Journal: PLoS ONE

Article Title: New insights into valve-related intramural and intracellular bacterial diversity in infective endocarditis

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175569

Figure Lengend Snippet: Species-specific qPCR primers.

Article Snippet: DNA of bacterial cultures Haloplasma contractile (DSM 18853), Burkholderia fungorum (DSM 17061), and Aeribacillus pallidus (DSM 3670) were obtained from the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (Braunschweig, Germany).

Techniques: Sequencing

Journal: Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease

Article Title: Activation of cGMP/Protein Kinase G Pathway in Postconditioned Myocardium Depends on Reduced Oxidative Stress and Preserved Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Coupling

doi: 10.1161/JAHA.112.005975

Figure Lengend Snippet: Experimental protocol. In a first set of experiments, isolated rat hearts were subjected to 40 minutes of ischemia and 60 minutes of reperfusion with and without postconditioning (PoCo) consisting of 6 cycles of 10 seconds of ischemia and 10 seconds of reperfusion. In a second set of experiments, control and PoCo hearts received the contractile inhibitor blebbistatin at the onset of reperfusion. Samples for Western blots and measurement of NO x released to the coronary effluent were obtained at different times (A) and other parameters were measured after 5 minutes of reperfusion (B). In both set of experiments, the different drugs were given during the first 10 minutes of reperfusion (drug treatment: KT‐5823, ODQ, l‐NAME, LY‐294002, SIN‐1, BH 4 ). LDH indicates lactate dehydrogenase; NO x , total nitrate/nitrite; eNOS, endothelial nitric oxide synthase; WB, Western blots; ONOO − , peroxynitrite; ODQ, 1 H ‐[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3‐ a ]quinoxalin‐1‐one; BH 4 , tetrahydrobiopterin; O 2 − , superoxide; SIN‐1, 3‐morpholinosydnonimine.

Article Snippet: In those experiments aimed to analyze a variable different than cell death, the selective contractile inhibitor blebbistatin (10 μmol/L, Merck) was added during reperfusion or after 60 minutes in hearts perfused with oxygenated buffer (Nx).

Techniques: Isolation, Western Blot

Journal: Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease

Article Title: Activation of cGMP/Protein Kinase G Pathway in Postconditioned Myocardium Depends on Reduced Oxidative Stress and Preserved Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Coupling

doi: 10.1161/JAHA.112.005975

Figure Lengend Snippet: Quantification of reperfusion‐induced cell death and cGMP content in control and postconditioned (PoCo) hearts in the presence of the different inhibitors. A, Total LDH released during reperfusion and (B) infarct size measured by TTC and expressed as percentage of ventricular mass. C, Myocardial cGMP content measured in hearts perfused under normoxic conditions (Nx) and in hearts subjected to 40 minutes of ischemia and 5 minutes of reperfusion in the presence of blebbistatin. * P <0.05 vs control group. Data are mean±SEM. LDH indicates lactate dehydrogenase.

Article Snippet: In those experiments aimed to analyze a variable different than cell death, the selective contractile inhibitor blebbistatin (10 μmol/L, Merck) was added during reperfusion or after 60 minutes in hearts perfused with oxygenated buffer (Nx).

Techniques:

Journal: Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease

Article Title: Activation of cGMP/Protein Kinase G Pathway in Postconditioned Myocardium Depends on Reduced Oxidative Stress and Preserved Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Coupling

doi: 10.1161/JAHA.112.005975

Figure Lengend Snippet: Effect of blebbistatin on left ventricular pressure (LVP) and cell death. A, Representative LVP corresponding to control (upper panel) and hearts receiving blebbistatin during 5 minutes of reperfusion (lower panel). B, Time course of LDH release during the first 30 minutes of reperfusion. * P <0.05. Data are mean±SEM. LDH indicates lactate dehydrogenase.

Article Snippet: In those experiments aimed to analyze a variable different than cell death, the selective contractile inhibitor blebbistatin (10 μmol/L, Merck) was added during reperfusion or after 60 minutes in hearts perfused with oxygenated buffer (Nx).

Techniques:

Journal: Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease

Article Title: Activation of cGMP/Protein Kinase G Pathway in Postconditioned Myocardium Depends on Reduced Oxidative Stress and Preserved Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Coupling

doi: 10.1161/JAHA.112.005975

Figure Lengend Snippet: Correlation between phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway and cell death. A, Western blot showing the phosphorylation of Akt and GSK‐3β in control and postconditioned (PoCo) hearts after 30 minutes of reperfusion with and without blebbistatin. B, Quantification of phosphorylation and LDH released during 30 minutes of reperfusion in the different groups. C, Scatter plot and regression analysis showing the correlation between the magnitude of Akt and GSK‐3β phosphorylation and cell death (LDH). * P <0.05 vs respective control group. Data are mean±SEM. LDH indicates lactate dehydrogenase.

Article Snippet: In those experiments aimed to analyze a variable different than cell death, the selective contractile inhibitor blebbistatin (10 μmol/L, Merck) was added during reperfusion or after 60 minutes in hearts perfused with oxygenated buffer (Nx).

Techniques: Western Blot

Journal: Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease

Article Title: Activation of cGMP/Protein Kinase G Pathway in Postconditioned Myocardium Depends on Reduced Oxidative Stress and Preserved Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Coupling

doi: 10.1161/JAHA.112.005975

Figure Lengend Snippet: Time course of Akt, ERK1/2, GSK‐3β, and eNOS phosphorylation in samples from hearts corresponding to control (C) and postconditioned (P) groups obtained before reperfusion and after 3, 5, 10, and 30 minutes of reperfusion in presence of blebbistatin (R). Data are expressed as fold increase compared with ischemia (I). Nx corresponds to hearts normoxically perfused for 60 minutes. * P <0.05 vs respective control group. eNOS indicates endothelial nitric oxide synthase.

Article Snippet: In those experiments aimed to analyze a variable different than cell death, the selective contractile inhibitor blebbistatin (10 μmol/L, Merck) was added during reperfusion or after 60 minutes in hearts perfused with oxygenated buffer (Nx).

Techniques:

Journal: Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology

Article Title: Aberrant developmental titin splicing and dysregulated sarcomere length in Thymosin β4 knockout mice

doi: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2016.10.010

Figure Lengend Snippet: Tβ4 −/Y mice possess limited contractile reserve. Mid-ventricular short axis images, at baseline and under dobutamine stress, were acquired at high frame rate. Tβ4 +/Y: A–D; Tβ4 −/Y: E–H. End systolic volume at baseline of Tβ4 −/Y mice (F) is considerably reduced compared with control (+/Y) mice (B; Table A4; n = 4 +/Y, 6 −/Y), limiting the extent to which LV contractility can be further increased under dobutamine stress (Tβ4 +/Y: D; Tβ4 −/Y: H). Representative volume curves for +/Y (I) and −/Y mice (J) demonstrate reduced contractile reserve (characteristic leftward shift, as observed in +/Y) in −/Y mice upon β-adrenergic stimulation (shown for n = 2 each genotype).

Article Snippet: Functional assessment was conducted, within 6 h of isolation, using an IonOptix-μStep Myocyte Contractility System.

Techniques: Control