An intracellular mechanism that senses decreases in tissue oxygen level and stimulates hypoxia-related gene expression has been reported in various cell types including the cardiac cell. The mechanism can also be activated by Co(2+) in normoxia. Thus we investigated the effects of prior chronic oral CoCl(2) on mechanical functions of isolated, perfused rat hearts in hypoxia-reoxygenation. In normoxic rats, 43 days of Co(2+) administration increased hematocrit from 45 +/- 0.3% (control, n = 18) to 51 +/- 0.6% (n = 19). In hypoxia and reoxygenation, Co(2+)-pretreated hearts exhibited a significantly higher rate-pressure product (267 and 163%, respectively) and coronary flow (127 and 118%, respectively) and lower end-diastolic pressure (72 and 60%, respectively) compared with the control hearts. Although the oral Co(2+) administration significantly raised myocardial Co(2+) concentration, it did not affect mitochondrial respiration, tissue glycogen concentration, or myocardial tissue histology. The levels of vascular endothelial growth factor, aldolase-A, and glucose transporter-1 mRNA were significantly elevated in the Co(2+)-treated myocardium. We conclude that cardiac contractile functions would gain hypoxic tolerance when the endogenous cellular oxygen-sensing mechanism is activated.

Isoflurane induced late preconditioning in cultured rat cortical neurones. Ischaemic and pharmacological preconditioning with diazoxide and isoflurane induced ischaemic tolerance in the cultured neurones via mitoK(ATP) channels without an increase in Kir6.2 expression, and induced upregulation of EAAC1 expression.

Japan)We perform color Doppler scanning for all patients with leg varix as a preoperative examination. We discovered a case of leg varix with inverse placement of femoral artery and vein by color Doppler scanning and comfirmed it by operation.A 69-year-old female was admitted with a 30-year history of bilateral leg varix and with leg skin ulcer and dermatitis.Color Doppler scanning showed that the femoral vein was lateral to the femoral artery and that the great saphenous vein crossed over the femoral artery from medial side.This was confirmed on operation.This is the first report of this anomaly in Japan.