Interoception across Modalities: On the Relationship between Cardiac Awareness and the Sensitivity for Gastric Functions

The individual sensitivity for ones internal bodily signals (“interoceptive awareness”) has been shown to be of relevance for a broad range of cognitive and affective functions. Interoceptive awareness has been primarily assessed via measuring the sensitivity for ones cardiac signals (“cardiac awareness”) which can be non-invasively measured by heartbeat perception tasks. It is an open question whether cardiac awareness is related to the sensitivity for other bodily, visceral functions. This study investigated the relationship between cardiac awareness and the sensitivity for gastric functions in healthy female persons by using non-invasive methods. Heartbeat perception as a measure for cardiac awareness was assessed by a heartbeat tracking task and gastric sensitivity was assessed by a water load test. Gastric myoelectrical activity was measured by electrogastrography (EGG) and subjective feelings of fullness, valence, arousal and nausea were assessed. The results show that cardiac awareness was inversely correlated with ingested water volume and with normogastric activity after water load. However, persons with good and poor cardiac awareness did not differ in their subjective ratings of fullness, nausea and affective feelings after drinking. This suggests that good heartbeat perceivers ingested less water because they subjectively felt more intense signals of fullness during this lower amount of water intake compared to poor heartbeat perceivers who ingested more water until feeling the same signs of fullness. These findings demonstrate that cardiac awareness is related to greater sensitivity for gastric functions, suggesting that there is a general sensitivity for interoceptive processes across the gastric and cardiac modality

Synergistic action of two murine monoclonal antibodies that inhibit ADP- induced platelet aggregation without blocking fibrinogen binding

We have used two murine monoclonal antibodies, each directed against one component of the human platelet membrane glycoprotein (GP) IIb-IIIa complex, to examine further the molecular requirements for fibrinogen binding to the platelet surface and subsequent platelet-platelet cohesion (aggregation). Although neither AP3, which is directed against GPIIIa, nor Tab, which is specific for GPIIb, were individually able to inhibit adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced fibrinogen binding, platelet aggregation, or secretion, the combination of AP3 and Tab completely abolished platelet aggregation and the release reaction. Unexpectedly, this synergistic inhibition of platelet-platelet cohesion occurred in the presence of apparently normal fibrinogen binding. Both the number of fibrinogen molecules bound and the dissociation constant for fibrinogen binding remained essentially unchanged in the presence of these two antibodies. Inhibition of aggregation was dependent upon the divalency of both AP3 and Tab because substitution of Fab fragments of either antibody for the intact IgG resulted in a complete restoration of both aggregation and secretion. In contrast to ADP induction, thrombin-activated platelets neither aggregated nor bound fibrinogen in the presence of AP3 plus Tab but were fully capable of secretion, which illustrated the multiple mechanisms by which the platelet surface can respond to different agonists. These data demonstrate that fibrinogen binding to the platelet surface alone is not sufficient to support platelet-platelet cohesion and that an additional post-fibrinogen-binding event(s) that is inhibitable by these two monoclonal antibodies may be required.</jats:p

Synergistic action of two murine monoclonal antibodies that inhibit ADP- induced platelet aggregation without blocking fibrinogen binding

Abstract We have used two murine monoclonal antibodies, each directed against one component of the human platelet membrane glycoprotein (GP) IIb-IIIa complex, to examine further the molecular requirements for fibrinogen binding to the platelet surface and subsequent platelet-platelet cohesion (aggregation). Although neither AP3, which is directed against GPIIIa, nor Tab, which is specific for GPIIb, were individually able to inhibit adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced fibrinogen binding, platelet aggregation, or secretion, the combination of AP3 and Tab completely abolished platelet aggregation and the release reaction. Unexpectedly, this synergistic inhibition of platelet-platelet cohesion occurred in the presence of apparently normal fibrinogen binding. Both the number of fibrinogen molecules bound and the dissociation constant for fibrinogen binding remained essentially unchanged in the presence of these two antibodies. Inhibition of aggregation was dependent upon the divalency of both AP3 and Tab because substitution of Fab fragments of either antibody for the intact IgG resulted in a complete restoration of both aggregation and secretion. In contrast to ADP induction, thrombin-activated platelets neither aggregated nor bound fibrinogen in the presence of AP3 plus Tab but were fully capable of secretion, which illustrated the multiple mechanisms by which the platelet surface can respond to different agonists. These data demonstrate that fibrinogen binding to the platelet surface alone is not sufficient to support platelet-platelet cohesion and that an additional post-fibrinogen-binding event(s) that is inhibitable by these two monoclonal antibodies may be required.</jats:p