Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0007222 (cardiovascular disease)
 65,817 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Dietary fish oil supplements have been shown to have benefits in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), other inflammatory diseases, and in cardiovascular disease. As with any medical advice, variability will exist with regard to adherence and consequent biochemical or pharmacophysiologic effects. The aim was to explore the utility of plasma phospholipid EPA as a measure of n-3 PUFA intake and response to standardized therapeutic advice given in an outpatient or office practice setting, to increase dietary n-3 PUFA, including a fish oil supplement. Patients with early RA were given verbal and written advice to alter their dietary n-3 PUFA intake, including ingestion of 20 mL of bottled fish oil on juice daily. The advice included instructions to increase n-3 PUFA and to avoid foods rich in n-6 PUFA. Every 3 mon, blood samples were obtained for analysis of plasma phospholipid FA. Plasma phospholipid EPA was used as the primary index of n-3 PUFA intake. A diverse response was seen, with about one-third of patients achieving a substantial elevation of plasma phospholipid EPA over the 12-mon study period. A third had little change, with the remainder achieving intermediate levels. Data obtained longitudinally from individual patients indicated that substantial elevations of EPA (> 5% total plasma phospholipid FA) could be maintained for more than 3 yr. Plasma phospholipid EPA is a convenient measure of adherence to advice to take a dietary n-3 PUFA-rich fish oil supplement This measure may prove a useful adjunct to intention to treat analyses in determining the effect of dietary fish oil supplements on long-term outcomes in arthritis and other chronic inflammatory diseases. It may also provide a guide to the effectiveness of therapeutic and preventive messages designed to increase n-3 PUFA intake.
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PMID:A biomarker of n-3 compliance in patients taking fish oil for rheumatoid arthritis. 1284 88

Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are now known to play important roles in human health. In particular, eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5Delta(5,8,11,14,17); n-3: EPA) is implicated as a protective agent in a range of pathologies such as cardiovascular disease and Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X). Eicosapentaenoic acid is currently sourced from fish oils, the presence of this fatty acid being due to the dietary piscine consumption of EPA-synthesising micro-algae. The biosynthetic pathway of EPA has been elucidated, and contains several alternative metabolic routes. Progress in using "reverse engineering" to transgenically mobilize the trait(s) for EPA are considered. In particular, the prospect of producing this important polyunsaturated fatty acid in transgenic oilseeds is highlighted, as is the urgent need for a sustainable replacement for diminishing fish stocks.
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PMID:Eicosapentaenoic acid: biosynthetic routes and the potential for synthesis in transgenic plants. 1473 74

Multiple risk markers for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease act in a synergistic way through inflammatory pathways. This article discusses some of the key inflammatory biochemical risk markers for cardiovascular disease; in particular, the role of three basic cell types affected by these risk markers (endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and immune cells), the crucial role of inflammatory mediators, nitric oxide balance in cardiovascular pathology, and the use of nutrients to circumvent several of these inflammatory pathways. Most risk markers for cardiovascular disease have a pro-inflammatory component, which stimulates the release of a number of active molecules such as inflammatory mediators, reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide, and peroxynitrite from endothelial, vascular smooth muscle, and immune cells in response to injury. Nitric oxide plays a pivotal role in preventing the progression of atherosclerosis through its ability to induce vasodilation, suppress vascular smooth muscle proliferation, and reduce vascular lesion formation. Nutrients such as arginine, antioxidants (vitamins C and E, lipoic acid, glutathione), and enzyme cofactors (vitamins B2 and B3, folate, and tetrahydrobiopterin) help to elevate nitric oxide levels and may play an important role in the management of cardiovascular disease. Other dietary components such as DHA/EPA from fish oil, tocotrienols, vitamins B6 and B12, and quercetin contribute further to mitigating the inflammatory process.
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PMID:The role of chronic inflammation in cardiovascular disease and its regulation by nutrients. 1500 43

