Triptolide is a bioactive component of Chinese herbal plant Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F that has recently been noted to attenuate hepatic and cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injuries in rodents. To investigate whether triptolide could protect against myocardial I/R injuries, triptolide (25, 50 or 100 μg/kg) was administrated in Wistar rats that underwent left anterior descending coronary artery ligation in this study. Our data showed that triptolide pretreatment could attenuate myocardial infarction, increase the fractional shortening and left ventricular systolic pressure and decrease the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure in ischemic rats. Also, triptolide was noted to inhibit the activities of lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase in I/R rats. Moreover, triptolide administration suppressed macrophage infiltration, inhibited the overproduction of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and malondialdehyde (MDA) in reperfused myocardium tissues and upregulated the activities of antioxidative superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). In addition, nuclear accumulation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and the activity of its downstream target Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in ischemic myocardium tissues were enhanced by triptolide pretreatment. In addition, the HO-1 inhibitor, zinc protoporphyrin-IX, abrograted the cardiac protection mediated by triptolide. Our study reveals a novel cardioprotective effect of triptolide in rats with I/R injuries, wherein the activation of Nrf2/HO-1 signaling was involved.

Intracoronary NTP can significantly reduce the incidence of angiographic NR during PPCI, as well as the incidence of MACE. It seems to be a promising adjunctive therapy for NR during PPCI.

No abstract

BackgroundDietary fiber was associated with hypertension (HYP) and cognitive function, but it was unknown whether the effect of HYP on cognitive function in older adults was modified by dietary fiber intake.MethodsWe recruited 2,478 participants from the 2011–2012 and 2013–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), with cognitive performance measured by Registry for Alzheimer's disease (CERAD), the Animal Fluency test (AFT), and the Digit Symbol Substitution test (DSST). Multivariate General linear model was used to estimate the interaction between dietary fiber intake and HYP status in association with low cognitive performance.ResultsAmong 2,478 participants, 36% was Controlled HYP, 25% was Low uncontrolled HYP, 11% was High uncontrolled HYP, and 86% was low dietary fiber intake. The association between HYP status and DSST impairment differed by dietary fiber intake for those with high uncontrolled HYP compared to those without HYP. Among participants with low dietary fiber intake, those with uncontrolled HYP had higher risk of DSST impairment compared to those without HYP [HYP ≥ 90/140: OR (95% CI), 1.68 (1.15–2.45); HYP ≥ 100/160: OR (95%CI), 2.05 (1.29–3.23)]; however, there was no association between HYP status and DSST impairment among participants with high dietary fiber intake. Moreover, the interaction of HYP status and dietary fiber intake on DSST was close to statistical significance (P for interaction = 0.057).ConclusionsUncontrolled HYP was associated with poorer cognitive performance in older adults with low, but not high dietary fiber intake. Sufficient dietary fiber intake might be as a new nutrition strategy for the prevention of cognitive impairment in older adults with uncontrolled HYP.