Plos One
-
Spinal cord injury (SCI) induces a cascade of processes that may further expand the damage (secondary injury) or, alternatively, may be part of a safeguard response. Here we show that after a moderate-severe contusive SCI in rats there is a significant and very early increase in the spinal cord content of the endocannabinoids 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and arachidonoyl ethanolamide (anandamide, AEA). Since 2-AG and AEA act through CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors, we administered at 20 minutes after lesion a single injection of their respective antagonists AM281 and AM630 alone or in combination to block the effects of this early endocannabinoid accumulation. ⋯ AM281 exerted the same effects but also increased oedema volume estimated by MRI. Co-administration of AM281 and AM630 produced the effects observed with the administration of either AM281 or AM630 and also reduced white matter and myelin preservation and enhanced microgliosis in the epicentre. Overall, our results suggest that the endocannabinoids acting through CB1 and CB2 receptors are part of an early neuroprotective response triggered after SCI that is involved in the spontaneous recovery after an incomplete lesion.
-
Delirium is a prevalent condition in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) associated with worse outcomes. The principal aim of the present study was compare the agreement between two tools for delirium assessment in medical and surgical patients admitted to the ICU. ⋯ The agreement rates between CAM-ICU and ICDSC may vary between different groups of ICU patients and seems to be affected by disease severity.
-
I(h), which influences neuronal excitability, has recently been measured in vivo in sensory neuron subtypes in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs). However, expression levels of HCN (hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated) channel proteins that underlie I(h) were unknown. We therefore examined immunostaining of the most abundant isoforms in DRGs, HCN1 and HCN2 in these neuron subtypes. ⋯ This could contribute to acute inflammatory pain. HCN2-immunostaining in large neurons decreased 4 days after CFA, when NT3 was decreased in the DRG. Thus HCN2-expression control differs between large and small neurons.
-
To delineate the critical features of platelets required for formation and stability of thrombi, thromboelastography and platelet aggregation measurements were employed on whole blood of normal patients and of those with Bernard-Soulier Syndrome (BSS) and Glanzmann's Thrombasthenia (GT). We found that separation of platelet activation, as assessed by platelet aggregation, from that needed to form viscoelastic stable whole blood thrombi, occurred. In normal human blood, ristocetin and collagen aggregated platelets, but did not induce strong viscoelastic thrombi. ⋯ In BSS whole blood, ADP responsiveness, as measured by thrombus strength, was diminished, while ADP-induced platelet aggregation was normal. Further, the platelets of 3 additional GT patients showed very weak whole blood platelet aggregation toward the above agonists and provided whole blood thrombi of very low viscoelastic strength. These results indicate that measurements of platelet counts and platelet aggregability do not necessarily correlate with generation of stable thrombi, a potentially significant feature in patient clinical outcomes.
-
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) is a progressive devastating disease characterized by excessive proliferation of the Pulmonary Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells (PASMCs). Studies suggest that PAH and cancers share an apoptosis-resistant state featuring excessive cell proliferation. MicroRNA-206 (miR-206) is known to regulate proliferation and is implicated in various types of cancers. ⋯ The effects of miR-206 in modulating cell proliferation, apoptosis and smooth muscle cell markers in human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (hPASMCs) were investigated in vitro. miR-206 expression in mouse PASMCs was correlated with an increase in right ventricular systolic pressure. Reduction of miR-206 levels in hPASMCs causes increased proliferation and reduced apoptosis and these effects were reversed by the overexpression of miR-206. miR-206 over expression also increased the levels of smooth muscle cell differentiation markers α-smooth muscle actin and calponin implicating its importance in the differentiation of SMCs. miR-206 overexpression down regulated Notch-3 expression, which is key a factor in PAH development. These results suggest that miR-206 is a potential regulator of proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation of PASMCs, and that it could be used as a novel treatment strategy in PAH.