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs), together with extrinsic coagulation pathway activation and increased oxidative stress (SOX) have all been implicated as important factors in atherosclerosis and vascular remodelling. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the MMPs/TIMPs system is associated with activation of the extrinsic coagulation pathway in conditions of increased SOX in hemodialysis (HD) patients. In HD patients, with and without cardiovascular disease (CVD), and in controls, we compared pre-dialysis levels of MMP-2, MMP-9,TIMP-1,TIMP-2; the markers of extrinsic coagulation pathway-tissue factor (TF) and its inhibitor (TFPI), prothrombin fragment F1+2 (F1+2); a marker of SOX-Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) and a surrogate of atherosclerotic disease-intima media thickness (IMT). Hemodialysis patients, particularly those with CVD, showed a significant increase in values of MMP-2/TIMPs, markers of the extrinsic coagulation pathway, Cu/Zn SOD and IMT as compared to controls. The markers of coagulation activation positively correlated with the MMP-2/TIMPs system, whereas they did not correlate with MMP-9. In addition, both MMP-2/TIMPs as well as extrinsic coagulation parameters were related to the prevalence of increased SOX, IMT and CVD. Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that low TIMP-2 followed by increased Cu/Zn SOD and MMP-2 levels independently and significantly predicted elevated IMT on maintenance HD patients. In conclusion, our data suggest that the MMP-2/TIMPs system and an activated extrinsic coagulation pathway could cooperate in conditions of elevated SOX and could influence arterial remodeling resulting in the presence of CVD in haemodialysis patients.
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PMID:Extrinsic coagulation pathway activation and metalloproteinase-2/TIMPs system are related to oxidative stress and atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients. 1535 63

High doses of n-3 PUFA found in fish oils can reduce the circulating concentration of triacylglycerol (TG), which may contribute to the positive impact of these fatty acids on the risk of CVD. The present study aimed to establish the differential impact of EPA and docosahexaenoic (DHA) on plasma lipids and apo in adults. Forty-two normolipidaemic adult subjects completed a double-blind placebo controlled parallel study, receiving an EPA-rich oil (4.8 g EPA/d), DHA-rich oil (4.9 g DHA/d) or olive oil as control, for a period of 4 weeks. No effects of treatment on total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol or HDL-cholesterol were evident. There was a significant 22 % reduction in TG level relative to the control value following the DHA treatment (P=0.032), with the 15 % decrease in the EPA group failing to reach significance (P=0.258). There were no significant inter-group differences in response to treatment for plasma apoA1, -C3 or -E levels, although a significant 15 % within-group increase in apoE was evident in the EPA (P=0.006) and DHA (P=0.003) groups. In addition, a within-group decrease in the apoA1:HDL-cholesterol ratio was observed in the DHA group, suggesting a positive impact of DHA on HDL particle size. The DHA intervention resulted in a significant increase in the proportion of EPA P=0.000 and DHA P=0.000 in plasma phospholipids, whilst significant increases in EPA P=0.000 and docosapentaenoic acid P=0.002, but not DHA P=0.193, were evident following EPA supplementation (P<0.05). Our present results indicate that DHA may be more efficacious than EPA in improving the plasma lipid profile.
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PMID:Circulating triacylglycerol and apoE levels in response to EPA and docosahexaenoic acid supplementation in adult human subjects. 1546 51

Indian diets comprising staples such as cereals, millets, and pulses provide 4.8 energy % from linoleic acid (18:2n-6) but fail to deliver adequate amounts of n-3 FA. Consumption of long-chain n-3 PUFA such as EPA (20:5n-3) and DHA (22:6n-3) is restricted to those who consume fish. The majority of the Indian population, however, are vegetarians needing additional dietary sources of n-3 PUFA. The present work was designed to use n-3 FA-enriched spray-dried milk powder to provide n-3 FA. Whole milk was supplemented with linseed oil to provide alpha-linolenic acid (LNA, 18:3n-3), with fish oil to provide EPA and DHA, or with groundnut oil (GNO), which is devoid of n-3 PUFA, and then spray-dried. Male Wistar rats were fed the spray-dried milk formulations for 60 d. The rats given formulations containing n-3 FA showed significant increases (P < 0.001) in the levels of LNA or EPA/DHA in the serum and in tissue lipids as compared with those fed the GNO control formulation. Rats fed formulations containing n-3 FA had 30-35% lower levels of serum total cholesterol and 25-30% lower levels of serum TAG than control animals. Total cholesterol and TAG in the livers of rats fed the formulations containing n-3 FA were lower by 18-30% and 11-18%, respectively, compared with control animals. This study showed that spray-dried milk formulations supplemented with n-3 FA are an effective means of improving dietary n-3 FA intake, which may decrease the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease.
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PMID:Supplementation and delivery of n-3 fatty acids through spray-dried milk reduce serum and liver lipids in rats. 1558 19

