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Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Aortic smooth muscle cell death is an important initial lesion of atherosclerosis. A number of autooxidation products of cholesterol which has been recognized recently has the capability of inducing rabbits' aortic smooth cell death in vitro. Twelve oxidation derivatives of cholesterol, available commercially, were dissolved in small amounts of ethanol, then added to the culture medium at levels not exceeding 0.8%. The medium contained 10% fetal calf's serum which served as an in situ vehicle for the sterols. The degrees of cytotoxicity were graded and measured as percentage of dying and dead cells in the cultures within 24 hr. 25-Hydroxycholesterol and cholesthan-3 beta, 5 alpha, 6 beta-triol, were the most toxic compounds among the sterols tested. When these oxidation derivatives of cholesterol were added to these cultured cells, they significantly depressed activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, a regulatory enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis (up to 83% inhibition by 25 hydroxycholesterol at a 3 microgram/ml concentration in culture medium) but the sequence of degree of inhibition was not exactly correlated with that of cytotoxicity. Various mechanisms are speculated. Purified cholesterol showed no cytotoxic effect and minimal inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis.
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PMID:Cytotoxicity of oxidation derivatives of cholesterol on cultured aortic smooth muscle cells and their effect on cholesterol biosynthesis. 3 98

The presence of a "sinking" lipoprotein (SLP), demonstrated by combining electrophoretic and ultracentrifugal methods, has been recorded in 13.6% of 44 normal subjects, in 62.2% of 37 hyperlipoproteinaemic patients with types IIA, IIB and IV and in 39.8% of 107 atherosclerotic patients. The recorded data suggest that the "sinking" lipoprotein may be related to human atherosclerosis and to hyperipoproteinaemic states. A pre-beta (S band in the fraction with density greater than 1.006 appeared in 2 out of 20 subjects receiving as isocaloric hyperglucidic diet (CHO, 80; F, 5;P, 15) for 8 days and in 3 out of 10 subjects receiving an acute ethanol oral load. The nature of the nutritionally determined lipoprotein is doubtful. It seems improbable that the newly synthetized lipoprotein is the "true" sinking lipoprotein as this considered to be a genetically determined marker. These data may signify that other "sinking" lipoproteins unrelated to LP-Berg system may exist or may be determined. It is also probable that the new synthetized lipoprotein may have some relationship with the "intermediate" lipoprotein.
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PMID:"Sinking" lipoprotein in normal, hyperlipoproteinaemic and atherosclerotic patients. 16 7

BR-931 [4-chloro-6-(2,3-xylidino)-2-pyrimidinylthio-(N-beta-hydroxyethyl)-acetamide], a new hypolipidemic agent of low toxicity, was evaluated in several tests of lipolysis and hyperlipidemia in rats, and in the cholesterol-induced atherosclerosis in rabbits. Significant hypolipidemic activity was observed in rats with doses of the agent at 12.5--50 mg/kg. In the Triton-induced hyperlipidemia, 50 mg BR-931 per kg was equieffective as 200 mg of clofibrate (CPIB) per kg. In contrast with CPIB, BR-931 exerted a powerful antilipolytic activity against epinephrine, ACTH, nicotine and cold exposure. BR-931 was particularly effective in diet-induced hyperlipidemias. Ethanol lipemia was totally prevented by the agent at 100 mg/kg. With Nath's diet, doses as low as 25 mg/kg significantly reduced hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia. In these last two tests, the distribution of lipoprotein cholesterol was also determined. CPIB did not affect HDL cholesterol levels that had been decreased by the diets; in contrast, BR-931, already at doses of 50 mg/kg, brought the HDL/total cholesterol ratio back toward normal. A significant HDL cholesterol increase, together with some reduction of atheromatosis, was also observed in cholesterol-fed rabbits. BR-931, a potent inducer of liver peroxisones and of mitochondrial carmitine acetyltransferase, appears to be a hypolipidemic agent of high efficacy and low toxicity for the clinical treatment of hyperlipidemias and atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis 1978 May
PMID:Pharmacological profile of BR-931, a new hypolipidemic agent that increases high-density lipoproteins. 20 96

