No abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the effects of Pycnogenol at various doses on preprandial and postprandial glucose levels, the levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs) and N-acetyl-beta-d-glucosaminidase (NAGA) and on motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Pycnogenol treatment (10, 20, 50 mg/kg body weight (b.w.)/day) lasted for 8 weeks after induction of diabetes. Pycnogenol significantly decreased elevated levels of preprandial glycaemia in treated animals at all doses. At doses of 10 mg/kg b.w./day and 20 mg/kg b.w./day it significantly decreased elevated levels of postprandial glycaemia compared with diabetic non-treated animals. Pycnogenol failed to induce a significant decrease of postprandial glycaemia at a dose of 50 mg/kg b.w./day. Pycnogenol improved significantly the impaired MNCV at doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg b.w./day compared with non-treated animals. The levels of TBARs were elevated in diabetic rats. The levels of NAGA increased gradually despite the treatment. Pycnogenol failed to affect the increased levels of TBARs and NAGA. Pycnogenollowered the elevated levels of glycaemia and reduced the decline in motor nerve conduction velocity in STZ-induced diabetic rats. The effect of Pycnogenol on postprandial glycaemic levels and MNCV was not dose-dependent.

We studied whether Pycnogenol (PYC) may attenuate the development of experimental streptozotocin-induced diabetic cardiomyopathy in rat. In addition, we aimed to study whether PYC affects cardiac oxidative stress and the protein expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS)-producing molecules (gp91(phox)-containing NADPH oxidase and NO-signalling proteins). Experimental diabetes mellitus was manifested by hyperglycaemia and impaired cardiac function estimated using left ventricular catheterisation in vivo. PYC lowered fasting plasma glucose and normalized basal cardiac function. Excessive oxidative stress in streptozotocin (STZ) hearts, evidenced by 40% increase (P < 0.05) of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) concentration, was associated with increased expression of gp91(phox) (by 75%, P < 0.05), iNOS (by 40%, P < 0.05) and alpha-tubulin (by 49%, P < 0.05), but unchanged expression of eNOS and its alosteric regulators, as compared to CON. PYC failed to affect these expression abnormalities. Our study shows that PYC corrects diabetic cardiac dysfunction, probably by its metabolic and direct radical scavenging activity without affecting the molecular maladaptations of ROS-producing enzymes and cytoskeletal components.

Histamine, a nonselective histamine receptor agonist, activates simultaneously both H₁ and H₂ receptors in the guinea pig trachea and lung strip. The resulting contraction is due to the prevalence of H₁ receptors, because they are blocked by the selective H₁antagonist diphenhydramine. The H₂ receptor antagonists cimetidine and ranitidine increased the sensitivity of both tissues to histamine by affecting primarily the amplitude of contractions induced by high histamine concentrations. Since the lung strips were more sensitized by ranitidine and low concentrations of the other studied antagonists (diphenhydramine, dithiadene, stobadine) than the tracheal smooth muscle, it is inferred that the density of H₂ receptors is higher in peripheral than central airways. From all the studied histamine receptor antagonists only dithiadene was able to unmask the relaxation induced by H₂ receptor activation indicative of its highest H₁ selectivity. In the light of the concentration-dependent antihistaminic effect of stobadine, i.e. potentiation in low and inhibition in high concentrations, stobadine is suggested to belong to antihistaminics with no histamine receptor subtype selectivity

In primarily cultured pig coronary smooth muscle cells, extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP; 10(-9) to 10(-3) M) dose-dependently increases intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i). The [Ca2+]i transients measured by fura-2 fluorescence consist of peak and plateau phases with [Ca2+]i values of 191.84 +/- 5.67 nM (n = 10) and 91.67 +/- 1.89 nM, respectively. In Ca(2+)-free solution, the peak phases persisted, but there was a loss of the plateau response, indicating an initial ATP-stimulated intracellular Ca2+ release and a subsequent transarcolemmal Ca2+ entry. Various agonists have been used to characterize the P2 purinoceptor subtype involved in the ATP-induced Ca2+ transients. The rank order of potency was uridine triphosphate (UTP) > ATP >> 2-meSATP > beta,gamma-meATP = alpha,beta-meATP = adenosine = 0. To examine the refilling of ATP-sensitive stores, four repetitive 60-s ATP responses were produced throughout with a 5-min recovery period in between. Now the ATP peaks gradually declined in Ca(2+)-free solution, indicating the emptying of the stores. If, however, Ca2+ entry was allowed in the "refilling period" (i.e., between the ATP pulses), the Ca2+ peaks could be maintained or restored, respectively. The data suggest that the ATP-dependent [Ca2+]i transients may be mediated via a UTP > ATP-activated P2Y purinoceptor subtype, mediating both an intracellular Ca2+ release and a transarcolemmal Ca2+ influx. The refilling of Ca2+ stores may occur through the unstimulated membrane after agonist stimulation. A putative pathway may be a "capacitative" Ca2+ entry induced on depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores.