Abstract only
In addition to traditional risk factors for peripheral vasculopathy, including altered lipid profiles and chronic inflammation, ongoing study has suggested that psychological health, ...and specifically personal depression, may represent a profound contributor to poor vascular outcomes. The present study interrogated relationships between established risk factors for peripheral vascular disease, indices of personal depression, and vascular/endothelial function in human subjects recruited through a vascular surgery clinic at WVU HSC. During clinic visits, patients completed a depression screener, received baseline evaluations of health, provided venous blood samples and had brachial artery hyperemia evaluated following alleviation of 2 and 5 minute occlusions via ultrasound imaging. Results indicated that reactive hyperemia was reduced in patients in proportion to plasma TNF‐α and IL‐1β, (IL‐1β > TNF‐α). Additionally, depression severity was correlated both inflammation markers, as well as with impairments to reactive hyperemia. However, there was no evidence that self‐reported depression was an exacerbating influence on RH independent from that for inflammation. These results suggest that depression may not represent a causative factor contributing to poor vascular outcome, but may reflect a pathology arising from establishment of vascular dysfunction. (NIH R01 DK64668, AHA EIA 0740129N)
Biological barriers protect delicate internal tissues from exposures to and interactions with hazardous materials. Primary anatomical barriers prevent external agents from reaching systemic ...circulation and include the pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and dermal barriers. Secondary barriers include the blood–brain, blood–testis, and placental barriers. The tissues protected by secondary barriers are particularly sensitive to agents in systemic circulation. Neurons of the brain cannot regenerate and therefore must have limited interaction with cytotoxic agents. In the testis, the delicate process of spermatogenesis requires a specific milieu distinct from the blood. The placenta protects the developing fetus from compounds in the maternal circulation that would impair limb or organ development. Many biological barriers are semi-permeable, allowing only materials or chemicals, with a specific set of properties, that easily pass through or between cells. Nanoparticles (particles less than 100 nm) have recently drawn specific concern due to the possibility of biological barrier translocation and contact with distal tissues. Current evidence suggests that nanoparticles translocate across both primary and secondary barriers. It is known that the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles can affect biological interactions, and it has been shown that nanoparticles can breach primary and some secondary barriers. However, the mechanism by which nanoparticles cross biological barriers has yet to be determined. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to summarize how different nanoparticle physicochemical properties interact with biological barriers and barrier products to govern translocation.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide and associated with many genetic and lifestyle risk factors. The maternal health and fetal milieu during gestation has been ...explored as a contributing factor to progeny health. Engineered nanomaterials (ENM) are manufactured within the nanoscale (<100 nm in one dimension) to take advantage of specific physiochemical properties. Exposure to these materials has become more prolific given their pervasiveness in domestic applications, yet the outcomes during pregnancy and for developing young are currently unknown. Gestational ENM exposure led to impairments in uterine microvascular reactivity in early studies, indicative of the development of a hostile gestational environment. The Barker Hypothesis theorizes that development is such an environment will influence cardiovascular health later in life.
Studies were initiated to assess the cardiovascular health during growth from a late‐stage fetus to young adult after maternal ENM inhalation. Pregnant, healthy Sprague‐Dawley rats were exposed to nano‐sized titanium dioxide aerosols (10.4±0.1 mg/m3 for 4h, aerodynamic diameter of 136.5±1.4 nm, calculated daily pulmonary deposition of 39.7±1 μg, initiated on gestational day GD 5.78±0.13 for 7.78±0.26 days of the remaining pregnancy). As indices of litter health, the number of fetal pups on GD 20 did not differ between control and exposed (12.2±0.9 vs. 10.8±1.5); however, the size of the placenta (0.76g±0.02 vs. 0.68±0.02) and number of surviving pups (11±0.7 vs. 6±1) were significantly different. As microvascular health can characterize early cardiovascular health, reactivity was assessed via a pressurized isolated microvessel preparation where the arterioles of the tail (fetal GD 20, neonate 6±0.48d or heart (weanling 25.7±0.9d, juvenile 7.64±0.4w, adult 10.36±0.34w) progeny were dissected, excised, and evaluated in response to chemical stimuli to calculate endothelium‐dependent (acetylcholine 10−9–10−4 M), ‐independent (spermine‐NONOate 10−9–10−4 M), and vascular smooth muscle (phenylephrine 10−9–10−4 M) function. Significant temporal impairments in endothelium‐dependent reactivity were identified in exposed fetal (−37.2%±7.3), juvenile (−29.1%±11.3), and adult (−59.3%±17.1 vs. control, respectively) progeny. Further, studies of mitochondrial stress reveal significant reductions in calculated ATP production of isolated cardiomyocytes during development where fetal (23%±3), neonate (83%±3), weanling and juvenile (63%±9), and young adult (75%±2) measurements are below control. Overall, exposure to ENM during gestation may increase CVD susceptibility, thereby compromising health of future generations.
Support or Funding Information
NIH‐R00‐ES024783 (PAS); P30‐ES005022
This is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this published in The FASEB Journal.
The purpose of this study was to assess the immediate ocular immune response to soft contact lens (CL) wear by examining presumed epithelial immune cell (EIC) density and morphology at the central, ...peripheral, limbal cornea, and conjunctiva.
Fifty-four participants naïve to CL wear (mean age = 24.8 ± 9.8 years, 44% female participants), were examined using in vivo confocal microscopy at baseline and after 2 hours of CL wear (1-Day ACUVUE MOIST). Images were captured at the central, temporal far peripheral and limbal cornea, and bulbar conjunctiva. EIC density was counted manually and morphology was graded. Differences in EIC parameters pre- and post-CL wear were examined using a generalized estimating equation model with appropriate post hoc analyses.
After 2 hours of soft CL wear, there was a significant increase in EIC density in all regions other than the central cornea (all P < 0.001). Cell body size was significantly larger, and a higher proportion of participants exhibited EIC with long dendrites after lens wear at the central and peripheral cornea (both P < 0.001). There was a significant increase in the number of participants displaying EIC with thick dendrites at the peripheral (P = 0.04) and limbal cornea (P < 0.001) after lens wear.
EICs were primarily recruited to the peripheral regions, whereas the central cornea shows no significant recruitment after short-term CL wear. Both central and peripheral corneas exhibited an enhanced antigen capture capacity, whereas migratory capacity was increased in the peripheral corneal regions suggesting EIC activation following a short period of CL wear.
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