Parameters of Oxidative and Inflammatory Status in a Three-Month Observation of Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Coronary Angioplasty-A Preliminary Study

Sex-specific differences in trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) concentrations before and after cardiac rehabilitation in acute myocardial infarction patients

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a biomarker of cardiovascular risk and may enhance the progression of atherosclerosis. The aim of the study was to determine whether there are sex-specific differences in TMAO concentrations before and after cardiac rehabilitation in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. A total of 56 participants [45/56 (80.4 %) males, 11/56 (19.6 %) females] were drawn from AMI inpatients hospitalized at the Division of Cardiology, Medical University of Graz, Austria. For the assessment of TMAO, serum samples were collected within the first day after hospital admission due to AMI and at the start and end of cardiac rehabilitation. Shortly after hospital admission due to AMI, females had significantly higher TMAO blood concentrations than males. These initially high TMAO levels remained almost unchanged in the female AMI patients until the start of cardiac rehabilitation and only reached the lower TMAO concentrations observed in the male patients after rehabilitation [female patients: TMAO (acute myocardial infarction) = 5.93 μmol/L (SE = 1.835); TMAO (start of rehabilitation) = 5.68 μmol/L (SE = 1.217); TMAO (end of rehabilitation) = 3.89 μmol/L (SE = 0.554); male patients: TMAO (acute myocardial infarction) = 3.02 μmol/L (SE = 0.255), TMAO (start of rehabilitation) = 3.91 μmol/L (SE = 0.346), TMAO (end of rehabilitation) = 4.04 μmol/L (SE = 0.363)]. After AMI, women might be at higher cardiovascular risk due to persistently higher levels of TMAO. High TMAO levels in women might decrease after cardiac rehabilitation due to cardiac rehabilitation-associated lifestyle modifications. These lifestyle modifications after AMI might also prevent increases in TMAO concentrations in men.

Testing for Ketoprofen Binding to HSA Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles under Normal Conditions and after Oxidative Stress

Binding and transport of ligands is one of the most important functions of human blood serum proteins. Human serum albumin is found in plasma at the highest concentration. Because of this, it is important to study protein–drug interactions for this albumin. Since there is no single model describing this interaction, it is necessary to measure it for each active substance. Drug binding should also be studied in conditions that simulate pathological conditions of the body, i.e., after oxidative stress. Due to this, it is expected that the methods for testing these interactions need to be easy and fast. In this study, albumin immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles was successfully applied in the study of protein–drug binding. Ketoprofen was selected as a model drug and interactions were tested under normal conditions and artificially induced oxidative stress. The quality of obtained results for immobilized protein was confirmed with those for free albumin and literature data. It was shown that the type of magnetic core coverage does not affect the quality of the obtained results. In summary, a new, fast, effective, and universal method for testing protein–drug interactions was proposed, which can be performed in most laboratories.