In the 2000 report of the National Research Council's Committee on the Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury (MeHg), various adverse health effects potentially associated with MeHg exposure including cardiovascular effects were considered. At that time, the committee concluded that neurodevelopmental toxicity was the most sensitive endpoint but recognized emerging evidence of potential cardiovascular effects at low levels of exposure. The committee recommended that these potential effects be addressed through the uncertainty factors applied to the development of the neurodevelopmental reference dose (RfD). This approach was adopted by the US EPA in its derivation of the methylmercury RfD. Since that time, additional studies have become available. The available studies addressing the broad categories of heart disease (including myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic heart disease), hypertension, and heart rate variability are critically reviewed here. Overall, the evidence linking realistic rates of MeHg exposure from fish consumption to cardiovascular disease suggests an association with heart disease, particularly MI. The apparent antagonistic interaction of MeHg and n-3 fatty acids contained in fish suggests a causal mechanism. As different individuals and populations characteristically consume different species of fish, the risk of cardiovascular effects may not be a simple function of MeHg exposure but its assessment may well need to take n-3 fatty acid intake into account also. The case for significant adverse effects of MeHg on blood pressure at current levels of exposure is weaker. This effect, observed in childhood, does not appear to persist into adolescence, and animal studies are difficult to interpret given the high doses employed. The decrease in heart rate variability related to fetal exposure to MeHg in the same cohort appears to persist into early adolescence and may reflect developmental neurophysiological alterations that are consistent with the developmental neuropsychological effects also observed in that cohort. However, the cardiovascular significance of this effect with regard to its direct effect on health or its ability to predict other, more direct, health effects is unclear. At present, the studies of the Finnish cohort relating MeHg exposure to acute MI and coronary heart disease appear to provide the strongest basis for a formal quantitative risk assessment of the cardiovascular effects of MeHg.
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PMID:A review of the studies of the cardiovascular health effects of methylmercury with consideration of their suitability for risk assessment. 1572 94

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs), beta-chemokines, increased oxidative stress (SOX) and inflammation have been implicated as important factors in atherosclerosis and vascular remodeling. We hypothesized the possible roles of beta-chemokines [monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory proteins (MIP-1alpha, MIP-1beta) and regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES)] as regulators of the metabolism of the vascular extracellular matrix in conditions of increased SOX in hemodialysis (HD) patients. We compared pre-dialysis levels of MMP-9/TIMP-1 system, beta-chemokines, Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) as a marker of SOX and C-reactive protein (CRP) as a marker of inflammation in HD patients with and without cardiovascular disease (CVD) to those of controls. HD patients, particularly those with CVD, showed a significant increase in values of Cu/Zn SOD, CRP, TIMP-1, TIMP-1/MMP-9 ratio, MCP-1 and MIP-1beta, whereas RANTES levels were lower than in the controls. The levels of MIP-1alpha as well as MMP-9 in all HD groups were similar to the controls. The positive correlations were observed between the MMP-9/TIMP-1 system and beta-chemokines, SOX and inflammation in whole HD group and in the subgroup with CVD. Multivariate analysis showed that the duration of dialysis followed by Cu/Zn SOD, MIP-1alpha and beta levels were the significant positive predictors of TIMP-1. In conclusion, our data show that MMP-9/TIMP-1 system and beta-chemokines could cooperate in conditions of elevated SOX, which ultimately predisposes hemodialysis patients to accelerated atherosclerosis.
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PMID:Circulating beta-chemokines and matrix metalloproteinase-9/tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 system in hemodialyzed patients--role of oxidative stress. 1589 74

