Bail-out coil embolization for a pseudoaneurysm of aortic sinotubular junction in a patient with Behcet's disease after receiving multiple aortic operations.

Transcatheter repair of a pseudoaneurysm of the aortic sinotubular junction with coils is quite challenging because it can cause coronary or systemic embolization of coils and aortic rupture. A 71-year-old female patient with Behcet's disease who had received repeated surgical aortic repairs presented with a complicated pseudoaneurysm. It developed not on the native aorta, but on the ascending aortic graft. It was positioned just beside the os of the attached trifurcated vascular graft trunk connecting arch vessels. To avoid reopening the sternum, which would have been fatal, coil embolization was successfully performed. This case suggests that transcatheter coil embolization might provide an alternative treatment option for such patients with a high risk of surgical mortality.

Inhibition of STAT3 phosphorylation by sulforaphane reduces adhesion molecule expression in vascular endothelial cell.

Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) play key roles in the initiation of vascular inflammation. In this study, we explored whether sulforaphane, a dietary phytochemical, can inhibit the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and the mechanisms involved. Sulforaphane prevented the LPS-mediated increase in ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression, (P < 0.01) in HUVEC. Sulforaphane also prevented the LPS-mediated increase in the phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) (P < 0.01). Stattic, a STAT3 inhibitor, reduced the LPS-induced expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1, and STAT3 phosphorylation (P < 0.01). STAT3 small interfering RNA treatment reduced the LPS-induced expression of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and STAT3 (P < 0.01). Sulforaphane reduced LPS-mediated THP-1 monocyte adhesion to HUVEC (P < 0.01). In C57BL/6 mice, injection of LPS increased aortic ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression, and this effect was prevented by sulforaphane. These data provide insight into the mechanism through which sulforaphane partly reduces the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 on the vascular wall by inhibiting STAT3 phosphorylation.

Effect of repeated administration of phencyclidine on spatial performance in an eight-arm radial maze with delay in rats and mice.

Phencyclidine (PCP) is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor channel noncompetitive antagonist that produces some of the symptoms of schizophrenia, including delusions, hallucinations, and negative symptoms as well as cognitive impairment. Thus, administration of PCP to rodents and nonhuman primates has been suggested to provide a potential animal model for schizophrenia. There have been some reports that 7-14 days of PCP administration can bring about enduring impairments in working memory in rodents but not all studies have been consistent in this regard. The present study determined whether repeated PCP administration impaired spatial performance in rats or mice trained to make minimal errors in an eight-arm radial maze task with a delay. Male Sprague-Dawley rats and C57BL/6J mice received 14 daily injection of vehicle or PCP (10 mg/kg, s.c.) followed by a withdrawal period of 1 week. The number of arm reentry errors and the distance traveled to complete the task were not significantly different between PCP-treated and vehicle-treated rats on 2, 8, and 14 days of PCP administration or 8 days following withdrawal of PCP. Mice treated with PCP for up to 2 weeks also had no significant differences in the number of arm reentry errors, travel distances, the numbers of visits to different arms during the first eight choices, or latencies to take all eight pellets compared to the vehicle-treated group. Thus, the present study failed to demonstrate that repeated administration of PCP to rats or mice produces enduring memory impairment. Factors potentially contributing to the discrepancies between various studies are discussed.