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Atorvastatin is not only an antilipemic but also used as an anti-inflammatory medicine in heart disease. Our working hypothesis was that atorvastatin preconditioning could improve the forward blood flow in the no-reflow rats associated with inflammation. We investigated that two doses of atorvastatin preconditioning (20 and 5 mg/kg/day) could alleviate deterioration of early cardiac diastolic function in rats with inflammation detected by echocardiography and haemodynamics. This benefit was obtained from the effect of atorvastatin preconditioning on improving forward blood flow and preserving the infarct cardiomyocytes, which was estimated by Thioflavin S and TTC staining in rats with myocardial ischemia/reperfusion. Subsequently, the improving of forward blood flow was ascribed to reduction of microthrombus in microvascular and myocardial fibrosis observed by MSB and Masson's trichrome staining with atorvastatin preconditioning. Ultimately, we found that atorvastatin preconditioning could reduce inflammation factor, such as tumor necrosis factor-α and fibrinogen-like protein 2, both in myocardial and in mononuclear cells, which probably attribute to microcirculation dysfunction in no-reflow rats detected by immunohistochemistry staining, western blot, and ELISA detection, respectively. In conclusion, atorvastatin preconditioning could alleviate deterioration of early cardiac diastolic function and improve the forward blood flow in the no-reflow rats attributing to reduction of TNF-α and fgl-2 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α during MI/R injury has been studied extensively. However, how TNF-α induces microvascular dysfunction in MI/R is still unclear. This study investigates whether TNF-α regulates fibrinogen-like protein 2 (fgl2) expression, a procoagulant resulting in the formation of fibrin-rich microthrombus in MI/R injury. Methods and Results Microthrombosis, TNF-α and fgl2 expression were assessed in rats with MI/R injury. The effect of TNF-α on fgl2 expression and fgl2 prothrombinase activity was investigated in CMECs, then CMECs were pretreated with selective inhibitors of NF-κB and p38 MAPK pathways. TNF-α and fgl2 expression were both upregulated in MI/R group. When neutralization of TNF-α, fgl2 expression was decreased in vivo. Fgl2 expression was upregulated in CMECs exposed to TNF-α. Accordingly, the ability of thrombin generation was increased in CMECs. Besides, TNF-α-induced fgl2 expression in the cells was suppressed by NF-κB inhibitor PDTC and/or p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580. Conclusion TNF-α upregulates fgl2 expression via activation of NF- kB and p38 MAPK in CMECs. TNF-α-induced flg2 in CMECs mediates the formation of fibrin-rich microthrombus, which may be one of the mechanisms of microvascular dysfunction or obstruction due to MI/R injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acute lung injury is a frequent complication after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Recent studies have reported that NF-κB plays an important role in the pathogenesis of post-CPB pulmonary dysfunction. Several signaling pathways, including the TLR4 pathway, induce NF-κB leading to an inflammatory response. We designed this study to determine whether or not curcumin inhibits TLR4 and MyD88 protein levels and ameliorates lung inflammatory injury in a rat CPB model. Materials and methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the following five groups (n = 12): sham; control (CPB); vehicle; low-dose curcumin (L-Cur); and high-dose curcumin (H-Cur). The percutaneous beating heart CPB model of rat was established. Animals were pretreated with a single intraperitoneal injection of vehicle, L-Cur (50 mg/kg), or H-Cur (200 mg/kg) 2 h prior to CPB. Blood were sampled at various time points, then lung tissues and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were harvested 24 h after CPB. Results: CPB induced a marked increase in the concentrations of interleukin-8, tumor necrosis factor-α, and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in plasma, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and lung tissues (P < 0.05 versus sham group), whereas curcumin pretreatment reduced these inflammatory markers. Curcumin had effective inhibitory effects on the expression of TLR4, MyD88, and NF-κB in lung tissues 24 h post-CPB (P < 0.05 versus vehicle group). Administration of curcumin remarkably decreased the lung injury score (L-Cur versus vehicle group, P = 0.024; H-Cur versus vehicle group, P = 0.013). Conclusions: Curcumin may be an alternative therapy for protecting CPB-induced lung injury by suppressing the expression of inflammatory cytokines. This anti-inflammatory effect of curcumin is partly related to the inhibition of TLR4, MyD88, and NF-κB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) has been widely used in the operations involving the aortic arch and brain aneurysm since 1950s; but prolonged DHCA contributes significantly to neurological deficit which remains a major cause of postoperative morbidity and mortality. It has been reported that hydrogen exerts a therapeutic antioxidant activity by selectively reducing hydroxyl radical. In this study, DHCA treated rats developed a significant oxidative stress, inflammatory reaction and apoptosis. The administration of HRS resulted in a significant decrease in the brain injury, together with lower production of IL-1β, TNF-α, 8-OHdG and MDA as well as decreased activity of NOS while increased activity of SOD. The apoptotic index as well as the expressions of caspase-3 in brain tissue was significantly decreased after treatment. HRS administration significantly attenuated the severity of DHCA induced brain injury by mechanisms involving amelioration of oxidative stress, down-regulation of inflammatory factors and reduction of apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]