The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics
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J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. · Nov 2012
Chronic anthracycline cardiotoxicity: molecular and functional analysis with focus on nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 and mitochondrial biogenesis pathways.
Anthracycline anticancer drugs (e.g., doxorubicin or daunorubicin) can induce chronic cardiotoxicity and heart failure (HF), both of which are believed to be based on oxidative injury and mitochondrial damage. In this study, molecular and functional changes induced by chronic anthracycline treatment with progression into HF in post-treatment follow-up were analyzed with special emphasis on nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC1α) pathways. Chronic cardiotoxicity was induced in rabbits with daunorubicin (3 mg/kg, weekly for 10 weeks), and the animals were followed for another 10 weeks. ⋯ Although marked perturbations in mitochondrial functions were found, no induction of PGC1α-controlled mitochondrial biogenesis pathway was revealed. Instead, especially in the post-treatment period, an impaired regulation of this pathway was observed along with down-regulation of the expression of mitochondrial genes. These results imply that global oxidative stress need not be a factor responsible for the development of anthracycline-induced HF, whereas suppression of mitochondrial biogenesis might be involved.
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J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. · Nov 2012
Late sodium current inhibition alone with ranolazine is sufficient to reduce ischemia- and cardiac glycoside-induced calcium overload and contractile dysfunction mediated by reverse-mode sodium/calcium exchange.
Excessive reverse-mode (RM) sodium/calcium exchanger 1.1 (NCX1.1) activity, resulting from intracellular sodium accumulation caused by reduced Na+/K+-ATPase activity, increased Na-H exchanger 1 activity. The induction of the voltage-gated sodium channel late current component (late INa), is a major pathway for intracellular calcium (Ca2+i) loading in cardiac ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury and cardiac glycoside toxicity. Inhibition of late INa with the antianginal agent ranolazine is protective in models of IR injury and cardiac glycoside toxicity. ⋯ Ranolazine (10 μM), but not lidocaine (10 μM), reduced RM NCX1.1-mediated Ca2+i overload in ventricular myocytes. Furthermore, ranolazine inhibited RM NCX1.1 currents (IC50 1.7 μM), without affecting forward mode currents, revealing that ranolazine has novel RM NCX1.1 inhibitory actions. However, because lidocaine provides similar protection to ranolazine in whole-heart models but does not inhibit RM NCX1.1, we conclude that induction of late INa is upstream of RM NCX1.1 activity and selective inhibition of late INa alone is sufficient to reduce Ca2+i overload and contractile dysfunction in IR injury and cardiac glycoside toxicity.
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J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. · Nov 2012
Up-regulation of human prostaglandin reductase 1 improves the efficacy of hydroxymethylacylfulvene, an antitumor chemotherapeutic agent.
Prostaglandin reductase 1 (PTGR1) is a highly inducible enzyme with enone reductase activity. Previous studies demonstrated the role of rat PTGR1 in the activation of acylfulvene analogs, a class of antitumor natural product derivatives. Of these, hydroxymethylacylfulvene (HMAF) was in advanced clinical development for the treatment of advanced solid tumors, including prostate, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers. ⋯ New data obtained in this study suggest that transfection with human PTGR1, or its induction in colon and liver cancer cell lines with 1,2-dithiol-3-thione, enhances susceptibility to the cytotoxic influences of HMAF by 2- to 10-fold. Furthermore, similar or enhanced enzyme induction and HMAF toxicity results from preconditioning cancer cells with the bioactive food components curcumin and resveratrol. The functional impact of PTGR1 induction in human cells and chemical-based strategies for its activation can provide important knowledge for the design of clinical strategies involving reductively activated cytotoxic chemotherapeutics.
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J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. · Nov 2012
Dissociable effects of the cannabinoid receptor agonists Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and CP55940 on pain-stimulated versus pain-depressed behavior in rats.
Cannabinoid receptor agonists produce reliable antinociception in most preclinical pain assays but have inconsistent analgesic efficacy in humans. This disparity suggests that conventional preclinical assays of nociception are not sufficient for the prediction of cannabinoid effects related to clinical analgesia. To extend the range of preclinical cannabinoid assessment, this study compared the effects of the marijuana constituent and low-efficacy cannabinoid agonist Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and the high-efficacy synthetic cannabinoid agonist 3-(2-hydroxy-4-(1,1-dimethylheptyl)phenyl)-4-(3-hydroxypropyl)cyclohexanol (CP55940) in assays of pain-stimulated and pain-depressed behavior. ⋯ THC and CP55940 also failed to block pain-related depression of feeding in rats, although THC did attenuate satiation-related depression of feeding. In contrast to the effects of the cannabinoid agonists, the clinically effective analgesic and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ketoprofen (1 mg/kg) blocked acid-stimulated stretching and acid-induced depression of both ICSS and feeding. The poor efficacy of THC and CP55940 to block acute pain-related depression of behavior in rats agrees with the poor efficacy of cannabinoids to treat acute pain in humans.