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

Cigarette smoking is a major risk for coronary atherosclerosis, but the mechanism of this is still unclear. The present study demonstrates that smoking produces a variable increase in plasma vasopressin concentration but that sensitivity of platelets to this elevated endogenous vasopressin release is blunted. This suggests that cigarette smoking contributes to atherosclerosis through the vascular effects of the hormones whose release it stimulates rather than by platelet activation. The mechanism for this blunted responsiveness to vasopressin was also investigated in vitro. The rise in intracellular free calcium concentration of platelets was markedly reduced following a second administration of vasopressin, whereas the in vitro shape change response was usually unaltered and could only be reduced with specific procedures for platelet preparation. This suggests that only a small increase of intracellular free calcium is necessary for a complete shape change response induced by vasopressin. The results indicate that the shape change is mediated by an increase in intracellular free calcium which is independent from the phosphoinositol pathway and the calcium is released from intracellular pools other than by those activated by serotonin or thrombin.
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PMID:Smoking-induced increases in plasma vasopressin and reduced platelet hormone sensitivity. 243 66

In addition to hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, the third major risk factor in vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and acute thrombosis is nicotinism, particularly that involving the smoking of cigarettes. Each cigarette smoked, with inhalation, is followed by increases in blood pressure and heart rate due to release of catecholamines and vasopressin. In addition, nicotine intake modifies the metabolism of certain drugs, such as beta-blockers, diminishing their antihypertensive action and hence nullifying the therapeutic benefit. Hypertension in smokers therefore constitutes a real "model" for the pharmacologic study of certain antihypertensives. Clearly the essential aim with any hypertensive subject is discontinuance of smoking, which is difficult to achieve with heavy smokers since genuine drug dependence is involved. There is no "miracle" treatment. It is necessary in each case to study the characteristics of dependence, which is both psychologic and pharmacologic (nicotine being the principal drug). Appropriate, and hence more effective therapies can then be proposed in light of the results obtained.
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PMID:[How to prevent vascular risk related to smoking: an aid to discontinue smoking]. 262 4

A variety of age-related anatomic and functional alterations in the kidney have been described. Anatomic abnormalities in the aging kidney include a decrease in kidney size, increased glomerular sclerosis, altered tubular structure, and an altered pattern of vascular flow. These anatomic abnormalities are associated with renal functional abnormalities, including decreased renal blood flow, and glomerular filtration rate. Altered renal tubular function, including impaired handling of water, sodium, acid, and glucose, may also be present. Impaired "endocrinologic" functioning manifested by changes in the renin-angiotensin system, vitamin D metabolism, and antidiuretic hormone responsiveness have been reported. The kidney is constantly exposed to the effects of a variety of potentially toxic processes. These range from environmental toxins and drugs, to a variety of chronic medical illnesses including hypertension, diabetes, and atherosclerotic disease. In this context, differentiation of "aging" effects from nephrotoxic effects resulting from these other processes is difficult. It has been argued that hypertension is an important factor in the development and progression of renal insufficiency in the elderly. The relationship between hypertension, glomerular hyperfiltration, atherosclerosis, and progressive renal dysfunction needs further study. Further research may allow the rational recommendation of interventions designed to control age-associated changes in renal function.
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PMID:Renal function in aging. 266 87

Results of using vasopressin and pituitrin in 20 patients with memory disturbances of various genesis (due to circulatory disturbances in the vertebrobasilar system, cerebral atherosclerosis, neurasthenia, brain concussion, epilepsy) are reviewed. The therapeutic efficacy of the hormones was evaluated with the use of a complex of psychophysiological methods. Objective changes in the patients' neurological status and subjective state were taken into account. A high therapeutic efficacy of the hormones in the treatment of amnestic syndromes is demonstrated.
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PMID:[Experience with the use of posterior pituitary hormones in memory disorders of different etiology]. 616 88

