Effects of a new cardiomyoplasty technique on cardiac function

OBJECTIVE: The current cardiomyoplasty technique was modified to maintain the resting tension of the latissimus dorsi muscle and to prevent lateral movement of the heart during muscle stimulation. The aim of this study is to compare the short term hemodynamic effects of the new cardiomyoplasty wrap (W1) with those of the clinically applied cardiomyoplasty wrap (W2). Preliminary indications of the long-term hemodynamic effects of W1 are presented. METHODS: In three acute experiments in sheep mean central venous pressure (MCVP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), mean cardiac output (MCOP), mean left ventricular systolic pressure (MLVSP), and mean left ventricular diastolic pressure (MLVDP) were measured for 30s before and five minutes after applying each procedure with and without stimulation of the muscle graft. The same parameters were also recorded 5min after removing each muscle wrap. Hemodynamic changes associated with unstimulated muscle wraps were compared to the baseline data. Hemodynamic effects of muscle stimulation were determined by comparing the assisted to the preceding unassisted cardiac cycle. The long-term effects of W1 on the hemodynamics of another three sheep were studied at 6-12months after the operation. The viability of the muscles used in the chronic experiments were evaluated by morphometric analysis. RESULTS: Unstimulated W2 significantly increased mean central venous pressure and reduced mean cardiac output. It also increased mean left ventricular diastolic pressure and reduced peak negative dP/dt. Unstimulated W1 had no deleterious effect on mean central venous pressure, mean left ventricular diastolic pressure or peak -dP/dt, but it also reduced mean cardiac output and increased mean left atrial pressure (MLAP). Synchronised muscle stimulation, in both techniques, augmented the mean arterial pressure, mean cardiac output and mean left ventricular systolic pressure. In W2, however, myostimulation was also associated with a significant increase of the mean left ventricular diastolic pressure. In two long-term experiments significant hemodynamic assistance was observed at 6months and at 1yr after W1. In those sheep 68% of the cross-sectional area of the muscle was well preserved. CONCLUSIONS: Unstimulated cardiomyoplasty wraps acutely impair left ventricular function in sheep. The new technique, however, may offer significant long-term hemodynamic assistance and adequate preservation of the structural and functional integrity of the muscle flap for up to 1yr.     

Fibrinogen biosynthesis in isolated guinea pig megakaryocytes

Fibrinogen synthesis was investigated in guinea pig megakaryocytes. Purified megakaryocytes were incubated with 35S-methionine in methionine-free incubation medium for 18 hours. Newly synthesized fibrinogen in megakaryocyte lysates enriched with purified carrier guinea pig fibrinogen was immunoprecipitated with a specific anti- guinea pig fibrinogen antiserum produced in rabbits. Proteins in the immunoprecipitates were analyzed with a 3.5% to 10.0% gradient polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis and auto-radiography. Radioactivity was detected in a protein band of 340,000 daltons. In order to verify fibrinogen synthesis, immunoprecipitate was analyzed by two-dimensional slab gel electrophoresis: (1) the first dimension separated unreduced fibrinogen using a 3.5% to 10.0% gradient gel; (2) following reduction by 2-beta-mercaptoethanol, fibrinogen chains were separated in the second dimension using a 10% gel. Alpha, beta, and gamma fibrinogen chains, which represented carrier guinea pig plasma fibrinogen, were visualized by Coomassie brilliant blue. Autoradiography identified the incorporation of radioactivity into the three fibrinogen chains. In control experiments, immunoprecipitates, produced by exposing megakaryocyte lysates to preimmune rabbit serum and goat anti-rabbit IgG, were also analyzed by the two-dimensional gel system. Radioactivity was not detected in sites corresponding to the migration of fibrinogen subunits. The study demonstrates that isolated guinea pig megakaryocytes can synthesize fibrinogen. The electrophoretic mobility of newly synthesized fibrinogen and subunits is similar to that of guinea pig plasma fibrinogen.     

Effects on the buoyant density of rabbit platelets of ADP and agents that increase the concentration of cyclic AMP

Rabbit platelets were aggregated by adenosine diphosphate (ADP), allowed to deaggregate and then separated into density subpopulations by centrifugation through discontinuous Stractan density gradients. Although ADP causes little or no release of the contents of the amine storage granules of rabbit platelets, ADP caused a decrease in platelet density as compared with control platelets subjected to the same procedures except for exposure to ADP. The density change persisted for at least four hours. The apparent size of platelets stimulated with ADP increased initially, but returned to control values during a one-hour period. A similar decrease in platelet density was observed with an albumin density gradient. Under conditions in which aggregation did not occur in response to ADP with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) in the medium, little or no decrease in platelet density was observed. Agglutination with polylysine did not change platelet density. Thus, not only agents such as thrombin and plasmin that cause the release of the contents of the platelet granules decrease platelet density, but ADP also has this effect. Platelets would be exposed to all of these stimuli during thromboembolic processes, and their effect on platelets may account for the decrease in platelet density observed previously in experiments with rabbits with indwelling aortic catheters. Agents that increase the concentration of cyclic AMP (cAMP) in platelets (PGE1, adenosine, dibutyryl cAMP, forskolin, and papaverine) also decreased platelet density. This effect persisted when the platelets were washed and resuspended in fresh medium and was also demonstrable in plasma. Platelet size was gradually increased by prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) which maintains platelets in a disc shape and does not cause the release of granule contents, indicating that the decrease in platelet density caused by PGE1 may be attributable to platelet swelling.     

Glycoprotein IIb-IIIa complex and Ca2+ influx into stimulated platelets

Changes in intracellular Ca2+ concentrations [( Ca2+]i) in platelets stimulated with aggregating agents were measured with the fluorescent indicator dye quin 2. Ca2+ influx, but not intracellular mobilization, in response to adenosine diphosphate (ADP), platelet aggregating factor (PAF-acether), and sodium arachidonate was significantly inhibited by monoclonal antibodies against the glycoprotein (GP) IIb-IIIa complex; inhibition of thrombin-stimulated influx was inhibited to a lesser extent and reached statistical significance only at thrombin concentrations of 0.1 U/mL and below. Anti-GP Ib and HLA-ABC monoclonal antibodies had no effect on Ca2+ influx in response to any agonist. Thrombasthenic platelets gave normal [Ca2+]i responses to ADP and thrombin, which were not inhibited by an anti-GP IIb-IIIa antibody. It is suggested that Ca2+ influx in response to weak agonists occurs predominantly via a channel closely adjacent to the GP IIb-IIIa complex, but that higher concentrations of thrombin and A23187 also stimulate influx via another pathway.     

Solitary fibrous tumor of the thoracic spine

Intraspinal solitary fibrous tumors are rare: to our knowledge, the literature reports only 27 cases. We present a histologically and immunohistochemically confirmed solitary fibrous tumor involving the intradural extramedullary compartment of the thoracic spine. Microsurgical gross-total resection was achieved. A definitive role for adjuvant treatments in this type of tumor has not been established and therefore, they were not used. The patient was well, without clinical or radiological recurrence, 18 months after surgery.