However great the success in the therapy of hypertension, atherosclerosis and ischemic heart disease has been gained today by recent efficient drugs, the definite healing of patients is not yet attained. The late discovery of reserpine, such an efficient drug of plant origin against hypertension, convinced so far reluctant scientists to consider the chemical compounds of the plant world. With respect to this traditional medical knowledge, it seems necessary to define more accurately the specificity of these healings-sometimes recommended unspecifically for a whole branch of medicine. This experimental verification should not use inconsiderately the present-day classification of diseases; there should be an awareness that conventional experimental methods in pharmacology are often unsuitable for revealing the real biological activity of one or another medicinal plant. The interest in the millennial empirical field of health care is acknowledged by the World Health Organization which promotes research and development of traditional medicine, along with investigations into its psychosocial and ethnographic aspects. These studies cover a number of plants growing in Bulgaria that have a healing effect in hypertension, atherosclerosis and ischemic heart disease according to the data of traditional medicine. Using screening methods, extracts and chemically pure substances were investigated; extraction was done with solvents such as water, ether, chloroform, dichloretan, ethanol, methanol, and acetone. Most of the experiments were carried out on anesthetized cats, rabbits and dogs. The substances tested were applied mainly intravenously, and in some experiments orally. Chronic experiments were also carried out on wakeful dogs with induced hypertension, on animals fed on an atherogenic diet, and on animals with induced arrhythmia and coronary spasm. Data are presented of clinical examination of some plants or of active substances isolated from them. Major results of these studies are presented for the following plants: Garlic, Geranium; Hellebore; Mistletoe; Olive; Valerian; Hawthorn; Pseucedanum arenarium; Periwinkle; Fumitory. For another 50 plants growing in Bulgaria and in other countries the author presents his and other investigators' experimental and clinical data about hypotensive, antiatheromatous and coronarodilatating action.
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PMID:Plants and hypotensive, antiatheromatous and coronarodilatating action. 57 53

Healthy fasted volunteers were subjected to an acute oral ethanol load over 12 h after a diet of 3 days with high linolenic acid content. Free fatty acids, triglycerides, glycerol, phospholipids, cholesterol and insulin, as well as the fatty acid pattern of triglycerides in the plasma, were determined during the test. The test was repeated with nicotinic acid added. The lipid values obtained and the comparisons of fatty acid composition both indicate that the predominant role of peripheral lipolysis in the genesis of acute ethanol-induced hypertriglyceridemia, in spite of the possibility of enhanced synthesis of palmitic acid in the liver.
Atherosclerosis 1978 Jan
PMID:Plasma lipids, triglyceride/fatty acid pattern, and plasma insulin in fasted healthy volunteers during continuous ingestion of ethanol. Influence of lipolysis inhibited by nicotinic acid. 62 23

During the years 1965 to 1974, 481 men who had participated in a standardized examination at the Honolulu Heart Study died. Autopsies were conducted in 226 of the men, and in 137 the extent of coronary and/or aortic atherosclerosis was estimated by the American Heart Association panel method. This method was found to be simple and highly reproducible. In multivariate analysis, statistically independent associations were found between aortic atherosclerosis and age at death, cigarettes per day, serum cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure; between coronary atherosclerosis and relative weight, cigarettes per day, and serum cholesterol; and between heart weight and height, relative weight, and systolic blood pressure. Alcohol consumption was lower and hematocrit was higher in men with infarcts than in other decedents, but no statistically significant relation between these variables and coronary or aortic atherosclerosis could be demonstrated.
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PMID:Coronary risk factors and autopsy findings in Japanese-American men. 63 54

