Frontiers in physiology
-
Frontiers in physiology · Jan 2014
Influence of intranasal and carotid cooling on cerebral temperature balance and oxygenation.
The present study evaluated the influence of intranasal cooling with balloon catheters, increased nasal ventilation, or percutaneous cooling of the carotid arteries on cerebral temperature balance and oxygenation in six healthy male subjects. Aortic arch and internal jugular venous blood temperatures were measured to assess the cerebral heat balance and corresponding paired blood samples were obtained to evaluate cerebral metabolism and oxygenation at rest, following 60 min of intranasal cooling, 5 min of nasal ventilation, and 15 min with carotid cooling. ⋯ Calculated cerebral capillary oxygen tension was 43 ± 3 mmHg at rest and remained unchanged during intranasal and carotid cooling, but decreased to 38 ± 2 mmHg (P < 0.05) following increased nasal ventilation. In conclusion, percutaneous cooling of the carotid arteries and intranasal cooling with balloon catheters are insufficient to influence cerebral oxygenation in normothermic subjects as the cooling rate is only 0.3°C per hour and neither intranasal nor carotid cooling is capable of inducing selective brain cooling.
-
Frontiers in physiology · Jan 2013
Modeling the influence of vitamin D deficiency on cigarette smoke-induced emphysema.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. While the primary risk factor for COPD is cigarette smoke exposure, vitamin D deficiency has been epidemiologically implicated as a factor in the progressive development of COPD-associated emphysema. Because of difficulties inherent to studies involving multiple risk factors in the progression of COPD in humans, we developed a murine model in which to study the separate and combined effects of vitamin D deficiency and cigarette smoke exposure. ⋯ Alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1AT) expression was reduced in VDD-CSE mice as well. In summary, vitamin D deficiency, when combined with cigarette smoke exposure, seemed to accelerate the appearance of emphysemas, perhaps by virtue of an increased protease-antiprotease ratio in the combined VDD-CSE animals. These results support the value of our mouse model in the study of COPD.
-
Frontiers in physiology · Jan 2013
Do physiological and pathological stresses produce different changes in heart rate variability?
Although physiological (e.g., exercise) and pathological (e.g., infection) stress affecting the cardiovascular system have both been documented to be associated with a reduction in overall heart rate variability (HRV), it remains unclear if loss of HRV is ubiquitously similar across different domains of variability analysis or if distinct patterns of altered HRV exist depending on the stressor. Using Continuous Individualized Multiorgan Variability Analysis (CIMVA™) software, heart rate (HR) and four selected measures of variability were measured over time (windowed analysis) from two datasets, a set (n = 13) of patients who developed systemic infection (i.e., sepsis) after bone marrow transplant (BMT), and a matched set of healthy subjects undergoing physical exercise under controlled conditions. ⋯ Furthermore, HRV measures during sepsis showed a lower level of correlation with each other, as compared to HRV during exercise. In conclusion, this exploratory study highlights similar responses during both exercise and infection, with differences in terms of correlation and inter-subject fluctuations, whose physiologic significance merits further investigation.
-
Frontiers in physiology · Jan 2013
Role of extracellular ATP and P2 receptor signaling in regulating renal cyst growth and interstitial inflammation in polycystic kidney disease.
Polycystic kidney diseases (PKD) are a group of inherited ciliopathies in which the formation and growth of multiple cysts derived from the distal nephron and collecting duct leads to the disruption of normal kidney architecture, chronic interstitial inflammation/fibrosis and hypertension. Kidney failure is the most life-threatening complication of PKD, and is the consequence of cyst expansion, renal interstitial disease and loss of normal kidney tissue. Over the last decade, accumulating evidence suggests that the autocrine and paracrine effects of ATP (through its receptor family P2X and P2Y), could be detrimental for the progression of PKD. (2009). ⋯ Furthermore, dysfunction of the polycystin signal transduction pathways promotes the secretagogue activity of extracellular ATP by activating a calcium-activated chloride channel via purinergic receptors. Finally, ATP is a danger signal and could potentially contribute to interstitial inflammation associated with PKD. These data suggest that ATP-P2 signaling worsens the progression of cyst enlargement and interstitial inflammation in PKD.