AIM To provide new insights in treatment of colitis and ischemia and reperfusion in rats using stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157. METHODS Medication BPC ...157,L-NAME,L-arginine(alone/combined),saline was bath at the blood deprived colon segment. During reperfusion,medication was BPC 157 or saline. We recorded(USB microscope camera) vessel presentation through next 15 min of ischemic colitis(ICrats) or reperfusion(removed ligations)(IC + RL-rats);oxidative stress as MDA(increased(IC-and IC + RLrats)) and NO levels(decreased(IC-rats);increased(IC + RL-rats)) in colon tissue. IC + OB-rats IC-rats had additional colon obstruction(OB) for 3 d(IC + OBrats),then received BPC 157 bath. RESULTS Commonly,in colon segment(25 mm,2 ligations on left colic artery and vein,3 arcade vessels within ligated segment),in IC-,IC + RL-,IC + OB-rats,BPC 157(10 μg/kg) bath(1 m L/rat) increased vessel presentation,inside/outside arcade interconnections quickly reappeared,mucosal folds were preserved and the pale areas were small and markedly reduced. BPC 157 counteracted worsening effects induced by L-NAME(5 mg) and L-arginine(100 mg). MDA-and NO-levels were normal in BPC 157 treated IC-rats and IC + RLrats. In addition,on day 10,BPC 157-treated IC + OBrats presented almost completely spared mucosa with very small pale areas and no gross mucosal defects;the treated colon segment was of normal diameter,and only small adhesions were present.CONCLUSION BPC 157 is a fundamental treatment that quickly restores blood supply to the ischemically injured area and rapidly activates collaterals. This effect involves the NO system.
Significance:
The antiulcer peptide, stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 (previously employed in ulcerative colitis and multiple sclerosis trials, no reported toxicity (LD1 not achieved)), is ...reviewed, focusing on the particular skin wound therapy, incisional/excisional wound, deep burns, diabetic ulcers, and alkali burns, which may be generalized to the other tissues healing.
Recent Advances:
BPC 157 has practical applicability (given alone, with the same dose range, and same equipotent routes of application, regardless the injury tested).
Critical Issues:
By simultaneously curing cutaneous and other tissue wounds (colocutaneous, gastrocutaneous, esophagocutaneous, duodenocutaneous, vesicovaginal, and rectovaginal) in rats, the potency of BPC 157 is evident. Healing of the wounds is accomplished by resolution of vessel constriction, the primary platelet plug, the fibrin mesh which acts to stabilize the platelet plug, and resolution of the clot. Thereby, BPC 157 is effective in wound healing much like it is effective in counteracting bleeding disorders, produced by amputation, and/or anticoagulants application. Likewise, BPC 157 may prevent and/or attenuate or eliminate, thus, counteract both arterial and venous thrombosis. Then, confronted with obstructed vessels, there is circumvention of the occlusion, which may be the particular action of BPC 157 in ischemia/reperfusion.
Future Directions:
BPC 157 rapidly increases various genes expression in rat excision skin wound. This would define the healing in the other tissues, that is, gastrointestinal tract, tendon, ligament, muscle, bone, nerve, spinal cord, cornea (maintained transparency), and blood vessels, seen with BPC 157 therapy.
This review is focused on the healing of fistulas and stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157. Assuming that the healing of the various wounds is essential also for the gastrointestinal fistulas ...healing, the healing effect on fistulas in rats, consistently noted with the stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157, may raise several interesting possibilities. BPC 157 is originally an anti-ulcer agent, native to and stable in human gastric juice (for more than 24 h). Likely, it is a novel mediator of Robert's cytoprotection maintaining gastrointestinal mucosal integrity. Namely, it is effective in the whole gastrointestinal tract, and heals various wounds (i.e., skin, muscle, tendon, ligament, bone; ulcers in the entire gastrointestinal tract; corneal ulcer); LD1 is not achieved. It is used in ulcerative colitis clinical trials, and now in multiple sclerosis, and addressed in several reviews. Therefore, it is not surprising that BPC 157 has documented consistent healing of the various gastrointestinal fistulas, external (esophagocutaneous, gastrocutaneous, duodenocutaneous, colocutaneous) and internal (colovesical, rectovaginal). Taking fistulas as a pathological connection, this rescue is verified with the beneficial effects in rats with the various gastrointestinal anastomoses, esophagogastric, jejunoileal, colo-colonic, ileoileal, esophagojejunal, esophagoduodenal, and gastrojejunal. This beneficial effect occurs equally when the gastrointestinal anastomoses are impaired with the application of NSAIDs, cysteamine, large bowel resection, as well as concomitant esophageal, gastric, and duodenal lesions and/or ulcerative colitis presentation, short bowel syndrome progression, liver and brain disturbances presentation. Particular aspects of the BPC 157 healing of the fistulas are especially emphasized.
