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Biomedical subjects

S Illiano

Publications and source records attributed to S Illiano.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Calmodulin antagonists inhibit endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization in the canine coronary artery.

1. The effects of the calmodulin antagonists, calmidazolium and fendiline were investigated on endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization in the canine coronary artery. The membrane potential of vascular smooth muscle cells was measured with the microelectrode technique. 2. Smooth muscle cells of the canine coronary artery had a resting membrane potential of -50 mV. Bradykinin and the Ca(2+)-ionophore, A23187, induced concentration- and endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization. The hyperpolarization induced by a supramaximal concentration of bradykinin (10(-6) M) reached approximately 20 mV. 3. Calmidazolium (10(-5) M) and fendiline (10(-4) M) inhibited hyperpolarization induced by bradykinin and A23187. By contrast, calmidazolium did not affect the hyperpolarization induced by lemakalim, an opener of ATP-sensitive K(+)-channels. 4. These observations suggest that calmodulin is involved in the generation of endothelium-dependent membrane hyperpolarization of vascular smooth muscle.

Animals

Calmidazolium, a calmodulin inhibitor, inhibits endothelium-dependent relaxations resistant to nitro-L-arginine in the canine coronary artery.

1. The role of calmodulin in endothelium-dependent relaxations in the canine coronary artery, was investigated by use of the inhibitor of calmodulin, calmidazolium. 2. The endothelium-dependent relaxations to adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and nebivolol, a beta-adrenoceptor antagonist, in control solution, and to bradykinin in high potassium solution (to inhibit endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization), were abolished by nitro-L-arginine (30 microM), an inhibitor of nitro oxide-synthase. Calmidazolium (10 microM) did not inhibit these relaxations. 3. Calmidazolium did not affect the endothelium-independent relaxations to SIN-1, an exogenous donor of nitric oxide (NO). 4. The relaxations to bradykinin and to the calcium ionophore A23187 in control solution were inhibited to a small extent by calmidazolium (10 microM). 5. Bradykinin and A23187 induced relaxations in the presence of nitro-L-arginine (30 microM) that were abolished by calmidazolium (10 microM) but not affected by glibenclamide (10 microM), an inhibitor of ATP-sensitive K+ channels. 6. The endothelium-independent relaxations to lemakalim, an ATP-sensitive K+ channel opener, were not affected by calmidazolium (10 microM) but were inhibited by glibenclamide (10 microM). 7. These results suggest that calmidazolium does not inhibit the endothelium-dependent relaxations due to endothelium-derived NO in the canine coronary artery but inhibits either the production of endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF) from endothelial cells or its effects on vascular smooth muscle cells. Furthermore these results suggest that EDHF contributes to endothelium-dependent relaxations in the canine coronary artery.

Adenosine Diphosphate

Heterogeneous distribution of endothelium-dependent relaxations resistant to NG-nitro-L-arginine in rats.

Endothelium-dependent relaxations that are resistant to inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase probably are mediated by endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization of the vascular smooth muscle. Experiments were performed to examine the distribution of this type of relaxation along the arterial tree of the rat by measuring changes in isometric force. Acetylcholine induced concentration- and endothelium-dependent relaxations in aortas and in pulmonary, common iliac, femoral, mesenteric, and renal arteries contracted with phenylephrine. In the presence of NG-nitro-L-arginine, the cumulative administration of acetylcholine induced relaxations only in the femoral, mesenteric, and renal arteries. The calcium ionophore A23187 relaxed mesenteric arteries contracted with phenylephrine in a concentration- and endothelium-dependent manner. The concentration-relaxation curve to A23187 was shifted to the right in the presence of NG-nitro-L-arginine. The maximal relaxations induced by lemakalim, a K+ channel opener, were smaller in those arteries that did not exhibit NG-nitro-L-arginine-resistant relaxations. These results suggest that NG-nitro-L-arginine-resistant relaxations are more frequently observed in smaller arteries. The arteries that exhibit NG-nitro-L-arginine-resistant relaxations may be more sensitive to an endothelium-derived substance that causes hyperpolarization of vascular smooth muscle cells.

Acetylcholine

Potentiation of endothelium-dependent relaxations to bradykinin by angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitors in canine coronary artery involves both endothelium-derived relaxing and hyperpolarizing factors.

