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The present study was undertaken to quantify the circulating kinins in patients with various cardiovascular diseases using a newly developed radioimmunoassay technique and to evaluate this method in terms of its clinical application. For the determination of bradykinin (BK), this assay uses a rabbit anti-serum which has been injected with kallidin. This assay shows good specific activity, recovery and reproducibility. In order to avoid the formation of kinin as well as to block its inactivation, human blood samples were collected with a polypropylene syringe containing an inhibitor mixture (EDTA, trasylol, 1-10-phenanthroline, soybean trypsin inhibitor, polybrene). 1) The plasma BK concentration in normal human subjects, in patients with essential hypertension, effort angina and other cardiac diseases were 12.2, 9.2, 8.0 and 14.0 pg/ml, respectively. 2) Thirty min after captopril (12.5 mg, p.o.) administration, blood pressure and pulmonary wedge pressures decreased, and cardiac output increased accompanied with increases in plasma renin activity, plasma BK concentration and plasma norepinephrine concentration. 3) During the cold pressor test, both plasma BK concentration and blood pressure increased in the normal human subjects, whereas plasma BK levels decreased and blood pressure increased in the patients with hypertension. This radioimmunoassay for plasma BK determination makes it possible to measure plasma BK concentration in patients with various cardiac diseases.

Effects of beraprost sodium (sodium(+/-)-(1R*,2R*,3aS*,8bS*)-2,3,3a,8b-tetrahydro-2-hydr oxy-1- [(E)-(3S*)-3-hydroxy-4-methyl-octen-6-ynyl]-1H-cyclopenta[b] benzofuran- 5-butyrate, TRK-100), a stable prostacyclin analogue, on the peripheral circulatory disturbances induced by various vasoconstrictive stimuli were studied. Orally administered beraprost sodium (10, 30 micrograms/kg) caused increase in skin blood flow in anesthetized rats and rise in skin temperature in conscious rats. Intravenously administered beraprost sodium (0.01-0.3 microgram/kg) reduced the recovery time of decreased pulse pressure by topical cooling of the leg in anesthetized rats. In conscious rabbits, intravenous infusion of beraprost sodium (10 micrograms/kg/min) inhibited the fluctuation of ear artery diameter, and dilated the ear artery and vein, resulting in a rise in the ear temperature. In anesthetized dogs, intravenously administered beraprost sodium (0.313-5 micrograms/kg) caused decrease in femoral blood flow and muscle blood flow in the hindlimb, however, it caused increase in skin blood flow at the hind leg instep. Furthermore, intra-arterially administered beraprost sodium (0.1-0.3 microgram/kg/min) under stimulation of lumbar sympathetic nerve caused increase in femoral artery blood flow and selective increase in the skin blood flow without affecting muscle blood flow.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Anterograde concealed conduction into the concealed accessory atrioventricular (AV) pathway has been postulated to be one of the factors preventing the reciprocating process via the accessory pathway in patients with the concealed Wolff-Parkinson-White(WPW) syndrome but its presence has not been documented. To demonstrate the occurrence of anterograde concealment, 12 patients with the concealed WPW syndrome were selected for study. A pacing protocol was designed in which the retrograde conduction of the ventricular extrastimulus over the accessory pathway was assessed during ventricular pacing alone (conventional method) and during the AV simultaneous pacing (simultaneous method); the results were then compared. When the high right atrium was simultaneously paced, the effective refractory period of the concealed accessory pathway shortened as compared with the conventional method in five of 12 patients (from 341.7 +/- 110.8 to 312.5 +/- 108.2 msec, n = 12), whereas, it decreased in all patients studied when the coronary sinus near the accessory pathway was simultaneously paced (from 375.7 +/- 135.0 to 287.1 +/- 116.1 msec, n = 7). These results demonstrate that the AV simultaneous pacing frequently shortens the refractoriness of the concealed accessory AV pathway and such facilitation seems to be well explained by the probable anterograde concealment in it and peeling back of the refractory barrier.

Auditory postauricular response (PAR) was determined in 52 subjects with normal hearing and 83 patients with unilateral peripheral facial nerve palsy. PAR was induced bilaterally by bilateral aural stimulation in 50 (96%) of the 52 subjects. Determination of PAR in the 83 patients disclosed that the prognosis was significantly (p less than 0.01) better for those in whom PAR occurred within 4 weeks of onset, in comparison with those without PAR. PAR determination was thus considered to be a useful procedure for determining the prognosis of peripheral facial nerve palsy.

A simple method for assessing the infectivity of Toxoplasma gondii using primary cultured monolayer cells has been devised. Statistic analysis important for interpreting the results of such experimentation was made. In this method, the number of intracellular toxoplasmas and the percentage of confluency of the monolayer were measured. The latter value was used for conversion of the number of intracellular toxoplasmas per unit area to the percentage of infective toxoplasmas. A linear dose-response relationship between the number of intracellular toxoplasmas per unit area and that of toxoplasmas inoculated was demonstrated with primary cell monolayers from the lungs of two-day old inbred golden hamsters and the kidneys of newborn mice and newborn Wistar Imamichi strain rats. On the average, 37% of the toxoplasma organisms harvested from the peritoneal exudate of mice on the third or fourth day of infection were found to be infective. This value compares very favorably with the value 40% reported previously.

Effect of prostacyclin analogue, beraprost sodium (Sodium (+/-)-(1R*, 2R*, 3aS*, 8bS*)-2, 3,3a,8b-tetrahydro-2-hydroxy-1-[(E)-(3S*)-3-hydroxy-4-methyl-1-octen+ ++-6- ynyl]-1H-cyclopenta-[b]benzofuran-5-butyrate, TRK-100), on the cardiovascular system of the anesthetized dog was investigated. TRK-100 was injected intra-arterially and intravenously to study the vasodilating effect of the drug by a magnetic flow meter. Intra-arterial injection of TRK-100 augmented blood flow of vertebral, coronary, renal, supramesenteric, hepatic and femoral artery at a dose range of 0.0003 to 3,000 micrograms/bed. The threshold doses of TRK-100 and PGI2 in the mesenteric artery were 0.003 micrograms and 0.0003 micrograms, respectively, and the same values were obtained in the splenic artery. Those were slightly lower than those of other arteries. Intravenous injection of TRK-100 augmented mesenteric and renal arterial flow to 193 +/- 30% and 118 +/- 4%, respectively. In this system augmentation of mesenteric and renal arterial flow was 179 +/- 19% and 135 +/- 1%, respectively, while vertebral, carotid, and femoral arterial flow decreased, respectively, to 71.4 +/- 2.1%, 80.0 +/- 9.4% and 61.4 +/- 5.6% by TRK-100 and 70.6 +/- 5.6%, 79.5 +/- 6.9% and 67.1 +/- 4.7% by PGI2. Inhibitory effects on heart functions such as cardiac output, left ventricular pressure, LV dP/dt, oxygen consumption, and cardiac work were seen. The effect was similar to PGI2. Coronary vascular resistance, total peripheral resistance and systemic blood pressure were also decreased by TRK-100 and PGI2.