Due to endothelial impairment, high-dose lithium may produce an occlusive-like syndrome, comparable to permanent occlusion of major vessel-induced syndromes in rats; intracranial, portal, and caval ...hypertension, and aortal hypotension; multi-organ dysfunction syndrome; brain, heart, lung, liver, kidney, and gastrointestinal lesions; arterial and venous thrombosis; and tissue oxidative stress. Stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 may be a means of therapy via activating loops (bypassing vessel occlusion) and counteracting major occlusion syndromes. Recently, BPC 157 counteracted the lithium sulfate regimen in rats (500 mg/kg/day, ip, for 3 days, with assessment at 210 min after each administration of lithium) and its severe syndrome (muscular weakness and prostration, reduced muscle fibers, myocardial infarction, and edema of various brain areas). Subsequently, BPC 157 also counteracted the lithium-induced occlusive-like syndrome; rapidly counteracted brain swelling and intracranial (superior sagittal sinus) hypertension, portal hypertension, and aortal hypotension, which otherwise would persist; counteracted vessel failure; abrogated congestion of the inferior caval and superior mesenteric veins; reversed azygos vein failure; and mitigated thrombosis (superior mesenteric vein and artery), congestion of the stomach, and major hemorrhagic lesions. Both regimens of BPC 157 administration also counteracted the previously described muscular weakness and prostration (as shown in microscopic and ECG recordings), myocardial congestion and infarction, in addition to edema and lesions in various brain areas; marked dilatation and central venous congestion in the liver; large areas of congestion and hemorrhage in the lung; and degeneration of proximal and distal tubules with cytoplasmic vacuolization in the kidney, attenuating oxidative stress. Thus, BPC 157 therapy overwhelmed high-dose lithium intoxication in rats.
We attempted throughout the NO-system to achieve the particular counteraction of the ketamine-induced resembling “negative-like” schizophrenia symptoms in rats using pentadecapeptide BPC 157, and ...NO-agents, NG-nitro-L-arginine methylester (L-NAME), and/or L-arginine, triple application. This might be the find out the NO-system organized therapy (i.e., simultaneously implied NO-system blockade (L-NAME) vs. NO-system over-stimulation (L-arginine) vs. NO-system immobilization (L-NAME+L-arginine)). The ketamine regimen (intraperitoneally/kg) included: 3 mg (cognitive dysfunction, novel object recognition test), 30 mg (anxiogenic effect (open field test) and anhedonia (sucrose test)), and 8 mg/3 days (social withdrawal). Medication (mg/kg intraperitoneally) was L-NAME (5), L-arginine (100), and BPC 157 (0.01), alone and/or together, given immediately before ketamine (L-NAME, L-arginine, and combination) or given immediately after (BPC 157 and combinations). BPC 157 counteracted ketamine-cognition dysfunction, social withdrawal, and anhedonia, and exerted additional anxiolytic effect. L-NAME (antagonization, social withdrawal) and L-arginine (antagonization, cognitive dysfunction, anhedonia) both included worsening cognitive dysfunction, anhedonia, and anxiogenic effect (L-NAME), social withdrawal, and anxiogenic effect (L-arginine). Thus, ketamine-induced resembling “negative-like” schizophrenia symptoms were “L-NAME non-responsive, L-arginine responsive” (cognition dysfunction), “L-NAME responsive, L-arginine non-responsive” (social withdrawal), “L-NAME responsive, L-arginine responsive, opposite effect” (anhedonia) and “L-NAME responsive, L-arginine responsive, parallel effect” (both anxiogening). In cognition dysfunction, BPC 157 overwhelmed NO-agents effects. The mRNA expression studies in brain tissue evidenced considerable overlapping of gene overexpression in healthy rats treated with ketamine or BPC 157. With the BPC 157 therapy applied immediately after ketamine, the effect on Nos1, Nos2, Plcg1, Prkcg, and Ptgs2 (increased or decreased expression), appeared as a timely specific BPC 157 effect on ketamine-specific targets.
Rat inferior caval vein (ICV) ligation (up to the right ovarian vein (ROV)) commonly represents a recapitulation of Virchow: with ligation leading to vessel injury, stasis, thrombosis and hemodynamic ...changes. We revealed that BPC 157’s therapy collectively attenuated or counteracted all these events and the full syndrome.
We applied BPC 157 (10 μg, 10 ng/kg) as an early regimen or as a delayed therapy. Assessment includes gross assessment by microcamera; microscopy, venography, bleeding, blood pressure, ECG, thermography, MDA and NO-level in plasma and ICV, and gene expression.
Direct vein injury, thrombosis, thrombocytopenia, prolonged bleeding were all counteracted. Also, rapid presentation of collaterals and redistribution of otherwise trapped blood volume (bypassing through the left ovarian vein (LOV) and other veins), with venous hypertension, arterial hypotension and tachycardia counteraction were shown. BPC 157-rats presented raised plasma NO-values, but normal MDA-values; in ICV tissue reverted low NO-values and counteracted increased MDA-levels. Altered expression of EGR, NOS, SRF, VEGFR and KRAS in ICV, ROV and LOV revealed increased or decreased levels, while some genes continuously remained unchanged.
