Prevention of hypertensive crises in rats induced by acute and chronic norepinephrine excess

Hypertensive Entgleisungen werden bei Phäochromozytompatienten sowohl intra-/als auch präoperativ beobachtet. Die Wahl der antihypertensiven Therapie ist jedoch Gegenstand einer wissenschaftlichen Kontroverse. Der Stellenwert einzelner Behandlungsregime ist in Abwesenheit randomisierter kontrollierter Studien unklar. Seit den 50er Jahren ist Phenoxybenzamin (POB) das am häufigsten eingesetzte Medikament in der Vorbehandlung. Als Alternativen mit einem geringeren Nebenwirkungsprofil, werden selektive α1-Blocker und Calciumkanalantagonisten diskutiert. In dieser Arbeit wurde in einem Tiermodell geprüft, ob α1-Blocker (Urapidil), Calciumkanalantagonisten (Nitrendipin und Nifedipin) und irreversible α1/α2-Blocker (Phenoxybenzamin) vergleichbar wirkungsvoll in der Prävention hypertensiver Krisen sind. Zur Simulation eines chronischen Katecholaminexzesses wurden die Tiere drei Wochen mit Noradrenalin (NA) via osmotischer Pumpe (50 μg/h) behandelt. Anschließend wurden die Tiere narkotisiert und akute Katecholaminkrisen durch NA-Boli in aufsteigender Dosis simuliert (0,1-1000 µg/kg KG). POB (10 mg/kg KG, n=4), Urapidil (10 mg/kg KG, n=3) und Nitrendipin (600 µg/kg KG, n=6) senkten den systolischen Ausgangsblutdruck von 212 ± 12 mmHg um 52 ± 7%, 31 ± 9% und 50 ± 6%. Die anschließenden Katecholaminkrisen führten zu Druckanstiegen von 138 ± 3 mmHg, 235 ± 29 mmHg, 240 ± 30 mmHg in POB, Urapidil und Nitrendipin-behandelten Tieren (p<0,01). In einer zweiten Studie wurden die Tiere für sieben Tage zusätzlich zu der Noradrenalingabe mit POB (10 mg/kg KG/Tag, n=9), Nifedipin (10 mg/kg KG/Tag, n=10), oder dem Lösungsmittel 10% DMSO/Wasser (n=7) behandelt. Der systolische Ausgangsblutdruck lag bei 167 ± 7 mmHg (POB), 210 ± 7 mmHg (Nifedipin) und 217 ± 7 mmHg (Kontrolle) (p<0,01). Während der folgenden NA-Krisen lag der maximale systolische Blutdruck bei 220 ± 11 mmHg (POB), 282 ± 8 mmHg (Nifedipin) und 268 ± 16 mmHg (Kontrolle) (p<0,001). Anschließend erhielten die Tiere während der Katecholaminstimulation eine zusätzliche kontinuierliche Infusion mit Urapidil (Ebrantil®) oder Nifedipin (Adalat pro infusione®). Durch eine kontinuierliche Infusion mit Nifedipin - zusätzlich zur POB-Vorbehandlung - konnte der Blutdruck am effektivsten stabilisiert werden (137 ± 5 mmHg (POB), 272 ± 5 mmHg (Nifedipin) 225 ± 11mmHg (Kontrolle) (p<0,001). Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass POB verglichen mit Urapidil, Nitrendipin und Nifedipin hypertensive Krisensituationen am effektivsten vorbeugt.Calcium channel blockers and reversible α1-adrenoceptor blockers have been proposed as alternatives to POB in preoperative antihypertensive treatment of patient with pheochromocytoma. However these drugs were never sufficiently tested for this purpose and there are no consistent recommendations for antihypertensive pretreatment. POB, urapidil, nitrendipine and nifedipine were systemically tested in rats in order to prove effectiveness in controlling blood pressure during acute and chronic catecholamine excess as observed in patients with pheochromocytoma. Rats were treated with norepinephrine (NE) for three weeks via osmotic mini pumps (50 μg/h). Afterwards rats were anaesthetized, catheterized for hemodynamic measurements and acute catecholamine excess was stimulated by increasing doses of NE (0.1-1000 µg/kg BW IV). A single dose of POB (10 mg/kg BW, n=4), urapidil (10 mg/kg BW, n=3) and nitrendipine (600 µg/kg BW, n=6) lowered blood pressure from 212 ± 12 mmHg at baseline by 52 ± 7%, 31 ± 9% and 50 ± 6% resp. Subsequently stimulation of acute catecholamine excess lead to a maximum blood pressure of 138 ± 3 mmHg, 235 ± 29mmHg, 240 ± 30 mmHg in POB, urapidil and nitrendipine treated animals (p<0.01). In a second study animals were additionally treated with POB (10 mg/kg BW/d, n=9), nifedipine (10 mg/kg BW/d, n=10) or vehicle (n=7) for seven days prior to hemodynamic assessment. Baseline blood pressure was 167 ± 7 mmHg (POB), 210 ± 7 mmHg (nifedipine) and 217 ± 7 mmHg (controls) (p<0.01). During the following NE challenge maximum blood pressure was 220 ± 11 mmHg (POB), 282 ± 8 (nifedipine) and 268 ± 16 mmHg (controls) (p<0.001). Subsequently rats received an additional continous infusion with either urapidil (Ebrantil®) or nifedipine (Adalat pro infusione®) during acute NE bolus stimulation. A contious infusion with nifedipine in addition to POB pretreatment showed a significantly better hemodynamic stability 137 ± 5mmHg (POB), 272 ± 5mmHg (nifedipine) 225 ± 11mmHg (controls) (p<0.001). In summary all drugs which were tested in our studies lowered the blood pressure significantly. However only POB prevented recurring severe hypertensive episodes within NE excess. A pretreatment with POB and additional continous infusion with nifedipine provides superior hemodynamic stability