Rats were fed for 24 days a liquid diet with ethanol as 36% of calories to produce hyperlipemia and hepatic steatosis. The catabolism of chylomicrons doubly-labeled in the triacylglycerol and cholesteryl ester moieties was studied in conscious rats after ingestion of their usual liquid diets with or without ethanol. A constant intravenous infusion of chylomicrons revealed a defect in chylomicron catabolism after chronic treatment with ethanol. The plasma clearance of chylomicron cholesteryl ester was impaired to a greater extent than clearance of chylomicron triacylglycerol. These findings are consistent with defective catabolism of chylomicron remnants, and suggest that the accumulation of chylomicron remnants in the plasma contributes to the development of increased post-prandial hyperlipemia and chronic hyperlipemia in association with excessive ethanol consumption.
Atherosclerosis 1977 Sep
PMID:Effects of chronic ethanol consumption on the catabolism of chylomicron triacylglycerol and cholesteryl ester in the rat. 91 70

Tests on 100 alcoholic patients revealed increased lipoprotein levels in 24%. Type IV was the most frequently ecountered (80%), followed by type II or V. The average plasma triglyceride level of the alcoholic group was significantly increased in comparison with a control population. The causal mechanism of alcoholic hyperlipoproteinemia remains poorly understood. The combination of a genetic defect of lipid metabolism, nutritional factors and acute alcohol excess may have an essential bearing on the incidence of hyperlipoproteinemia. Acute excessive intake of alcohol was significantly increased in comparison with alcoholic subjects wihtout hyperlipoproteinemia. The critical dose may be a daily ethanol consumption of about 200 gm. There appeared to be no correlation between acute pancreatic injury or active liver disease and serum lipid elevation. On the other hand, the observation was confirmed that alcoholic patients with hepatic cirrhosis usually do not develop hyperlipoproteinemia. Ethanol-induced hyperlipoproteinemia may be a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis and pancreatitis.
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PMID:[Alcohol-induced hyperlipoproteinemia]. 91 92

Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a decreased risk of coronary artery disease. The mechanism of the putative protective effect of alcohol intake, however, remains elusive. Recent studies suggest that a ratio of apolipoprotein A-I/apolipoprotein B and Lp(a) are better indicators of the risk of atherosclerosis than total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein cholesterol. To assess the effect of alcohol on these analytes, we determined the concentration of Lp(a), apolipoprotein A-I, apolipoprotein B, total cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and calculated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in serum of 12 patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for alcohol dependence at the time of admission for treatment of alcohol withdrawal (before). The analyses were repeated after 4 weeks of supervised abstinence on a locked research unit (after). With abstinence, there was a significant increase in the concentration of Lp(a), the atherogenic index and the ratio of low-density to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol but a significant decrease in total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein A-I, and the apolipoprotein A-I/B ratio. Apolipoprotein B and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol showed no significant changes before and after alcohol abstinence. Thus, decreased Lp(a) and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I may be factors mediating the putative protective effect of alcohol in coronary artery disease.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res 1992 Oct
PMID:The effect of alcohol withdrawal on serum concentrations of Lp(a), apolipoproteins A-1 and B, and lipids. 821 36

In most countries, high intake of saturated fat is positively related to high mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the situation in France is paradoxical in that there is high intake of saturated fat but low mortality from CHD. This paradox may be attributable in part to high wine consumption. Epidemiological studies indicate that consumption of alcohol at the level of intake in France (20-30 g per day) can reduce risk of CHD by at least 40%. Alcohol is believed to protect from CHD by preventing atherosclerosis through the action of high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, but serum concentrations of this factor are no higher in France than in other countries. Re-examination of previous results suggests that, in the main, moderate alcohol intake does not prevent CHD through an effect on atherosclerosis, but rather through a haemostatic mechanism. Data from Caerphilly, Wales, show that platelet aggregation, which is related to CHD, is inhibited significantly by alcohol at levels of intake associated with reduced risk of CHD. Inhibition of platelet reactivity by wine (alcohol) may be one explanation for protection from CHD in France, since pilot studies have shown that platelet reactivity is lower in France than in Scotland.
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PMID:Wine, alcohol, platelets, and the French paradox for coronary heart disease. 135 2


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