Clinical pharmacologic evaluation of the antiatherosclerotic agent, pyridinolcarbamate. A double-blind crossover trial in the treatment of atherosclerosis obliterans

Meso-Inositol Hexanicotinate Induced Protection against Experimental Anoxia and Oedema

It is shown that Meso-Inositol Hexanicotinate (MIHN; Hexopal) inhibits experimentally induced oedema of the paw in rats and that mice exposed to hypoxic atmospheres (4% oxygen) show significant increase in survival time if pre-dosed with MIHN.

The protection against oedema and hypoxia conferred by MIHN in experimental animals may well be related to the mode of action of the substance in man, and particularly could explain the usefulness of MIHN in the treatment of cerebral and peripheral atherosclerosis.

Cyclic nucleotides and atherosclerosis: studies in primary culture of human aortic cells

A primary culture of cells derived from uninvolved and atherosclerotic intima of human aorta was used to elucidate the role of cyclic nucleotides in atherogenesis. The cells cultured from fatty streaks and atherosclerotic plaques had a 2- to 8-fold lower cyclic AMP level and a 1.5- to 2-fold higher level of cyclic GMP compared with those of a grossly normal intima. Medial cells cultured from nonlesioned and atherosclerotic aortic segments showed no differences in the cyclic nucleotide concentrations. Reduction of the intracellular cyclic AMP with 2'-deoxyadenosine or a cyclic GMP elevation with its dibutyryl derivative, or liposomes containing cyclic GMP stimulated the uptake of [3H]thymidine and protein synthesis in the cells cultured from unaffected intima. On the contrary, a rise of the intracellular cyclic AMP caused by adenylate cyclase activators, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, dibutyryl cyclic AMP, and liposomes containing cyclic AMP inhibited cell proliferation and protein synthesis. Elevation of the intracellular cyclic AMP stimulated the hydrolysis of lipids which led to reduction of lipid levels in the cells cultured from atherosclerotic lesions. The results of this study corroborate the existence of a relationship between the alterations of intracellular cyclic nucleotide levels and the metabolic disorders occurring in atherosclerosis.

Anti-proliferative effect of pyridinolcarbamate and of aspirin in the early stages of atherogenesis in swine

When young swine are fed a suitable hyperlipidemic (HL) diet the number of cells in intimal cell masses (ICM) of large and medium-sized arteries begins to increase in number; by 90 days on the diet the cell increase is several-fold compared to no significant increase in cell numbers in ICM of mash-fed controls. The objective of the current study was to see if the cell increase associated with the HL diet could be reduced by pyridinolcarbamate or aspirin. Arteries studied were the abdominal aorta and the coronaries; time on HL diet was 90 days. Both drugs resulted in significant reductions in the increases in cells in ICM associated with the HL diet in both of the arterial beds that were studied. The reduction was most prominent in the abdominal aorta where the increase in ICM cells in the untreated HL diet-fed swine was from an average of 242 +/- 50 cells per cross-section in the mash-fed controls to 1925 +/- 556; in the pyridinolcarbamate-treated swine the increase was only to 641 +/- 214 and in the aspirin-treated group to 770 +/- 146.