In vitro and in vivo studies on the cardioprotective action of oligomeric procyanidins in a Crataegus extract of leaves and blooms

Cardioprotective effects of a standardized extract from leaves with flowers of Crataegus (WS-1442; content of oligomeric procyandins [OPC]: 18.75%) have recently been demonstrated in an ischemia-reperfusion model in rats. Further studies were now conducted to clarify the mechanism of action and to identify active constituents involved in these effects of WS-1442. Exhausting partitioning between ethyl acetate/water and successive ultrafiltration of the aqueous layer led to the quantitative recovery of three fractions, which were tested for their in vitro radical scavenging (RS) and human neutrophil elastase (HNE) inhibitory activity. The lipophilic ethylacetate-soluble fraction A, enriched in flavone derivatives and constituting 14.9% of WS-1442, was as active as WS-1442 in inhibiting HNE. However, its RS activity was only about half that of the primary extract. Although 67.9% of WS-1442 was recovered in a water-soluble low molecular weight fraction B, this fraction displayed only weak RS and HNE inhibiting activity. In contrast, the RS and HNE inhibiting potencies of an essentially flavone-free and OPC-rich fraction C (21.3% of WS-1442) were significantly higher (inhibition of lipid peroxidation: IC50 0.3 microgram/ml; inhibition of HNE: IC50 0.84 microgram/ml) as those of WS-1442. The RS and HNE inhibitory activities of the extract and those of its fractions correlated well with their OPC-content but not with their concentration of flavonols. These results demonstrate that OPCs of Crataegus extracts possess stronger radical scavenging activities than flavone derivatives or other constituents. In addition, the oligomeric components are potent inhibitors of HNE. Oral administration of 20 mg/kg/d of the OPC-rich fraction C to rats afforded similar protection against ischemia-reperfusion induced pathologies as treatment with WS-1442 at a dose of 100 mg/kg/d. These observations indicate that radical scavenging and elastase inhibitory activities could indeed be involved in the observed cardioprotective effects of WS-1442, and demonstrate that OPCs are major orally active constituents of WS-1442. Thus, Crataegus extracts used therapeutically for cardiovascular diseases should be analyzed and standardized for their OPC-content.     

Concentration of docosahexaenoic acid in glyceride by hydrolysis of fish oil withcandida cylindracea lipase

In an attempt to concentrate the content of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) in a glyceride mixture containing triglyceride, diglyceride and monoglyceride, fish oil was hydrolyzed with six kinds of microbial lipase. After the hydrolysis, free fatty acid was removed and fatty acid components of the glyceride mixtures were analyzed. When the hydrolysis withCandida cylindracea lipase was 70% complete, the DHA content in the glyceride mixture was three times more than that in the original fish oil. The EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) content became almost 70% of the original fish oil. Hydrolysis with other lipases did not result in an increase in the DHA content in the glyceride mixtures. Hydrolysis of DHA-rich tuna oil (DHA content is about 25%) withCandida cylindracea lipase resulted in 53% DHA in the glyceride mixture. The EPA content, however, remained close to that of the original tuna oil. In this report, the acyl chain specificity of lipases is evaluated in terms of hydrolysis resistant value (HRV). HRV is the ratio between the DHA contents in the glyceride mixture of hydrolyzed oil and original oil. HRV clearly indicates differences in hydrolysis between DHA and other fatty acids (e.g., saturated and monoenoic acids).     

Calculating nitrogen-removal efficiency with a one-dimensional nitrogen budget model of a reed-wetland soil system.

A simple one-dimensional model that can evaluate the transport and fate of nitrogen in wetland soil-vegetation systems was developed to calculate the nitrogen-removal efficiencies of reed-bed wetlands. A common wetland plant, Phragmites australis, was the focus of this study. Seasonal variations of temperature, seasonal changes of nitrogen uptake by vegetation, the vertical distribution of root biomasses and oxygen transport into the soil by vegetation were considered in the model. Field observations were conducted to determine some model parameters and to validate the model, although most of the parameters were adopted from data published in Europe and North America. Field observations were carried out at the Minuma-Tanbo wetland (35 degrees 52' N, 139 degrees 43' E) in Japan. The calculated concentrations of NH4-N in the soils were about 10 times larger than those of the observational results. On the other hand, calculated NO3-N concentrations were about half of the observational data. However, the calculated nitrogen-removal efficiencies indicated the same trends as previous studies. It was found that the hydraulic loading rate played a key role in relation to nitrogen removal and nitrogen transformation in reed wetland systems.     

