Impact of Diabetes on Postinfarction Heart Failure and Left Ventricular Remodeling

Diabetes mellitus, the metabolic syndrome, and the underlying insulin resistance are increasingly associated with diastolic dysfunction and reduced stress tolerance. The poor prognosis associated with heart failure in patients with diabetes after myocardial infarction is likely attributable to many factors, important among which is the metabolic impact from insulin resistance and hyperglycemia on the regulation of microvascular perfusion and energy generation in the cardiac myocyte. This review summarizes epidemiologic, pathophysiologic, diagnostic, and therapeutic data related to diabetes and heart failure in acute myocardial infarction and discusses novel perceptions and strategies that hold promise for the future and deserve further investigation

ADP-ribosylation of arginine

Arginine adenosine-5′-diphosphoribosylation (ADP-ribosylation) is an enzyme-catalyzed, potentially reversible posttranslational modification, in which the ADP-ribose moiety is transferred from NAD+ to the guanidino moiety of arginine. At 540 Da, ADP-ribose has the size of approximately five amino acid residues. In contrast to arginine, which, at neutral pH, is positively charged, ADP-ribose carries two negatively charged phosphate moieties. Arginine ADP-ribosylation, thus, causes a notable change in size and chemical property at the ADP-ribosylation site of the target protein. Often, this causes steric interference of the interaction of the target protein with binding partners, e.g. toxin-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of actin at R177 sterically blocks actin polymerization. In case of the nucleotide-gated P2X7 ion channel, ADP-ribosylation at R125 in the vicinity of the ligand-binding site causes channel gating. Arginine-specific ADP-ribosyltransferases (ARTs) carry a characteristic R-S-EXE motif that distinguishes these enzymes from structurally related enzymes which catalyze ADP-ribosylation of other amino acid side chains, DNA, or small molecules. Arginine-specific ADP-ribosylation can be inhibited by small molecule arginine analogues such as agmatine or meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), which themselves can serve as targets for arginine-specific ARTs. ADP-ribosylarginine specific hydrolases (ARHs) can restore target protein function by hydrolytic removal of the entire ADP-ribose moiety. In some cases, ADP-ribosylarginine is processed into secondary posttranslational modifications, e.g. phosphoribosylarginine or ornithine. This review summarizes current knowledge on arginine-specific ADP-ribosylation, focussing on the methods available for its detection, its biological consequences, and the enzymes responsible for this modification and its reversal, and discusses future perspectives for research in this field

Immunopathological aspects of plasmodium berghei infection in five strains of mice. II. Immunopathology of cerebral and other tissue lesions during the infection.

Histological changes during the course of P. berghei infection were investigated in A/J, BALB/c, OF1, CBA and C57B1 mice. The findings were studied in relation to serological aspects (Contreras et al., 1980). High mortality and acute deaths occurred in A/J, BALB/c and OF1 mice and marked cerebral lesions were found in these strains from day 15, including congestion of meningeal and cerebral veins and capillaries, blocking of these vessels by heavily parasitized RBC, cerebral oedema and haemorrhages. Such lesions were minimal in CBA and C57B1 mice, and absent in mice examined 21 and 24 days after infection. Small deposits of IgG and traces of C3 were detected by immunofluorescence in the choroid plexus of most mice from day 9. Renal lesions included congestion, plugging of veins and capillaries, low-grade mononuclear infiltration and mesangial thickening; these changes were most marked in CBA, C57B1 and A/J mice. Glomerular deposits of IgM were present in all strains in the first week of infection. IgG and C3 were detected in the second week, but only traces were found in CBA mice. The livers showed congestion, accumulation of pigment in swollen Kupffer cells and mononuclear portal infiltration; these were most pronounced in A/J mice. In the spleen, there was a great increase in the reticuloendothelial cell population, white pulp proliferation, congestion and accumulation of pigment and plasma cell reaction; the pattern of white pulp expansion varied in the different strains. The results suggest that cerebral lesions play a significant role in the aetiology of acute deaths in this malaria model