The Role of Autophagy in Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Isolated Rat Hearts

Autophagy is a housekeeping process used to remove damaged cytoplasmic constituents and protein aggregates. However, a debate persists on whether autophagy is beneficial or detrimental when an ischemic/reperfusion (I/R) insult occurs in the heart. This study tested the effects of autophagy enhancers (rapamycin and trehalose) and an autophagy inhibitor (3-methyladenine) on cardiac function and infarct size after global ischemia (30 minutes) and reperfusion (45 minutes) when given prior to ischemia (pre-treatment) or at the beginning of reperfusion (post-treatment). Rapamycin (25nM) pre-treatment and post-treatment significantly restored final left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) to 75.4±9.1% and 60±5% of initial baseline respectively (both n=5,

Ovarian Hemorrhagic Cyst in a 42-Year-Old Female Receiving IVF

We report a case of a 42-year-old female who presented with lower abdominal/pelvic pain and diagnosed with an active hemorrhagic ovarian cyst after undergoing egg retrieval as part of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. The differential for abdominal pain in women is vast, but for this patient receiving IVF we had to consider ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and ectopic pregnancy just to name a few examples. It is predictable that most women will suffer from a ruptured ovarian cyst at some point in their lifetime so long as they continue to menstruate

The Role of Autophagy During Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

Autophagy is a housekeeping process to remove damaged cytoplasmic constituents. However, a debate persists on whether autophagy is beneficial or detrimental when an ischemic/reperfusion (I/R) insult occurs in the heart. This study tested the effects of autophagy enhancers (e.g. rapamycin and trehalose) and autophagy inhibitor (e.g. 3-methyladenine) on heart function and infarct size after global I (30 minutes) and R (45 minutes) when given prior to ischemia (pre-treatment) or at the beginning of reperfusion (post-treatment). We found that Rapamycin (25nM) pre-treatment and post-treatment significantly restored final left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) to 75.4±9.1% and 60±5% of initial baseline respectively (both n=5, p\u3c0.05), compared to I/R group (n=9) that recovered to 35±5.5% of initial baseline. Likewise, trehalose (5mM) pre-treatment and post-treatment also significantly restored final LVDP to 61.4±3.7% (n=6) and 69.1±2.7% (n=5) of initial baseline respectively, compared to I/R group. However, 3-methyladenine (1mM) pre-treatment (n=6) and post-treatment (n=5) showed similar reduction in final LVDP to 24.7±9.1% and 33.4±12.8 % of initial baseline respectively, as I/R group. Moreover, infarction percentage was significantly reduced by rapamycin pre-treatment and post-treatment (14 ± 2.8% and 21.4 ± 5.3%, respectively; both p\u3c0.05); and trehalose pre-treatment and post-treatment (19.2 ± 3% and 15.2% ± 3, respectively; both p\u3c0.05), but not by 3-methyladenine pre-treatment and post-treatment (26±2% and 28±4.1%, respectively) when compared to I/R group (38.6±4.3%). The data suggests that autophagy enhancement before ischemia or at reperfusion is beneficial for reducing I/R injury