The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Feb 2019
Autologous endothelial progenitor cell therapy improves right ventricular function in a model of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
Right ventricular (RV) failure is the main prognostic factor in pulmonary hypertension, and ventricular capillary density (CD) has been reported to be a marker of RV maladaptive remodeling and failure. Our aim was to determine whether right intracoronary endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) infusion can improve RV function and CD in a piglet model of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). ⋯ Intracoronary infusion of EPC improved RV function and CD in a piglet model of CTEPH. This novel cell-based therapy might represent a promising RV-targeted treatment in patients with pulmonary hypertension.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Feb 2019
Inhibiting a spinal cord signaling pathway protects against ischemia injury in rats.
The aim of the study was to examine whether the cannabinoid agonist WIN55212-2 could attenuate ischemic spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats through inhibition of GAPDH/Siah1 signaling. ⋯ Our findings reveal GAPDH/Siah1 signaling cascades as a novel therapeutic target for ischemic SCI and identify WIN55212-2 with the potential to treat ischemic SCI by targeting this pathway.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Feb 2019
Recipient hypertonic saline infusion prevents cardiac allograft dysfunction.
Hypertonic saline (HTS) has potent immune and vascular effects. We assessed recipient pretreatment with HTS on allograft function in a porcine model of heart transplantation and hypothesized that HTS infusion would limit endothelial and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction following transplantation. ⋯ Recipient HTS pretreatment preserves allograft vasomotor and LV function, and HTS therapy limits CPB-induced injury. HTS may be a novel recipient intervention to prevent graft dysfunction.