Cardiovascular deconditioning and impact of artificial gravity during 60-day head-down bed rest-Insights from 4D flow cardiac MRI

: Microgravity has deleterious effects on the cardiovascular system. We evaluated some parameters of blood flow and vascular stiffness during 60 days of simulated microgravity in head-down tilt (HDT) bed rest. We also tested the hypothesis that daily exposure to 30 min of artificial gravity (1 g) would mitigate these adaptations. 24 healthy subjects (8 women) were evenly distributed in three groups: continuous artificial gravity, intermittent artificial gravity, or control. 4D flow cardiac MRI was acquired in horizontal position before (-9 days), during (5, 21, and 56 days), and after (+4 days) the HDT period. The false discovery rate was set at 0.05. The results are presented as median (first quartile; third quartile). No group or group × time differences were observed so the groups were combined. At the end of the HDT phase, we reported a decrease in the stroke volume allocated to the lower body (-30% [-35%; -22%]) and the upper body (-20% [-30%; +11%]), but in different proportions, reflected by an increased share of blood flow towards the upper body. The aortic pulse wave velocity increased (+16% [+9%; +25%]), and so did other markers of arterial stiffness ( CAVI ; CAVI0 ). In males, the time-averaged wall shear stress decreased (-13% [-17%; -5%]) and the relative residence time increased (+14% [+5%; +21%]), while these changes were not observed among females. Most of these parameters tended to or returned to baseline after 4 days of recovery. The effects of the artificial gravity countermeasure were not visible. We recommend increasing the load factor, the time of exposure, or combining it with physical exercise. The changes in blood flow confirmed the different adaptations occurring in the upper and lower body, with a larger share of blood volume dedicated to the upper body during (simulated) microgravity. The aorta appeared stiffer during the HDT phase, however all the changes remained subclinical and probably the sole consequence of reversible functional changes caused by reduced blood flow. Interestingly, some wall shear stress markers were more stable in females than in males. No permanent cardiovascular adaptations following 60 days of HDT bed rest were observed

Organization of the TC and TE cellular T-DNA regions in Nicotiana otophora and functional analysis of three diverged TE-6b genes.

Nicotiana otophora contains Agrobacterium-derived T-DNA sequences introduced by horizontal gene transfer (Chen et al., 2014). Sixty-nine contigs were assembled into four different cellular T-DNAs (cT-DNAs) totalling 83 kb. TC and TE result from two successive transformation events, each followed by duplication, yielding two TC and two TE inserts. TC is also found in other Nicotiana species, whereas TE is unique to N. otophora. Both cT-DNA regions are partially duplicated inverted repeats. Analysis of the cT-DNA divergence patterns allowed reconstruction of the evolution of the TC and TE regions. TC and TE carry 10 intact open reading frames. Three of these are TE-6b genes, derived from a single 6b gene carried by the Agrobacterium strain which inserted TE in the N. otophora ancestor. 6b genes have so far only been found in Agrobacterium tumefaciens or Agrobacterium vitis T-DNAs and strongly modify plant growth (Chen and Otten, 2016). The TE-6b genes were expressed in Nicotiana tabacum under the constitutive 2 × 35S promoter. TE-1-6b-R and TE-2-6b led to shorter plants, dark-green leaves, a strong increase in leaf vein development and modified petiole wings. TE-1-6b-L expression led to a similar phenotype, but in addition leaves show outgrowths at the margins, flowers were modified and plants became viviparous, i.e. embryos germinated in the capsules at an early stage of their development. Embryos could be rescued by culture in vitro. The TE-6b phenotypes are very different from the earlier described 6b phenotypes and could provide new insight into the mode of action of the 6b genes.journal articleresearch support, non-u.s. gov't2018 042018 03 23importe

The Role of Antioxidation and Immunomodulation in Postnatal Multipotent Stem Cell-Mediated Cardiac Repair

Oxidative stress and inflammation play major roles in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease including myocardial infarction (MI). The pathological progression following MI is very complex and involves a number of cell populations including cells localized within the heart, as well as cells recruited from the circulation and other tissues that participate in inflammatory and reparative processes. These cells, with their secretory factors, have pleiotropic effects that depend on the stage of inflammation and regeneration. Excessive inflammation leads to enlargement of the infarction site, pathological remodeling and eventually, heart dysfunction. Stem cell therapy represents a unique and innovative approach to ameliorate oxidative stress and inflammation caused by ischemic heart disease. Consequently, it is crucial to understand the crosstalk between stem cells and other cells involved in post-MI cardiac tissue repair, especially immune cells, in order to harness the beneficial effects of the immune response following MI and further improve stem cell-mediated cardiac regeneration. This paper reviews the recent findings on the role of antioxidation and immunomodulation in postnatal multipotent stem cell-mediated cardiac repair following ischemic heart disease, particularly acute MI and focuses specifically on mesenchymal, muscle and blood-vessel-derived stem cells due to their antioxidant and immunomodulatory properties

Rapport de stage de recherche. Zoom sémantique

Dans le cadre de la synthèse d'images, ou infographie, le laboratoire de modélisation du CIRAD a développé le logiciel AMAP, appliqué à l'agriculture et dont les applications commerciales portent essentiellement sur l'élaboration de modèles numériques de plantes. Afin d'accélérer les calculs pour les images contenant un très grand nombre d'objets, une méthode d'optimisation a été mise au point. Cette méthode, le zoom sémantique, permet d'afficher les objets d'une scène avec différents niveaux de précision suivant leur nature et leur situation, ce qui permet de ne consacrer que peu de temps de calcul à des objets peu visible

Relationship Between Blood Flow and Performance Recovery: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study

International audiencePurpose: To investigate the effect of different limb blood-flow levels on cycling-performance recovery, blood lactate concentration, and heart rate. Methods: Thirty-three high-intensity intermittent-trained athletes completed two 30-s Wingate anaerobic test sessions, 3 × 30-s (WAnT 1–3) and 1 × 30-s (WAnT 4), on a cycling ergometer. WAnT 1–3 and WAnT 4 were separated by a randomly assigned 24-min recovery intervention selected from among blood-flow restriction, passive rest, placebo stimulation, or neuromuscular electrical-stimulation-induced blood flow. Calf arterial inflow was measured by venous occlusion plethysmography at regular intervals throughout the recovery period. Performance was measured in terms of peak and mean power output during WAnT 1 and WAnT 4.Results: After the recovery interventions, a large (r = .68 [90% CL .42; .83]) and very large (r = .72 (90% CL .49; .86]) positive correlation were observed between the change in calf arterial inflow and the change in mean and peak power output, respectively. Calf arterial inflow was significantly higher during the neuromuscular-electrical-stimulation recovery intervention than with the blood-flow-restriction, passive-rest, and placebo-stimulation interventions (P .05). No recovery effect was linked to heart rate or blood lactate concentration levels.Conclusions: For the first time, these data support the existence of a positive correlation between an increase in blood flow and performance recovery between bouts of high-intensity exercise. As a practical consideration, this effect can be obtained by using neuromuscular electrical stimulation-induced blood flow since this passive, simple strategy could be easily applied during short-term recovery