Effects of estrogen on blood pressure and salt and water excretion during a ten-day Angiotesin ll infusion period in ovariectomized mice

Introduction: Premenopausal women are protected from cardiovascular disease compared to age-matched men. Estrogen (E2) plays important roles in these protective mechanisms.Purpose: Our goal was to determine if E2 reduces angiotensin II (AngII)-induced elevation in blood pressure in ovariectomized (OVX) mice. We also hypothesized that E2 affects renal excretion of water and sodium.Methods: Four-week-old CD-1 OVX mice were placed in metabolic cages for a five-day baseline period followed by implantation of an Alzet osmotic pump containing either vehicle or AngII (1 µg/kg/min) and either a placebo or 0.7mg E2 pellet. Measurements of water intake (WI, ml/day), urine volume (UV, ml/day), and urine sodium excretion (UNaE, μEq/day) were recorded daily in the baseline and ten-day post-implantation periods in three groups of mice: vehicle-placebo (V-P), AngII-placebo (AngII-P), and AngII-E2 (n=4/group). Systolic blood pressure (SBP, mmHg) was determined via the tail-cuff technique.Results: Delta SBP (baseline vs AngII period) was higher in AngII-P but not significantly different from AngII-E2 mice, (33.1±3.5 vs 24.5±4.0, respectively). AngII-E2 mice compared to AngII-P mice had lower WI (4.2±0.02 vs 6.9±0.05, respectively, p<0.001), lower UV (1.3±0.02 vs 2.6±0.03, respectively, p<0.03), and lower UNaE (110.5±20.7 vs 199.7±10.8, respectively, p<0.003).Conclusion: E2 administration reduces WI, UV, and UNaE during a ten-day AngII-infusion in OVX mice. E2 did not significantly reduce SBP. Studies of longer duration are underway to investigate the important E2-induced mechanisms on blood pressure regulation

Antifungal activity of novel compound EIPE-1 against Cryptococcus neoformans

Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen of the respiratory tract, which is responsible for over 200,000 deaths annually. Antifungal drugs have been used to treat fungal infections for many decades; however, due to similarities between fungal and mammalian cells, these drugs are often toxic. In these last few decades, the fungi have also become resistant to the antifungal drugs. EIPE-1 was synthesized from vanillin, and was shown to have activity against methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and other gram-positive bacterial pathogens. We hypothesized that EIPE-1 could be used to kill fungal pathogens. For this study, we tested EIPE-1 against C. neoformans using a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay and an in vitro model of intracellular macrophage growth using RAW macrophages. EIPE-1 has antifungal activity in our MIC assay, with an MIC value of 1.749 ug/ml. In addition, after incubation of C. neoformans with RAW macrophages and EIPE-1, treatment with EIPE-1 had significant antifungal effects on C. neoformans compared to C. neoformans alone and compared to C. neoformans with RAW macrophages. In further studies, we will examine the mechanism of EIPE-1 anti-fungal activity, and we will also test EIPE-1 against other fungal pathogens including Candida albicans.Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation ProgramNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Oklahoma State University. StartupCowboy TechnologiesMicrobiology and Molecular GeneticsChemistr