Interstitial pneumonia induced by ticlopidine.

A 67-year-old female non-smoker, who had been diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolemia associated with severe atherosclerosis of the coronary, carotid and vertebral arteries, developed interstitial pneumonia 4 months after initiating ticlopidine to inhibit platelet aggregation. The lymphocyte stimulation test by ticlopidine was positive and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid showed an increase in lymphocytes and a decrease in the CD4+/8+ ratio, suggesting potentially undesirable side effects of ticlopidine. Two months after ticlopidine therapy was discontinued and prednisolone therapy started, the interstitial pneumonia had almost completely resolved.

Rapid increase in cardiac adrenomedullin gene expression caused by acute pressure overload: effect of the renin-angiotensin system on gene expression.

To determine whether acute pressure overload (POL) can stimulate adrenomedullin (AM) production, the response of ventricular AM gene expression and plasma AM concentration to aortic banding was investigated in the rat. Furthermore, any link between AM expression and the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) enhanced by acute POL was examined using: a Ca channel blocker (manidipine), an angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist (candesartan), and an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (quinapril). Rats with acute POL produced by suprarenal aortic banding were studied 1, 5 and 14 days after surgery.