By standard laboratory methods the presence and activity of von Willebrand factor (vWF) was detected and characterized in the ferret (Mustela putorius furo); vWF in plasma, platelets, and selected tissues (thoracic aorta, cranial vena cava, thoracic portion of caudal vena cava, and lung) was documented. Activity, antigenic concentration, plasma multimeric distribution, and localization within tissues were similar to those features in other species. Two differences were apparent: multimeric distribution of platelet vWF was skewed toward the smaller molecular weight multimers, and mucous goblet, but not ciliated, cells of the bronchial epithelium stained positive for vWF. Larger molecular weight multimers were not released subsequent to administration of 1-deamino-8-D-arginine-vasopressin. The ferret may be a useful animal model in studying the role of vWF in hemostasis, thrombosis, and atherosclerosis. In particular, the role of small molecular weight multimers found in ferret platelets may provide further insight into the roles of platelet vWF multimeric distribution, platelet adhesion, and thrombosis.
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PMID:von Willebrand factor in plasma, platelets, and selected tissues of ferrets. 760 15

Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated hypertension is one of the risk factors of atherosclerosis, but the underlying mechanism is complex and still controversial. Salt-sensitivity is an important characteristic demonstrated in a subgroup of hypertension, since the factors relating to salt-sensitivity also influence smooth muscle hypertrophy and proliferation which are essential processes of atherosclerosis. Insulin resistance is also involved in the causal relationship between hypertension and atherosclerosis, because accumulating data indicate a central role of insulin resistance in patients with hypertension, glucose-intolerance and dyslipidemia. Vasoacting substances give direct effects on not only the tension but also the growth of smooth muscle cells, namely vasodilators, such as nitric oxide and atrial natriuretic peptides inhibit the proliferation of smooth muscle cells. On the other hand, vasoconstrictors such as angiotensin II, vasopressin and endothelin promote the proliferation of smooth muscle cells. The factors which influence both tension and proliferation of smooth muscle cells may play a central role in the relationship between hypertension and atherosclerosis.
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PMID:[The role of hypertension as a risk factor of atherosclerosis]. 769 22

We investigated the effects of 17 beta-estradiol (beta E2), alpha-estradiol (alpha E2), and progesterone (P) on baseline and vasopressin (AVP)-induced [Ca2+]i in human platelets obtained from healthy male and female volunteers. Platelets were treated with beta E2, alpha E2, P, or ethanol vehicle for 30 min at 37 degrees C. In males, both beta E2 and P at 10(-5) mol/L reduced the AVP-induced rise in [Ca2+]i, to 72 +/- 3% (mean +/- SEM) and 53 +/- 3%, respectively. However, at 10(-6) mol/L only beta E2 had a significant effect (P < .02). In females, 10(-6) and 10(-5) beta E2 reduced the AVP response to 85.3 +/- 4.6% and 80.8 +/- 5.4% of control values, respectively. Progesterone (10(-6) and 10(-5) mol/L) reduced the AVP response to 83.8 +/- 5.1% and 60.3 +/- 2.0% of control values, respectively. The inactive estrogen alpha E2 had no effect on basal or AVP-induced rise in [Ca2+]i in either subject population, suggesting hormonal specificity. Neither beta E2 nor P affected baseline [Ca2+]i in either population. Thus, by attenuating [Ca2+]i responses in platelets, beta E2 and P may modulate platelet aggregation and atherosclerosis.
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PMID:Effects of estradiol and progesterone on platelet calcium responses. 775 50

