Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound attenuates cardiac inflammation of CVB3-induced viral myocarditis via regulation of caveolin-1 and MAPK pathways.

The aggressive immunological activity elicited by acute viral myocarditis contributes to a large amount of cardiomyocytes loss and poor prognosis of patients in clinic. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS), which is an effective treatment modality for osteoarthropathy, has been recently illustrated regulating the overactive inflammatory response in various diseases. Here, we aimed to investigate whether LIPUS could attenuate coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) infection-induced injury by coordinating the inflammatory response. Male BALB/c mice were inoculated intraperitoneally with CVB3 to establish the model of acute viral myocarditis. LIPUS treatment was given on Day 1, Day 1, 3 and Day 1, 3, 5 post-inoculation, respectively. All mice were followed up for 14 days. Day 1, 3, 5 LIPUS treatment significantly improved the survival rate, attenuated the ventricular dysfunction and ameliorated the cardiac histopathological injury of CVB3-infected mice. Western blotting analysis showed Day 1, 3, 5 LIPUS treatment decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines, increased the activation of caveolin-1 and suppressed p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signallings in heart tissue. RAW264.7 cells were treated with lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to simulate the augmented inflammatory response in vivo. LIPUS treatment on RAW264.7 inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, activated caveolin-1 and suppressed p38 MAPK and ERK signallings. Transfecting RAW264.7 with caveolin-1 siRNA blunted the suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and MAPK signallings by LIPUS treatment. Taken together, we demonstrated for the first time that LIPUS treatment attenuated the aggressive inflammatory response during acute viral myocarditis. The underlying mechanism may be activating caveolin-1 and suppressing MAPK signallings.

[Effects of sowthistle-leaf Ixeris seedling injection on survival of random skin flap in rats].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Ixeri sonhifolia injection on random skin flap survival in rats. METHODS: Dorsal full-thickness skin flap model were harvested from 24 Sprague-Dawley rats in 2 to 3 months old. Twelve rats in experimental group were injected intraperitoneally with 5 ml/kg Ixeri sonhifolia injection immediately after the operation, the other rats in control group with an equal volume of saline. The rats were killed by cervical dislocation after 7 days' Ixeri sonhifolia injection. The area ratio of the survival tissue was measured at the 7th day,the tissue samples from proximal, middle, and distal portions were stained by HE and sectioned for histological and image analysis. VEGF was detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Seven days later, there was statistical significance between the percentage of the survival area of the flap between the experimental group (70.432 +/- 3.867)% and the control group (50.498 +/- 2.346)% (P < 0.05). In the middle portion, edema and infiltration of tissue in the experimental group were reduced than those of the control group, and new blood vessels increased in the experimental group (P < 0.05). A statistical significance of the expression of VEGF was detected between experimental group (4867.31 +/- 452.36) and control group (2387.45 +/- 768.46) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Ixeri sonhifolia injection can promote the survival of random skin flap by increasing the quantity of capillary, reducing inflammatory infiltration of Europhiles and increasing the expression of VEGF, which promote a new approaching for the transpanting of the random flap research.