A promising culture model for analyzing the interaction between adipose tissue and cardiomyocytes.

The heart has epicardial adipose tissue that produces adipokines and mesenchymal stem cells. Systemic adipose tissue is involved in the pathophysiology of obesity-related heart diseases. However, the method for analyzing the direct interaction between adipose tissue and cardiomyocytes has not been established. Here we show the novel model, using collagen gel coculture of adipose tissue fragments (ATFs) and HL-1 cardiomyocytes, and electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, real-time RT-PCR, and ELISA. HL-1 cells formed a stratified layer on ATF-nonembedded gel, whereas they formed almost a monolayer on ATF-embedded gel. ATFs promoted the apoptosis, lipid accumulation, and fatty acid transport protein (FATP) expression of FATP4 and CD36 in HL-1 cells, whereas ATFs inhibited the growth and mRNA expression of myosin, troponin T, and atrial natriuretic peptide. Treatment of leptin (100 ng/ml) and adiponectin (10 µg/ml) neither replicated nor abolished the ATF-induced morphology of HL-1 cells, whereas that of FATP4 and CD36 antibodies (25 µg/ml) never abolished it. HL-1 cells prohibited the development of CD44+/CD105+ mesenchymal stem cell-like cells and lipid-laden preadipocytes from ATFs. HL-1 cells increased the production of adiponectin in ATFs, whereas they decreased that of leptin. The data indicate that our model actively creates adipose tissue-HL-1 cardiomyocyte interaction, suggesting first that ATFs may be related to the lipotoxiciy of HL-1 cells via unknown factors plus FATP4 and CD36 and second that HL-1 cells may help to retain the static state of ATFs, affecting adipokine secretion. Our model will serve to study adipose tissue-cardiomyocyte interaction and mechanisms of obesity-related lipotoxicity and heart diseases.

The therapeutic effects of the herbal medicine, Juzen-taiho-to, on amyloid-beta burden in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Innate immunity, especially that involving macrophage function, reportedly diminishes with advancing age and in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we tried to elicit the non-specific activation of peripheral macrophages by oral administration of the herbal medicine Juzen-taiho-to (JTT), to assess its effect as a possible treatment for AD patients. Amyloid-beta protein precursor transgenic mice were used as a model of AD to clarify the effect of JTT. Activated macrophages derived from bone marrow cross the blood-brain barrier, and then develop into microglia, which phagocytose aggregated amyloid-beta (Abeta) in senile plaques. Here we show that orally administered JTT increased the number of CD11b-positive ramified microglia in the mouse brain. The immunohistochemical examination of brain sections stained with polyclonal anti-Abeta antibody showed reduced Abeta burden, and Abeta levels were also decreased in the insoluble fractions of brain homogenates, as determined by ELISA. Thus, the activation of peripheral macrophages by JTT might be a potential new therapeutic strategy for AD.

Prognostic value of pentraxin 3 in patients with chronic heart failure.

BACKGROUND: A long pentraxin, PTX3, is produced by vascular cells or inflammatory cells and released into the circulation, possibly reflecting local inflammation in the cardiovascular system. AIM: This study was designed to assess the clinical significance of plasma pentraxin 3 (PTX3) levels in chronic heart failure (CHF). METHODS: We measured plasma PTX3 levels in 37 patients with non-ischemic CHF (dilated cardiomyopathy) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods. RESULTS: The plasma PTX3 levels were higher in CHF patients than in healthy subjects (P=0.001), and the CHF patients in the highest tertile of plasma PTX3 levels had more cardiac events than the patients in the lowest tertile (42% vs. 0%, P=0.02). Multivariate regression analysis showed that PTX3 was the most significant predictor of cardiac events (hazard ratio 1.912 for each increase in PTX3 of 1 ng/ml, P=0.019, 95% CI 1.114-3.282). In addition, PTX3 was strikingly expressed in human myocardial cells obtained from a biopsy specimen in a patient. CONCLUSION: Plasma PTX3 levels might be a potentially useful biomarker to predict prognosis as well as to detect inflammatory status in patients with CHF.

[Acute epidural hematoma clearly demonstrated by fat suppression MR image].

We report a case of acute cervical epidural hematoma clearly demonstrated by fat suppression MR image. A 64-year-old woman was admitted because of quadriparesis with neck pain, both occurred suddenly. She had been healthy except for mild hypertension. No drug was administrated previously. Neurological examination suggested cervical myelopathy. MRI of the cervical spine was performed fifteen hours after the onset. Although no significant intensity change was observed on T1 or T2 image, fat suppression image clearly demonstrated epidural hematoma at the level of C4 to C5 cervical spine. Her symptoms were disappeared spontaneously within seven days. No vascular abnormality was observed by MR angiography. Although MRI is useful to detect epidural hematoma, signal intensity of the hematoma on T1 and T2 image may be unclear within 24 hours, which was shown in our case. We recommend that fat suppression image is helpful to detect epidural hematoma clearly, especially in acute phase.