Grape seed procyanidin suppresses inflammation in cigarette smoke-exposed pulmonary arterial hypertension rats by the PPAR-γ/COX-2 pathway.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by pulmonary vascular remodeling, which is mainly caused by inflammation. Inhibiting inflammation can relieve PAH. Grape seed procyanidin (GSP) possesses remarkable anti-inflammatory property and vascular protective function. In this experiment, we verified the anti-inflammatory property of GSP in cigarette smoke-exposed PAH rats and revealed its molecular mechanism. METHODS AND RESULTS: In vivo, 45 Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were divided into 5 groups randomly, treated with normoxia/cigarette smoke (CS)/GSP + CS/CS + solvent/GSP. After GSP + CS administration, a decrease in mPAP, PVR, RVHI, WT%, and WA% was detected in the rats as compared to those treated with CS. In vitro, the proliferation of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) caused by cigarette smoke extract (CSE) was effectively attenuated with GSP + CSE administration. Furthermore, GSP significantly increased the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ) together with the lowered expression level of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) in PASMCs co-incubated with CSE. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that GSP ameliorates inflammation by the PPAR-γ/COX-2 pathway and finally inhibits the proliferation of PASMCs, which leads to pulmonary vascular remodeling.

Analysis of Amplitude Modulation of EEG Based on Holo-Hilbert Spectrum Analysis During General Anesthesia.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to investigate the relationship between amplitude modulation (AM) of EEG and anesthesia depth during general anesthesia. METHODS: In this study, Holo-Hilbert spectrum analysis (HHSA) was used to decompose the multichannel EEG signals of 15 patients to obtain the spatial distribution of AM in the brain. Subsequently, HHSA was applied to the prefrontal EEG (Fp1) obtained during general anesthesia surgery in 15 and 34 patients, and the α-θ and α-δ regions of feature (ROFs) were defined in Holo-Hilbert spectrum (HHS) and three features were derived to quantify AM in ROFs. RESULTS: During anesthetized phase, an anteriorization of the spatial distribution of AMs of α-carrier in brain was observed, as well as AMs of α-θ and α-δ in the EEG of Fp1. The total power ([Formula: see text]), mean carrier frequency ([Formula: see text]) and mean amplitude frequency ([Formula: see text]) of AMs changed during different anesthesia states. CONCLUSION: HHSA can effectively analyze the cross-frequency coupling of EEG during anesthesia and the AM features may be applied to anesthesia monitoring. SIGNIFICANCE: The study provides a new perspective for the characterization of brain states during general anesthesia, which is of great significance for exploring new features of anesthesia monitoring.