A study on time schemes for DRBEM analysis of elastic impact wave

 The precise integration and differential quadrature methods are two new unconditionally stable numerical schemes to approximate time derivative with more than the second order accuracy. Recent studies showed that compared with the Houbolt and Newmark methods, they produced more accurate solutions with large time step for the problems where response is primarily dominated by low and intermediate frequency modes. This paper aims to investigate these time schemes in the context of the dual reciprocity BEM (DRBEM) formulation of various shock-excited scalar elastic wave problems, where high modes have important affect on traction response. The Houbolt method was widely recommended in many literatures for such DRBEM dynamic formulations. However, this study found that the damped Newmark algorithm was the most efficient and accurate for impact traction analysis in conjunction with the DRBEM. The precise integration and differential quadrature methods are shown inapplicable for such shock-excited problems due to the absence of numerical damping. On the other hand, we also found that to achieve the same order of accuracy, the differential quadrature method required much less computing effort than the precise integration method due to the use of the Bartels–Stewart algorithm solving the resulting Lyapunov matrix analogization equation. Received 6 November 2000     

Myoblast-mediated gene transfer to the joint

Several genetic and acquired pathologic conditions of the musculoskeletal system, such as arthritis and damage to ligament, cartilage, and meniscus, may be amenable to gene therapy. Even though ex vivo gene transfer with synovial cells has been shown to deliver genes encoding for anti-arthritic proteins into the rabbit knee joint, its success has been limited by a transient transgene expression. In this study, data were investigated regarding the use of muscle cells as an alternative gene-delivery vehicle to the joint in newborn rabbit and adult severe combined immunodeficiency mice. We demonstrated that myoblasts were transduced more efficiently than synovial cells with use of the same adenoviral preparation in vitro. After intra-articular injection, the engineered muscle cells adhered to several structures in the joint, including the ligament, capsule, and synovium. In addition, myoblasts fused to form many post-mitotic myotubes and myofibers at different locations of the joint of the newborn rabbit 5 days after the injection. In the knee of the adult mouse, myoblasts fused and expressed the reporter gene for at least 35 days after the injection. The presence of post-mitotic myofibers in the knee joint raises the possibility of long-term expression of the secreted protein. Currently, numerous tissues in the joint (ligament, meniscus, and cartilage) have poor intrinsic healing capacity and frequently need surgical corrections. A stable gene-delivery vehicle to the joint producing proteins that ameliorate these different musculoskeletal conditions may change the clinical implications of these pathologies.     

Hyperdynamic circulation of cirrhotic rats: role of substance P and its relationship to nitric oxide

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that excessive formation of nitric oxide (NO) is responsible for the hyperdynamic circulation observed in portal hypertension. Substance P is a neuropeptide partly cleared by the liver and causes vasodilatation through the activation of the endothelial NO pathway. However, there are no previously published data concerning the plasma level of substance P in cirrhotic rats and its relationship to NO. METHODS: Plasma concentrations of substance P and nitrate/nitrite (an index of NO production) were determined in control rats and cirrhotic rats with or without ascites using an enzyme-linked immununosorbent assay and a colorimetric assay, respectively. In addition, systemic and portal hemodynamics were evaluated by a thermodilution technique and catheterization. RESULTS: Cirrhotic rats with and without ascites had a lower systemic vascular resistance (2.6 +/- 0.2 and 3.9 +/- 0.4 mmHg ml(-1) x min x 100 g body weight, respectively) and higher portal pressure (14.6 +/- 0.6 and 11.3 +/- 1.8 mmHg) than control rats (6.5 +/- 0.3 mmHg x ml(-1) x min x 100 g BW and 6.8 +/- 0.2 mmHg, respectively, P < 0.05), and cirrhotic rats with ascites had the lowest systemic vascular resistance. Plasma levels of nitrate/nitrite progressively increased in relation to the severity of liver dysfunction (control rats, 2.7 +/- 0.5 nmol/ml; cirrhotic rats without ascites, 5.6 +/- 1.3 nmol/ml; cirrhotic rats with ascites, 8.3 +/- 2.2 nmol/ml; P < 0.05). Cirrhotic rats with ascites displayed higher plasma values of substance P (57.7 +/- 5.9 pg/ml) than cirrhotic rats without ascites (37.9 +/- 3.1 pg/ml, P < 0.05) and control rats (30.1 +/- 1.0 pg/ml, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in plasma substance P values between control rats and cirrhotic rats without ascites (P > 0.05). No correlation was found between plasma levels of substance P and nitrate/nitrite (r = 0.318, P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Excessive formation of NO may be responsible, at least partly, for the hemodynamic derangements in cirrhosis. Although substance P may not participate in the initiation of a hyperdynamic circulation in cirrhosis, it may contribute to the maintenance of the hyperdynamic circulation observed in cirrhotic rats with ascites.     

Open‐cycle OTEC systems with freshwater product: Effects of noncondensable gases on performance of condenser

An open‐cycle ocean thermal energy conversion (OC‐OTEC) system is one of the energy conversion methods used to generate electricity from ocean thermal energy. For the OC‐OTEC system, steam evaporated from the surface seawater due to flash evaporation drives the turbine. At that time, dissolved gas such as air is introduced into the low‐pressure system (OC‐OTEC system) as the noncondensable gas, which degrades the performance of condensation heat transfer. In this paper, a small‐scale OC‐OTEC experimental unit experimentally investigates the effect of noncondensable gas on the heat transfer performance in a condenser. The experimental results are discussed in comparison with theoretical estimation by the Sparrow–in method. It is shown that the condensation is occupied by heat and mass transfer near a condensation surface and that the condensation efficiency is affected by exhaust quantity of noncondensable gas at a relatively high concentration ratio of condensable gas. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 154(1): 29–35, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20179