-vagal imbalance. We hypothesized that AMd would alter even further the autonomic function in patients with MetSyn.

Autonomic nervous system modulation affects the inflammatory immune response in mice with acute Chagas disease.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of changes to the autonomic nervous system in mice during the acute phase of Chagas disease, which is an infection caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. The following types of mice were inoculated with T. cruzi (CHG): wild-type (WT) and vesicular acetylcholine transporter knockdown (KDVAChT) C57BL/6j mice; wild-type non-treated (NT) FVB mice; FVB mice treated with pyridostigmine bromide (PYR) or salbutamol (SALB); and β(2)-adrenergic receptor knockout (KOβ2) FVB mice.

Autonomic neuroimmunomodulation in chagasic cardiomyopathy.

Chagas disease is an endemic parasitic disease, caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, with a high prevalence in Latin America. During its chronic phase, chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy is the most apparent clinical form, affecting 25-30% of patients. This clinical form may present as congestive heart failure, thromboembolic phenomena, cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death.

Exercise-training reduced blood pressure and improve placental vascularization in pregnant spontaneously hypertensive rats--pilot study.

Assess the effects of exercise-training on resting arterial pressure and heart rate, placental fetuses morphologic alterations in pregnant spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs).Twenty SHRs and their respective control normotensive rats (WKY) were submitted or not to a swimming protocol during 9 weeks, resulting in four pregnant experimental groups: sedentary hypertensive (PSH), trained hypertensive (PTH), sedentary normotensive (PSN), and trained normotensive (PTN). Exercise-training by swimming attenuates arterial pressure in pregnant SHRs, and can contribute to an increase in the length of fetuses and the percentage of the vessels in the placenta.