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have two major field of interest. The first lies in their quantitative abundance and their role in the development and maintenance of the brain. The second is their role in the prevention of different pathologies, mainly the cardiovascular diseases, and more lately some psychiatric disorders, from stress to depression and dementia. Thus, dietary omega-3 fatty acids are very important to ensure brain structure and function, more specifically during development and aging. However, concerning essential alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), most occidental diets contain about 50 % of the recommended dietary allowances. The problem is to know which foods are naturally rich in this fatty acid, and to determine the true impact of the formulations (enriched in omega-3 fatty acids, either ALA or EPA and DHA) in chows used on farms and breeding centres on the nutritional value of the products (meat, butter, milk and dairy products, cheese, and eggs, etc), and thus their effect on the health of consumers, especially to ensure adequate quantities in the diet of the aging people. The consequences (qualitative and quantitative) of modifications in the composition of animal foods on the value of derived products consumed by humans are more marked when single-stomach animals are concerned than multi-stomach animals. Because, for example, hydrogenating intestinal bacteria of the latter group transform a large proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids in their food into saturated fatty acids, among others, thus depriving them of any biological interest. Under the best conditions, by feeding animals with extracts of linseed and rapeseed grains for example, the level of ALA acid is increased approximately two-fold in beef and six-fold in pork, ten-fold in chicken, and forty-fold in eggs. By feeding animals with fish extracts or algae (oils) the level of DHA is increased about 2-fold in beef, 7-fold in chicken, 6-fold in eggs, and 20-fold in fish (salmon). To obtain such results, it is sufficient to respect only the physiological needs of the animal, which was generally the case with traditional methods. It is important to stress the role of fish, whose nutritional value for humans in terms of lipids (determined by omega-3 fatty acid levels) can vary considerably according to the type of fats the animals have been fed. The aim of preventing some aspects of cardiovascular disease (and other pathologies) can be achieved, or on the contrary frustrated, depending on the nature of fatty acids present in fish flesh, the direct consequence of the nature of fats with which they have been fed. It is the same for eggs, "omega- 3 eggs" being in fact similar to natural eggs, were used in the formulation of certain formula milks for infants, whose composition was closest to that of breast milk. In fact, the additional cost on the price paid by the consumer is modest compared to the considerable gain in nutritional value in terms of omega-3 fatty acids content. Interestingly, in aged people, ALA recommendations in France are increased (0.8% daily energy intake in adult, 0.9 % in aged) and DHA is multiplied by 2 (0.05 % daily energy intake in adult, 0.1 % in aged; as well as in pregnant and lactating women).
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PMID:Where to find omega-3 fatty acids and how feeding animals with diet enriched in omega-3 fatty acids to increase nutritional value of derived products for human: what is actually useful ? 1598 Sep 24

Periodontitis is a well-appreciated example of leukocyte-mediated bone loss and inflammation that has pathogenic features similar to those observed in other inflammatory diseases such as arthritis. Resolvins are a new family of bioactive products of omega-3 fatty acid transformation circuits initiated by aspirin treatment that counter proinflammatory signals. Because it is now increasingly apparent that local inflammation plays a critical role in many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, and asthma, experiments were undertaken to evaluate the actions of the newly described EPA-derived Resolvin E1 (RvE1) in regulation of neutrophil tissue destruction and resolution of inflammation. The actions of an aspirin-triggered lipoxin (LX) analog and RvE1 in a human disease, localized aggressive periodontitis (LAP), were determined. Results indicate that neutrophils from LAP are refractory to anti-inflammatory molecules of the LX series, whereas LAP neutrophils respond to RvE1. In addition, RvE1 specifically binds to human neutrophils at a site that is functionally distinct from the LX receptor. Consistent with these potent actions, topical application of RvE1 in rabbit periodontitis conferred dramatic protection against inflammation induced tissue and bone loss associated with periodontitis.
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PMID:RvE1 protects from local inflammation and osteoclast- mediated bone destruction in periodontitis. 1637


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