Bioinformatical Analysis of Organ-Related (Heart, Brain, Liver, and Kidney) and Serum Proteomic Data to Identify Protein Regulation Patterns and Potential Sepsis Biomarkers

During the last years, proteomic studies have revealed several interesting findings in experimental sepsis models and septic patients. However, most studies investigated protein alterations only in single organs or in whole blood. To identify possible sepsis biomarkers and to evaluate the relationship between protein alteration in sepsis affected organs and blood, proteomics data from the heart, brain, liver, kidney, and serum were analysed. Using functional network analyses in combination with hierarchical cluster analysis, we found that protein regulation patterns in organ tissues as well as in serum are highly dynamic. In the tissue proteome, the main functions and pathways affected were the oxidoreductive activity, cell energy generation, or metabolism, whereas in the serum proteome, functions were associated with lipoproteins metabolism and, to a minor extent, with coagulation, inflammatory response, and organ regeneration. Proteins from network analyses of organ tissue did not correlate with statistically significantly regulated serum proteins or with predicted proteins of serum functions. In this study, the combination of proteomic network analyses with cluster analyses is introduced as an approach to deal with high-throughput proteomics data to evaluate the dynamics of protein regulation during sepsis

Change of initial and ICU treatment over time in trauma patients. An analysis from the TraumaRegister DGUA (R)

Clinical guidelines have been standardized for pre- and in-hospital trauma management in the last decades. Therefore, it is known that prehospital management has changed significantly. Furthermore, in-hospital course may be altered to reduce complications and length of stay (LOS). However, the development of trauma patient in-hospital management as well as LOS in the intensive care unit (ICU) has not been investigated systematically over a long-term period in Germany. Aim of our study is to examine the changes in in-hospital management and LOS in the ICU in moderately and severely injured patients. Patients documented in the TraumaRegister DGUA (R) (TR-DGU) of the German Trauma Society from 2000 to 2011 and admitted to ICU were included in this study. Demographic data, the pattern of injury, injury severity, duration of mechanical ventilation, LOS in the ICU, hospital LOS, and discharge destination were evaluated. The mean values and the standard deviations are shown. The constant variables were calculated with changes over time analyzed by linear regression analysis, and categorical variables were calculated with the chi-square test. A total of 18,048 patients were analyzed. The rate of patients being intubated at the time of ICU admission decreased from 86.8 % in 2000 to 60.0 % in 2011 (p < 0.001). The time of mechanical ventilation decreased from 7.5 +/- 10.5 to 4.7 +/- 8.7 days. The intensive care unit LOS was reduced from 11.7 +/- 12.8 to 9.0 +/- 11.3 days and the length of hospital stay from 27.9 +/- 28.7 to 21.1 +/- 20.4 days (both p < 0.01). The ICU LOS remained stable in the subgroup of mechanically ventilated patients (12.7 +/- 13.2 day in 2000, 12,6 +/- 12.9 in 2011, p = 0.6), whereas it was reduced in non-mechanically ventilated patients (5.5 +/- 6.8 days in 2000, 3.6 +/- 4.5 days in 2011; p < 0.001). The reduction LOS in the analyzed dataset is mainly explained by the relevantly reduced rate of patients being intubated at the time of ICU admission. Our data demonstrate that trauma patients' in-hospital course is influenced by reduced intubation rate at the time of ICU admission