As a new insight, BPC 157 application largely attenuated or even completely eliminated all consequences of ICV ligation in rats.
A schematic depicting the mode of action of BPC 157 during ICV in rats.
BPC 157 Cytoprotection (cytoprotection concept in damaged stomach interpreted as endothelium recovery toward epithelium recovery 1involves controlling functions of two defensive systems, prostaglandins (PGs)-system (BPC 157 counteracts large scale of toxicity induced by NSAIDs, both COX 1-blockers and COX –blockers 4)and NO-system (5; 6; 7) (in addition to preserve endothelium maintenance (a common point for all cytoprotective agents to induce stomach cytoprotection 1), BPC 157 induces NO-release from stomach tissue homogenates 11). With major vessel essential obstruction, such as ICV, this particular endothelium protection should be generalized toward particular activation of blood vessels, seen once obstructed, with particular collateral vessels recruitment to bypass obstruction. Rapidly activated bypassing loop (LOV and other collaterals) and ligation-stop effectively bypassed may be likely related to the BPC 157 ability to interact with NO-system in different models and species and modulate its function as seen in particular with the counteraction of L-NAME-hypertension as well as counteraction of L-arginine-hypotension (5; 6; 7; 11). Likely along with the proposed involvement of the defensive systems, PGs-system and NO-system in BPC 157 endothelium protection in cytoprotection (1; 4; 5; 6; 7; 11), should be the effects of the BPC 157 on bleeding disorders (13; 34; 35), providing prevention and reversal of thrombosis after abdominal aorta anastomosis 13 as well as counteraction of prolonged bleeding and thrombocytopenias after amputation and anticoagulants (heparin, warfarin, aspirin) application, thought to be NO-system related (34; 35), and thereby, in ICV rats BPC 157 did not affect clotting parameters, thereby, attenuated thrombocytopenia and bleeding upon injury. Finally, further attention merits the evidence that with BPC 157 administration in rats which underwent ligation of ICV, these beneficial effects were combined with the altered EGR, NOS, SRF, VEGR and KRAS: increased (EGR, NOS, SRF, KRAS) or decreased (EGR, VEGFR, PLCɣ), while AKT1 remained unchanged in the ICV, as well as in the ROV and LOV. Consequently, particular pathways with both local and systemic relevance could be suggested. Of note, in ischemic colitis model induced by two ligations on left colic artery and vein, upon BPC 157 administration ligation-stops were effectively bypassed, interconnected loop of intestinal arcade vessels presented particular collateral vessels recruitment to bypass obstruction 36. Display omitted
We reviewed the pleiotropic beneficial effects of the stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157, three very recent demonstrations that may be essential in the gut-brain and brain-gut axis operation, ...and therapy application in the central nervous system disorders, in particular. Firstly, given in the reperfusion, BPC 157 counteracted bilateral clamping of the common carotid arteries-induced stroke, sustained brain neuronal damages were resolved in rats as well as disturbed memory, locomotion, and coordination. This therapy effect supports particular gene expression in hippocampal tissues that appeared in BPC 157-treated rats. Secondly, there are L-NG-nitro arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)- and haloperidol-induced catalepsy as well as the rat acute and chronic models of 'positive-like' schizophrenia symptoms, that BPC 157 counteracted, and resolved the complex relationship of the nitric oxide-system with amphetamine and apomorphine (dopamine agents application), MK-801 (non-competitive antagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor) and chronic methamphetamine administration (to induce sensitivity). Thirdly, after rat spinal cord compression, there were advanced healing and functional recovery (counteracted tail paralysis). Likewise, in BPC 157 therapy, there is specific support for each of these topics: counteracted encephalopathies; alleviated vascular occlusion disturbances (stroke); counteracted dopamine disturbances (dopamine receptors blockade, receptors super sensitivity development, or receptor activation, over-release, nigrostriatal damage, vesicles depletion), and nitric oxide-system disturbances ("L-NAME non-responsive, L-arginine responsive," and "L-NAME responsive, L-arginine responsive") (schizophrenia therapy); inflammation reduction, nerve recovery in addition to alleviated hemostasis and vessels function after compression (spinal cord injury therapy). Thus, these disturbances may be all resolved within the same agent's beneficial activity, i.e., the stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157.
Delusional infestation (DI) is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by a persistent false belief that one is infected with nonliving or living pathogens, usually accompanied by formication. ...Other psychotic features, such as disorganized speech or hallucinations unrelated to the core delusion itself, are never present, and the delusional belief does not extend into other areas of life. Secondary DI, when one needs to address the underlying condition in order to achieve adequate treatment, is also possible. We present the case of a 42-year-old male with a 2-year history of having a persistent and firm belief that his house was infested with tiny insects that were constantly biting him and laying their eggs under his skin. His delusional belief was preceded by a complex, years-long substance use disorder, which confronted us with a differential diagnostic dilemma between primary and secondary DI. He was successfully treated with olanzapine pamoate depot, which was introduced to address his lack of insight and unsatisfactory compliance, and his delusion faded away after his symptoms subsided.