BACKGROUND Recently, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor was shown to have a beneficial effect on virus-induced myocardial injury. We investigated the effect of a new angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist, (+-)-1-(cyclohexyloxycarbonyloxy)ethyl 2-ethoxy-1-([2'-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)biphenyl-4-yl]methyl)-1H-benz imi dazole-7- carboxylate (TCV-116), in an animal model of viral myocarditis induced by encephalomyocarditis virus. METHODS AND RESULTS Four-week-old DBA/2 mice were inoculated with the encephalomyocarditis virus. TCV-116 (in 5% gum arabic) was given 1 day before (1 or 10 mg/kg) or 2 days after virus inoculation (0.3 or 3 mg/kg). Control mice received the vehicle only. All drugs were administered orally on a daily basis, and the animals were killed on day 14. When treatment was started 1 day before inoculation, the survival of mice receiving 10 mg/kg of TCV-116 improved (17 of 20 [85%] versus 14 of 22 [64%] control mice), but the difference was not significant. Heart weight (106 +/- 24 mg versus 133 +/- 33 mg, P < .05), histological scores for myocardial necrosis (1.1 +/- 0.3 versus 2.3 +/- 1.2, P < .01), cellular infiltration (1.4 +/- 0.7 versus 2.6 +/- 1.3, P < .05), and calcification (1.1 +/- 0.3 versus 2.1 +/- 1.1, P < .01) were significantly decreased in mice given TCV-116 at 3 mg/kg compared with the vehicle control mice. The plasma angiotensin II level was significantly higher in infected mice than in noninfected mice (71.8 +/- 30.2 versus 31.8 +/- 22.5 pg/mL, P < .05). TCV-116 did not inhibit viral replication in the heart. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that angiotensin II plays an important pathophysiological role in viral myocarditis. Treatment with TCV-116, an angiotensin II receptor antagonist, had a cardioprotective effect.

25 Increasing evidence indicates that insecticides induce various diseases via DNA 26 methylation. DNA methylation plays an important role during cell differentiation and 27 exhibits its greatest vulnerability to environmental factors during embryogenesis. 28 Therefore, it is important to evaluate the effects on DNA methylation at the early stage of 29 cell differentiation to understand developmental toxicity. However, DNA methylation 30 induced by insecticides and the associated effects on cell differentiation are unclear. In 31 this research, we introduced a high-content approach utilizing mouse embryonic stem 32 cells harboring enhanced green fluorescent protein fused with methyl CpG-binding 33 protein to evaluate global DNA methylation induced by various insecticides. DNA 34 methylation was assessed in 22 genes after pesticide exposure to investigate the 35 relationships with biological processes such as cell cycle, cell apoptosis, and cell 36 differentiation. Exposure to acetamiprid, imidacloprid, carbaryl, and o,p′-DDT increased 37 the granular intensity, indicating their global DNA-methylating effects. Exposure to 38 imidacloprid decreased DNA methylation in genes such as Cdkn2a, Dapk1, Cdh1, Mlh1, 39 Timp3, and Rarb, indicating the potential influence of the DNA methylation pattern on 40 cell differentiation. We developed a promising approach for evaluating global DNA 41 methylation, and our findings suggested that imidacloprid might exhibit developmental 42 effects through DNA methylation pattern. 43 44 45 46 47 48