Up-regulation of chemokine receptor type 4 expression in the ischemic reperfused heart by alcoholic extract of Cichorium intybus rescue the heart from ischemia injury in male rat.

OBJECTIVES: Cichorium intybus is used in traditional medicine for various diseases including heart disease. This study aimed at evaluating the chemokine receptor type 4 up-regulation and cardioprotective effects of hydroalcoholic extract of C. intybus in a rat model of ischemic reperfusion. METHODS: Animals in four groups of eight rats each received vehicle or one of three doses of C. intybus (50, 100 or 200 mg/kg/d) for 14 days. Then they were subjected to 30 min of ischemia followed by 7 days of reperfusion. At the end of the experiment, blood specimens were prepared for serum assays. The level of myocardium chemokine receptor type 4 was also measured using RT-PCR. KEY FINDINGS: Cichorium intybus (CI-50) improved infarct size, episodes of the ventricular ectopic beat, ventricular tachycardia, and duration of ventricular tachycardia, QTc shortening. It also stabilized the ST segment changes and increased heart rate during ischemia. The blood pressure decreased in CI-50 group in comparison to the control and CI-200 group. C. intybus increased serum superoxide dismutase and reduced lactate dehydrogenase activity, Cardiac Troponin I and malondialdehyde levels. C. intybus led to an increase in the expression of chemokine receptor type 4. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that C. intybus administration before ischemia is able to induce cardioprotective effect against ischemic reperfusion injury, probably through chemokine receptor type 4 over-expression and antioxidant activity.

Association Between Fat-soluble Vitamins and Lipid Profile in the Overweight Population.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: It is well-known that the coronary artery stenosis is related to lipid profile. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study to investigate the relationship between the serum fat-soluble vitamins (A, E and D), circulating proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), and lipid profile in the study population. METHODS: A total of 120 overweight subjects were participated in this study. The circulating PCSK9 and vitamin D were measured by ELISA technique. The serum vitamin A and vitamin E amounts were simultaneously measured by the HPLC method. The Serum Small Dense LDLCholesterol (sdLDL-C) values were evaluated using heparin-Mg2+ precipitation technique. The lipid profile was measured by routine laboratory techniques. RESULTS: The serum vitamin E values correlated significantly to vitamin A (r= 0.47, P= 0.0001), VLDL-C (r= 0.30, P= 0.002), total cholesterol (r= 0.309, P= 0.001), PCSK9 (r= 0.233, P= 0.01) and total triglyceride (r= 0.61, P= 0.0001) values. The circulating PCSK9 values correlated significantly to LDL-C (r= 0.17, P= 0.05) and total cholesterol (r= 0.23, P= 0.009) values. However, there were not correlations between the levels of serum D and A vitamins, the serum LDL-C, sdLDL-C and total cholesterol values. CONCLUSION: The data showed the correlations between serum vitamin E and PCSK9-related LDLC values lower than the normal range. Furthermore, the results suggested a nutritional need on the patents considering supplementation or fortification of vitamin E for the overweight subjects with higher LDL-C levels.

Preclinical assessment of ß-d-mannuronic acid (M2000) as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.

CONTEXT: ß-d-Mannuronic acid (M2000) has shown its therapeutic effects with the greatest tolerability and efficacy in various experimental models such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), adjuvant induced arthritis (AIA), nephrotic syndrome, and acute glomerulonephritis. Despite pharmacological effects of ß-D-mannuronic acid, there have been no systematic toxicological studies on its safety so far. OBJECTIVE: The study was designed to determine the acute and subchronic toxicity of ß-D-mannuronic acid, an anti-inflammatory agent, in healthy male NMRI mice and Wistar rats, respectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the acute toxicity study, the animals received orally five different single doses of ß-D-mannuronic acid and were kept under observation for 14 d. In the subchronic study, 24 Wistar male rats were divided into four groups and were treated orally (gavage) once daily with test substance preparation at dose levels of 0, 50, 250, and 1250 mg/kg body weight for at least 63 consecutive days (9 weeks). Mortality, clinical signs, body weight changes, hematological and biochemical parameters, gross findings, organ weights, and histopathological determinations were monitored during the study. RESULTS: The results of acute toxicity indicated that the LD50 of ß-D-mannuronic acid is 4.6 g/kg. We found no mortality and no abnormality in clinical signs, body weight, relative organ weights, or necropsy in any of the animals in the subchronic study. Additionally, the results showed no significant difference in hematological, biochemical, and histopathological parameters in rats. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that ß-D-mannuronic acid is relatively safe when administered orally in animals.