Opposite effects of short and continuous oestradiol replacement on CNS responses to hypoxic stress

Effects of intranasal mometasone furoate on blood pressure in patients with allergic rhinitis

Background: Nasal congestion as the main symptom in patients with allergic rhinitis can impair nasal breathing. It causes hypoxia and concomitant sympathetic system activation, which may also lead to increased blood pressure levels in these patients. Objective: We postulated that appropriate therapy, including intranasal steroids, decreases blood pressure levels in patients with allergic rhinitis. Methods: In our study, we investigated the effect of intranasal steroid (4 weeks of mometasone furoate) on blood pressure changes in 45 patients with allergic rhinitis whose main complaint was nasal congestion. We used ambulatory monitoring for determining blood pressure levels before and after intranasal steroid therapy. None of the patients had any other systemic diseases. Results: We found a significant decrease of daytime systolic and diastolic blood pressures and mean blood pressure values (daytime systolic blood pressure: 120 vs. 117 mmHg, p = 0.024; daytime diastolic blood pressure: 73 vs. 71 mmHg, p = 0.027; daytime mean blood pressure: 86 vs. 83 mmHg, p = 0.007). Although insignificant, we also found lower night-time systolic and mean blood pressure values (nighttime systolic blood pressure: 109 vs. 107 mmHg, p = 0.182; nighttime mean blood pressure 77 vs. 73 mmHg, p = 0.116). Conclusions: We found that post-treatment daytime average systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressure levels were significantly lower compared to values obtained during exacerbation of allergic rhinitis. Decrease in blood pressure with treatment of allergic rhinitis and nasal congestion suggests that nasal congestion and impaired nasal respiration may affect blood pressure and potentially cause serious problems in hypertensive patients with allergic rhinitis.

Differential effects of estradiol on encoding properties of TMJ units in laminae I and V at the spinomedullary junction in female rats

To determine whether estrogen status modulated dorsal horn neural activity relevant to temporomandibular joint (TMJ) processing single units were recorded in superficial and deep laminae at the trigeminal subnucleus caudalis/upper cervical cord (Vc/C1-2) junction of ovariectomized (OvX) female rats under barbiturate anesthesia after 17beta-estradiol (E2) treatment for 2 days. E2 dose-dependently enhanced the response to intra-TMJ stimulation by adenosine triphosphate (ATP) of neurons classified as nociceptive specific (NS), but not wide dynamic range (WDR), in superficial laminae. ATP caused similar responses among NS and WDR neurons from deep laminae in all groups. By contrast, the cutaneous receptive field areas of WDR, but not NS, units in superficial and deep laminae were enlarged in high E2-treated (HE2) compared with low E2-treated (LE2) females. Units from untreated or vehicle-treated male rats displayed responses similar to those of LE2 females. TMJ units in superficial laminae from females were more likely to receive convergent cutaneous input and respond to jaw movement than males, independent of E2 treatment. Western blot analysis revealed similar levels of P2X2 and P2X3 receptor protein in Vc/C1-2 or trigeminal ganglion samples in all groups. Immunohistochemistry revealed dense terminal labeling for P2X3 receptors in superficial laminae and moderate labeling in deep laminae at the Vc/C1-2 junction. These data indicated a significant linkage between estrogen status and the magnitude of articular input evoked by ATP from TMJ neurons in the superficial laminae at the Vc/C1-2 junction, whereas estrogenic modulation of TMJ neurons in deep laminae affected only the convergent input from overlying facial skin.