Background: Hypertension is a major global health problem. It is a major risk factor of cardiovascular disease. One of the most used experimental models in studying antihypertensive action is the deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertensive rat. This study aimed to investigate the cardiovascular protective effect of astaxanthin (ASX) in DOCA-salt-induced hypertension and its possible underlying mechanisms.
Methods: A total of 48 adult male Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups: control, DOCA, and DOCA + ASX. Blood pressure, serum cardiac enzyme levels, some oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarker levels, and lipid profile levels were measured. The weight of the left ventricle to tibial length ratio was calculated. Apoptosis detection and total genomic DNA extraction in aortic and cardiac tissues were investigated. The apoptotic marker BAX was also immunohistochemically assessed in the heart and aorta.
Results: Compared to the control group, the DOCA group was associated with a significant increase in blood pressure, serum cardiac enzyme levels, oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarker levels, lipid profile except serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL), weight of the left ventricle to tibial length, and total released DNA fragmentation level of the left ventricle and aorta and a significant decrease in reduced glutathione (GSH) and HDL. Compared to the DOCA group, the DOCA + ASX group significantly improved the DOCA-induced changes.
Conclusion: ASX has beneficial protective effects on DOCA-salt-induced hypertension via DNA fragmentation protection, apoptosis inhibition, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and its effects on lipid levels.
Background: The relationship between pulse pressure and prognosis in patients with chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) is contradictory. In the present study, we aimed to examine the relationship between intra-aortic pulse pressure (IAPP) and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with CCS undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Methods: A total of 139 CCS patients who underwent elective PCI with regular one-year follow-up, were stratified into two subgroups according to IAPP. The primary outcomes included the occurrence of MACE, defined as cardiovascular death, acute myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation (STEMI), acute myocardial infarction without ST-segment elevation (NSTEMI), target vessel revascularization (TVR), and stroke.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 57.6 ± 10.4 years, 32% of whom were female. The mean IAPP, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were 54.0 ± 17.6 mmHg, 129.7 ± 20 mmHg, and 75.8 ± 11.8 mmHg, respectively. SBP, IAPP, and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were significantly higher in the high IAPP group (p < .001, p < .001, p = .001, respectively). The MACE rate was significantly higher in the low IAPP group than in the high IAPP group (30.4% vs. 8.6%, p = 0,001). The LVEF (OR = 0.93, CI:0.88-0.99, p = .025) and IAPP (OR = 0.89, CI:0.83-0.95, p = .001) were found to be independent predictors of MACE. The IAPP value of 39.5 mmHg was identified as an effective cutoff point for prediction of MACE-free survival rates (AUC:0.853, CI:0.768-0.937).
Conclusion: Invasively measured IAPP has prognostic information about cardiovascular outcomes in patients with CCS. The risk of MACE is significantly greater in CCS patients with low IAPP compared with those who have high IAPP values.
Background: At present, pre-eclampsia is a growing concern and still a diagnostic challenge for obstetricians.
Aims: This study aimed to evaluate whether the relationship of second trimester of pregnancy neutrophil count differed among pregnancies with mild preeclampsia, severe preeclampsia, and healthy status and explore whether or not neutrophil count in the second trimester of pregnancy would be useful as new predictors of subsequent preeclampsia.
Patients and methods: This study involved 933 pregnancies from 1 January 2018 to 30 January 2021, comprising 396 healthy pregnancies, 222 pregnancies with mild preeclampsia, and 315 pregnancies with severe preeclampsia. The relationship between preeclampsia and neutrophil count was analyzed by multiple logistic regression. In addition, maternal placental tissues of three groups were immunohistochemically stained for myeloperoxidase (MPO).
Results: Neutrophil count was significantly higher in pregnancies with preeclampsia (including pregnancies with mild and severe preeclampsia) than that in healthy pregnancies. The neutrophil count level was prominently higher in patients with severe preeclampsia compared with those with mild preeclampsia (p < .001). The neutrophil count level was significantly positively associated with preeclampsia after adjusting for gestational week at time of blood sampling, BMI, and age (β:1.23; 95%CI:1.09-1.36; p < .0001). In addition, MPO expressions of placental tissues in preeclamptic groups were significantly increased than these in healthy pregnant controls (p < .05).
Conclusions: Increased neutrophil count in the second trimester of pregnancy was significantly positively associated with preeclampsia. Hence, neutrophil count plays a role in predicting the severity of preeclampsia. At the same time, it may be an independent predictor of subsequent preeclampsia.Abbreviations: BMI: body mass index; MPO: myeloperoxidase.