Search

BACKGROUND: Tissue damage after ischemia and reperfusion involves leukocyte endothelial interactions mediated by cell adhesion molecules. This study was designed to determine the time course of soluble adhesion molecules in patients with acute myocardial infarction after attempted reperfusion by thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or streptokinase (SK), or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). METHODS: In 3 x 10 randomly selected patients with acute myocardial infarction undergoing thrombolysis with tPA or SK, or treated with PTCA, plasma concentrations of soluble L-selectin, P-selectin, E-selectin, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, 30 min and 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours after intervention. RESULTS: After thrombolysis with tPA, soluble L-selectin concentrations were persistently depressed and soluble PECAM-1 concentrations were elevated, compared with controls, SK and PTCA. While soluble VCAM-1 concentrations did not differ within the first hours after interventions between the three groups, soluble VCAM-1 rose by 24 hours after tPA thrombolysis but did not increase after SK and PTCA treatment. Soluble ICAM-1 concentrations were consistently elevated after PTCA compared with controls and thrombolysed patients. Soluble E-selectin was depressed after tPA thrombolysis and PTCA in comparison with controls, while the SK group showed an increase throughout the observation period. Soluble P-selectin was increased after PTCA and SK lysis up to 8 hours after treatment compared with controls, but no significant differences could be found between treatment groups. CONCLUSION: Adhesion molecules mediating leukocyte endothelial interactions are altered subsequent to postischemic reperfusion and by treatment with thrombolytic agents and angioplasty. The clinical relevance of these biological changes remains to be determined.

A number of destructive effects of the subsiding surface at the Staßfurt-Egeln salt anticline in central Germany were caused by collapses of abandoned salt mine pits, the dissolution of salt in the mines and the pump-driven drainage system. These man-made effects increased the effect of natural salt solution along the south-western side of the Staßfurt-Egeln anticline. In order to investigate possible consequences of salt-mine flooding the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research funded the research project ‘Dynamic processes in flooded or abandoned salt mines and their overburden’. As an example for this multidisciplinary research project, the area of the 1200-year-old town of Staßfurt, where the world‘s first potash mine was opened in 1852, was selected. BGR conducted an airborne geophysical survey covering the salt anticline in summer 2007. Helicopter- borne frequency-domain electromagnetic, magnetic and radiometric data were simultaneously collected over an area of 470 km2 at a line spacing of 100 m. The aim of this survey was to acquire extensive electrical conductivity data sets showing the regional hydrogeological and geological structures down to about 100 m depth. The electromagnetic data, inverted to layered-earth resistivity models, revealed several hydrogeologically important features such as the distribution of salt water, areas of salt-water rise, buried paleo channels and freshwater influents. In addition to that areas with distinct conductivity anomalies, interpreted as evidence of potential groundwater recharge (low conductivity) or salinisation zones (high conductivity), were selected for more detailed high-resolution ground geophysical studies. The airborne electromagnetic data were also used as input for 3D geological and hydrogeological modelling and served as base-line data for a hydrogeological drilling programme.