Maternal anxiety during pregnancy and children's asthma in preschool age: The Ma'anshan birth cohort study.

Background: The fetal immune system and consequent elevated risk of asthma in childhood may be impacted by maternal anxiety during pregnancy. Limited studies have evaluated whether there was a sensitive period and cumulative effect of the relationship between prenatal anxiety and children's asthma.

Methods: 3131 mother-child pairs made up the study's sample from the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort Study in China.

TSPO ligand etifoxine attenuates LPS-induced cognitive dysfunction in mice.

The translocator protein (TSPO), once known as peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor, was reported to be related with several physiological functions. Etifoxine is a clinically available anxiolytic drug, and has recently shown neuroprotective effects as a TSPO ligand. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of etifoxine on LPS-induced neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction.

Ca2+ cycling in heart cells from ground squirrels: adaptive strategies for intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis.

Heart tissues from hibernating mammals, such as ground squirrels, are able to endure hypothermia, hypoxia and other extreme insulting factors that are fatal for human and nonhibernating mammals. This study was designed to understand adaptive mechanisms involved in intracellular Ca(2+) homeostasis in cardiomyocytes from the mammalian hibernator, ground squirrel, compared to rat. Electrophysiological and confocal imaging experiments showed that the voltage-dependence of L-type Ca(2+) current (I(Ca)) was shifted to higher potentials in ventricular myocytes from ground squirrels vs.

Beta-adrenergic signaling accelerates and synchronizes cardiac ryanodine receptor response to a single L-type Ca2+ channel.

As the most prototypical G protein-coupled receptor, beta-adrenergic receptor (betaAR) regulates the pace and strength of heart beating by enhancing and synchronizing L-type channel (LCC) Ca(2+) influx, which in turn elicits greater sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+) release flux via ryanodine receptors (RyRs). However, whether and how betaAR-protein kinase A (PKA) signaling directly modulates RyR function remains elusive and highly controversial. By using unique single-channel Ca(2+) imaging technology, we measured the response of a single RyR Ca(2+) release unit, in the form of a Ca(2+) spark, to its native trigger, the Ca(2+) sparklet from a single LCC.

[Electrophysiology of two human hyperpolarization activated cyclic nucleotide-gated potassium channels expressed in HEK293 cells].

Objective: To express the human HCN2 and HCN4 genes in HEK293 cells and investigate the electrophysiology of the expressed channel protein.

Methods: cDNA encoding human HCN2 or HCN4 gene was ligated into a shuttle vector pAdTrack-CMV. Homologous recombination was performed in Escherichia coli of the line BJ5183.

Intermolecular failure of L-type Ca2+ channel and ryanodine receptor signaling in hypertrophy.

Pressure overload-induced hypertrophy is a key step leading to heart failure. The Ca(2+)-induced Ca(2+) release (CICR) process that governs cardiac contractility is defective in hypertrophy/heart failure, but the molecular mechanisms remain elusive. To examine the intermolecular aspects of CICR during hypertrophy, we utilized loose-patch confocal imaging to visualize the signaling between a single L-type Ca(2+) channel (LCC) and ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in aortic stenosis rat models of compensated (CHT) and decompensated (DHT) hypertrophy.

Temperature dependence and thermodynamic properties of Ca2+ sparks in rat cardiomyocytes.

To elucidate the temperature dependence and underlying thermodynamic determinants of the elementary Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, we characterized Ca2+ sparks originating from ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in rat cardiomyocytes over a wide range of temperature. From 35 degrees C to 10 degrees C, the normalized fluo-3 fluorescence of Ca2+ sparks decreased monotonically, but the Delta[Ca2+]i were relatively unchanged due to increased resting [Ca2+]i. The time-to-peak of Ca2+ sparks, which represents the RyR Ca2+ release duration, was prolonged by 37% from 35 degrees C to 10 degrees C.

Blockade of L-type calcium channel in myocardium and calcium-induced contractions of vascular smooth muscle by CPU 86017.

Aim: To assess the blockade by CPU 86017 on the L-type calcium channels in the myocardium and on the Ca(2+)-related contractions of vascular smooth muscle.

Methods: The whole-cell patch-clamp was applied to investigate the blocking effect of CPU 86017 on the L-type calcium current in isolated guinea pig myocytes and contractions by KCl or phenylephrine (Phe) of the isolated rat tail arteries were measured.

Results: Suppression of the L-type current of the isolated myocytes by CPU 86017 was moderate, in time- and concentration-dependent manner and with no influence on the activation and inactivation curves.

Blockade of paeoniflorin on sodium current in mouse hippocampal CA1 neurons.

Aim: To study the blockade of paeoniflorin (Pae) on I(Na) in the acutely isolated hippocampus neurons of mice.

Methods: The whole-cell patch clamp technique was used.

Results: Pae inhibited I(Na) in frequency-dependent and concentration-dependent manners, with an IC50 of 271 micromol/L.

Puerarin blocks Na+ current in rat ventricular myocytes.

Aim: To study the effect of puerarin (Pue) on Na+ channel in rat ventricular myocytes.

Methods: Whole-cell patch-clamp technique was applied on isolated cardiomyocytes from rats.

Results: Pue inhibited cardiac INa in a positive rate-dependent and dose-dependent manner, with an IC(50) of 349 micromol/L.