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Nitric Oxide levels in patients with atheromatous carotid plaque
No full textNitric oxide (NO), an unstable derived of nitrogen, is released by endothelium in response to physiological stimulus. Indeed, the endothelium is not only a barrier between the lumen and the inner side of the vessel wall but also a metabolically active organ with endocrine, paracrine and autocrine functions. Endothelial vascular cells play an important role in the regulating vasomotor tone, local homeostasis and vascular bed proliferation. NO mediates the vasodilation and inhibits platelet aggregation, expression of molecular adhesion of monocyte, neutrophils adhesion and smooth muscle growth. Atherosclerosis risk factors such as hypercholesteremia, high blood pressure, smoking and oxidative stress inhibit NO production, leading paradoxically to vasodilatation, which affects endothelial function and may lead to ischemic manifestations in patients with arterial pathology. Therapies that increase NO production may improve endothelial vasodilatation. To check whether a decrease or lower production of NO terminates with the initial formation of atheromatous plaque or whether it continues, we determined the content of NO in plasma and plaque of subjects undergoing carotid surgery and in plasma of control subjects
Synthetic gel of carotid artery plaque
No full textAtherosclerosis is a complex disease that affects medium and large arteries, leading to the formation and progression of plaque. In this process the proteins play an essential role and as a consequence, proteomic-based strategies examining the protein content of cells or tissues could offer a useful approach for the study of plaque proteins. Due to the heterogeneous cell composition of plaque, proteome analysis of whole lesions is difficult, besides being also complicated by the presence of plasma proteins that cannot be completely eliminated. A good way to study variations in protein expression among series of gels is to construct a synthetic gel. This type of gel is obtained by averaging the positions, shapes and optical densities of spots in a given set of gels. To be included in the synthetic gel, spots must be found in at least three gels. To obtain a profile representative of the proteome of atherosclerotic plaque, cancelling its high variability, we constructed a synthetic gel using an average of ten carotid plaque samples. We then compared it with an equivalent synthetic gel constructed using ten plasma samples from the same carotid surgery patients. For the comparison of two synthetic gels (plasma/plaque) we could discriminate plasma proteins from plaque proteins. Besides analysis of spots common to plasma, the synthetic gel is useful to detect spots exclusive to plaque, thus simplifying a very complex mixtur
Purine catabolism in advanced carotid artery plaque
No full textThis study was carried out on carotid artery plaque and plasma of 50 patients. We analyzed uric acid, hypoxanthine, xanthine, and allantoin levels to verify if enzymatic purine degradation occurs in advanced carotid plaque; we also determined free radicals and sulphydryl groups to check if there is a correlation between oxidant status and purine catabolism. Comparing plaque and plasma we found higher levels of free radicals, hypoxanthine, xanthine, and a decrease of some oxidant protectors, such as sulphydryl groups and uric acid, in plaque. We also observed a very important phenomenon in plaque, the presence of allantoin due to chemical oxidation of uric acid, since humans do not have the enzyme uricase. The hypothetical elevated activity of xanthine oxidase in atherosclerosis could be reduced by specific therapies using its inhibitors, such as oxypurinol or allopurino
Simultaneous determination of serum concentration of levodopa, dopamine, 3-O-methyldopa and alfa-methyldopa by HPLC
No full textLevodopa is the medication of choice for Parkinson's disease. The biological complexity of levodopa and of its main derivatives makes their determination important in the clinical field. The aim of this study was to develop an HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of serum concentrations of levodopa, dopamine, 3-O-methyldopa and alpha-methyldopa. We compared UV and fluorimetric detection of native and derivatised compounds. Though less sensitive than other methods, UV detection is important to exclude naturally fluorescent, interfering substances. Fluorimetric detection of derivatised compounds is more sensitive than UV detection. Since 3-O-methyldopa does not react with the derivatising agent 1,2-diphenylethylenediamine, it cannot be detected. For simultaneous determination of the four compounds after pharmacological treatment of patients we therefore advise fluorimetric detection of the native compoun
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