It is well-known that atherosclerotic change and hypertension are common manifestations in patients with glucocorticoid excess. We previously reported that pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and carbacyclin, a stable analog of prostacyclin, have suppressive effects on vasopressin-induced DNA synthesis of rat aortic smooth muscle cells through cAMP production (Murase et al., J. Hypertens., 10 (1992) 1505; Oiso et al., Biochem. Cell. Biol., 71 (1993) 156). In the present study, we investigated the effect of glucocorticoid on cAMP production induced by PACAP, PGE2 and carbacyclin in aortic smooth muscle cells. The pretreatment with dexamethasone significantly inhibited cAMP accumulation induced by these vasoactive agents in a dose dependent manner in the range between 10 pM and 10 nM. These inhibitory effects of dexamethasone were dependent on the time of pretreatment up to 8 h. Dexamethasone inhibited cAMP accumulation induced by NaF, a GTP-binding protein activator, and forskolin which directly activates adenylate cyclase. Moreover, forskolin-induced adenylate cyclase activity was significantly reduced in membranes prepared from the cells treated with dexamethasone. These results strongly suggest that glucocorticoid inhibits cAMP production induced by vasoactive agents in primary cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells and the inhibitory effect is exerted at the level of adenylate cyclase.
Atherosclerosis 1994 Sep 30
PMID:Glucocorticoid inhibits cAMP production induced by vasoactive agents in aortic smooth muscle cells. 785 72

The effect of short-term nicotine consumption on endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels was studied in 10 male healthy smokers. Volunteers smoked in random order on 3 separate days a low-tar cigarette or a high-tar cigarette, or were studied without having smoked (no-cigarette experiment). ET-1, corticotropin, and cortisol levels, heart rate, and blood pressure were determined before and 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, and 30 minutes after smoking. In contrast to results obtained after smoking a low-tar cigarette or not smoking, smoking a high-tar cigarette resulted in a significant increase in ET-1 levels within 10 minutes, followed by an increase in corticotropin levels within 20 minutes after smoking. Thirty minutes after smoking, cortisol levels were higher after a high-tar cigarette compared with a low-tar cigarette or no smoking. Increases in heart rate and systolic blood pressure were likewise higher after smoking a high-tar cigarette than after smoking a low-tar cigarette. In conclusion, it is tempting to speculate that ET-1 may indeed act as the long-searched-for link between vasopressin and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and thus play an essential role in the stimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. In addition, these results suggest that the increase in the level of ET-1, a powerful vasoconstrictor and mitogen, may play an important part in the disease mechanisms of atherosclerosis arising from smoking.
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PMID:Elevated endothelin-1 levels after cigarette smoking. 813 72

The hormonal system is a communication system between cells and organs. Hence it is not surprising that it influences almost all physiological functions and, at least partially, our behaviour and fate. The sexual phenotype is determined by the sex hormones. Normally, the phenotype is in accordance with gonadal and genetic sex, but occasionally, as a consequence of enzymatic defects in the biosynthesis of sex hormones or of androgen resistance, gonadal and genetic sex are in discordance with the phenotype, the latter determining generally the civil sex and the sex of rearing. Whereas the gender role is generally determined by the sex of rearing and the phenotype, itself under hormonal influence, homo- and transsexuality constitute notorious exceptions to this rule. Although several authors consider homo- and transsexuality to be the consequence of an impairment in androgenic impregnation in the perinatal period, there are at present no convincing arguments for an hormonal origin for either homo- or transsexuality, although such a possibility can't be excluded either. Besides their role in psychosexual behaviour, sex hormones play also a role in our life expectancy. Indeed, although maximal life expectancy of man is genetically determined, a major determinant of individual life expectancy is cardiovascular pathology. The latter is partly responsible for the difference in life expectancy between men and women, cardiovascular mortality increasing rapidly at menopause and being halved by oestrogen replacement therapy. Also atherogenesis as such is, to a large extend, under hormonal control. Indeed insulin resistance and hyperinsulinism, which develop as a corollary of the aging process, is an important cause of atherosclerosis as well as of hypertension. Other hormones also play an important role in our behaviour. We can mention here the role of the thyroid hormones in the physical and mental development of children as well as in the regression of the intellectual functions in hypothyroidism; the role of growth (and sex) hormones in the clinical symptomatology of aging; the memory enhancing effects of the antidiuretic hormone; the role of growth factors (as well as of sex hormones) in tumorigenesis; the role of corticoids (and sex hormones) in the modulation of immunological processes etc. In brief, hormones influence all aspects of our life.
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PMID:[Do hormones determine our fate?]. 820 84


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