Dexmedetomidine improves acute lung injury by activating autophagy in a rat hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation model

Targeting Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress by Natural and Chemical Compounds Ameliorates Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity: A Review

Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic that dose-dependently causes renal complications such as decreased kidney function and acute kidney injury. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is responsible for calcium homeostasis and protein folding and plays a major part in cisplatin's nephrotoxicity. The current article reviews how chemical and natural compounds modulate cisplatin-induced apoptosis, autophagy, and inflammation by inhibiting ER stress signaling pathways. The available evidence indicates that natural compounds (Achyranthes aspera water-soluble extract, morin hydrate, fucoidan, isoliquiritigenin, leonurine, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, grape seed proanthocyanidin, and ginseng polysaccharide) and chemicals (Sal003, NSC228155, TUG891, dorsomorphin (compound C), HC-030031, dexmedetomidine, and recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo)) can alleviate cisplatin nephrotoxicity by suppression of ER stress signaling pathways including IRE1α/ASK1/JNK, PERK-eIF2α-ATF4, and ATF6, as well as PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Since ER and related signaling pathways are important in cisplatin nephrotoxicity, agents that can inhibit the abovementioned signaling pathways may hold promise in alleviating this untoward adverse effect.

Perioperative Factors and Radiographic Severity Scores for Predicting the Duration of Mechanical Ventilation After Arterial Switch Surgery

OBJECTIVES

Cardiac surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) during the neonatal period can cause perioperative organ injuries. The primary aim of this study was to determine the incidence and risk factors associated with postoperative mechanical ventilation duration and acute lung injury after the arterial switch operation (ASO). The secondary aim was to examine the utility of the Brixia score for characterizing postoperative acute lung injury (ALI).

DESIGN

A retrospective study.

SETTING

A single-center university hospital.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 93 neonates with transposition of great arteries with intact ventricular septum (dTGA IVS) underwent ASO.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

From January 2015 to December 2022, 93 neonates with dTGA IVS were included in the study. The cohort had a median age of 4.0 (3.0-5.0) days and a mean weight of 3.3 ± 0.5 kg. About 63% of patients had ≥48 hours of postoperative mechanical ventilation after ASO. Risk factors included prematurity, post-CPB transfusion of salvaged red cells, platelets and cryoprecipitate, and postoperative fluid balance by univariate analysis. The larger transfused platelet volume was associated with the risk of ALI by multivariate analysis. The median baseline Brixia scores were 11.0 (9.0-12.0) and increased significantly in the postoperative day 1 in patients who developed moderate ALI 24 hours after admission to the intensive care unit (15.0 [13.0-16.0] v 12.0 [10.0-14.0], p = 0.046).

CONCLUSIONS

Arterial switch operation results in a high incidence of ≥48-hour postoperative mechanical ventilation. Blood component transfusion is a potentially modifiable risk factor. The Brixia scores also may be used to characterize postoperative acute lung injury.

Doxycycline reduces liver and kidney injuries in a rat hemorrhagic shock model

BACKGROUND

Hemorrhagic shock (HS), which causes insufficient tissue perfusion, can result in multiple organ failure (MOF) and death. This study aimed to evaluate whether doxycycline (DOX) protects cardiovascular, kidney, and liver tissue from damage in a rat model of HS. Immediately before the resuscitation, DOX (10 mg/kg; i.v.) was administered, and its protective effects were assessed 24 h later. Mean arterial pressure, renal blood flow, heart rate, vasoactive drug response, and blood markers such as urea, creatinine, AST, ALT, CPK, CPR, and NOx levels were determined.

RESULTS

We showed that DOX has a significant effect on renal blood flow and on urea, creatinine, AST, ALT, CPK, and NOx. Morphologically, DOX reduced the inflammatory process in the liver tissue.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that DOX protects the liver and kidney against injury and dysfunction in a HS model and could be a strategy to reduce organ damage associated with ischemia-and-reperfusion injury.

Synthesis and SAR study of novel diimide skeleton compounds with the anti-inflammatory activities in vitro and in vivo

Amide bonds widely exist in the structure of natural products and drugs, and play an important role in biological activities. However, due to the limitation of synthesis conditions, there are few studies on biscarbonyl diimides. In this paper, a series of new compounds with diimide skeleton were synthesized by using CDI and NaH as condensation agents. The anti-inflammatory activity and cytotoxicity of the compound in RAW264.7 macrophages were evaluated by ELISA and MTT experiments. The results showed that these compounds had good anti-inflammatory activity in vitro, and the IC₅₀ of compound 4d on inflammatory factors IL-6 and TNF-α reached 1.59 μM and 15.30 μM, respectively. Further structure-activity relationship showed that biscarbonyl diimide and unsaturated double bond played a major role in the anti-inflammatory activity. In addition, compound 4d can alleviate acute lung injury (ALI) induced by LPS in vivo, reduce alveolar cell infiltration, and decrease the expression of ALI inflammatory factors. At the same time, compound 4d can significantly improve the survival rate of LPS-induced sepsis in mice. In short, the design and synthesis of the diimide skeleton provides a potential lead compound for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, and also provides a new idea for the design of amide compounds.