Studies were designed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the augmentation by angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors of the endothelium-dependent relaxations evoked by bradykinin. Isometric tension, tissue levels of cGMP, and transmembrane potential were measured in isolated canine coronary arteries as indications of the respective contribution of nitric oxide and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor. In rings of coronary artery with endothelium, relaxations to bradykinin were potentiated by the ACE inhibitors cilazaprilat and perindoprilat. NG-Nitro-L-arginine (NLA), a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, impaired relaxations to bradykinin. But the presence of ACE inhibitors partially restored this activity. Bradykinin stimulated the production of cGMP, and this was enhanced significantly by ACE inhibitors, indicating an augmented release of nitric oxide. NLA abolished the increase induced by bradykinin irrespective of the presence of ACE inhibitors. Electrophysiological studies revealed that bradykinin elicited an endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization of vascular smooth muscle that was insensitive to NLA and potentiated by ACE inhibitors. The bradykinin-induced hyperpolarization and NLA-resistant relaxations were transient and impaired by potassium depolarization. Thus, production of endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor may account for the NLA-resistant relaxations of canine coronary arteries. The relaxations induced by bradykinin were unaffected by the B1 kinin receptor antagonist des-Arg9,[Leu8]-bradykinin either in the absence or in the presence of NLA but were antagonized by the B2 kinin receptor antagonist D-Arg[Hyp3,D-Phe7]-bradykinin. Molecular exclusion chromatography of 125I-labeled [Tyr8]-bradykinin and its degradation products demonstrated that the breakdown of the kinin by isolated coronary arteries was prevented in the presence of perindoprilat.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Angiotensin I

Decrease in enkephalinase A number in kidney membranes from hypercholesterolemic and hypertensive rats.

The variation of enkephalinase A number on the hypertensive and hypercholesterolemia rats kidney membranes is studied using the [3H]-acetorphan, a potent inhibitor of enkephalinase A to label the protease in rat kidney. The binding of [3H]-acetorphan to kidney membrane determined in vitro with both equilibrium and kinetic methods is saturable and reversible involving a single class of sites with a dissociation constant of 4-5.3 nM. The [3H]-acetorphan binding capacity is identical, Bmax approximately 51 pmoles per mg of proteins, for kidney membranes from Sprague Dawley and Wistar Kyoto rats. In contrast, the enkephalinase A number is decreased in the pathological states studied: 20% for hypertensive rats and 50% for hypercholesterolemic rats. Such pharmacological results provide a great deal of information about the modification appeared in the metabolism of peptidic substrates of enkephalinase A in hypercholesterolemia and hypertension.

Animals

Local production of kinins contributes to the endothelium dependent relaxations evoked by converting enzyme inhibitors in isolated arteries.

The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor perindoprilat evokes endothelium-dependent relaxations in perfused isolated canine arteries. Kininogens, the precursors of bradykinin, elicit endothelium-dependent relaxations which are potentiated by perindoprilat, inhibited by B2-kinin antagonists and partially impaired after inhibition of NO synthase. These observations suggest that locally produced kinins may stimulate the production of NO and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor, and that this action is potentiated by ACE inhibitors.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors

Indications for early surgery in cases of lumbar and dorsolumbar scoliosis: the role of vertebral rotation.

There are very few objective criteria for the choice between conservative and surgical treatment of lumbar and dorsolumbar scoliosis ranging from 40 to 50 degrees. We reviewed the long-term results obtained in 76 patients treated with plaster braces because they had refused surgical treatment; in 56% of the cases a nearly 10 degree gain was maintained after the onset of treatment; all of the cases which showed improvement presented a reduction in the curve by at least half and rotation by at least one-third in tests in suspension or in bending, and this was maintained in plaster. In cases where the long-term results were poor, however, rotation did not change. In conclusion, of the many parameters examined, only a combined assessment of the reducibility of both the Cobb angle and of rotation provides a valid indication for the treatment of lumbar and dorsolumbar curves ranging from 40 to 50 degrees.

Adolescent

[Correlations between the prick test and aspecific bronchial reactivity in atopic patients].

Aspecific bronchial provocation test with Methacholine plays an outstanding role in the diagnostic routine of asthmatic disease, in order to accomplish a correct interpretation of the relation between A.B.I. and bronchial asthma. All researches give a special prominence to the bronchial reactivity distribution among the population, and point out that the distribution curve of response to aspecific challenge shows itself as an unimodal curve, since there is no clinic group (neither that one including subjects defined asthmatic from a clinic or anamnestic point of view) which clearly separates from the rest. A further important consideration indicates that a positive response to the test is not specific of bronchial asthmatic subjects, but it can also occur in patients affected with other pathologies such as chronic bronchitis, allergic rhinitis, and so on. Our study aimed, therefore, to evaluate the correlations occurring between skin sensitivity and aspecific bronchial reactivity in 5 groups of atopic patients (affected with: (1) asthma; (2) asthma + rhinitis; (3) asthma + rhinitis + conjunctivitis; (4) rhinitis + conjunctivitis; (5) rhinitis). In doing such correlations we also considered some other factors like sex, smoking habit, town or country provenance. Sensitiveness, specificity, and predicting value of Prick-test in comparison with Methacholine test have been analysed as well. The results so obtained show that no correlation occurs between Prick-test and Aspecific Bronchial Test in the groups of tested subjects. Test sensitiveness increases in the groups of patients affected with associated pathologies, and depends on factors like sex, smoking habit, town or country provenance.

Asthma