Fasudil, a selective rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, has been reported to play a beneficial role in systemic?inflammation?in acute?lung injury, but its mechanism for ameliorating pulmonary edema and inflammation remains unclear. Using hematoxylin-and-eosin (HE) staining, immunohistochemistry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, quantitative real time PCR and Western blotting, we found that fasudil ...

Rho-Rho kinase (Rho-ROCK) triggers an intracellular signalling cascade that regulates cell survival, death, adhesion, migration, neurite outgrowth and retraction and influences the generation and development of several neurological disorders. Although Fasudil, a ROCK inhibitor, effectively suppressed encephalomyelitis (EAE), certain side effects may limit its clinical use. A novel and efficient...

BACKGROUND The radial artery (RA) is a useful conduit for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) but is susceptible to vasospasm during harvesting. We evaluated the usefulness of fasudil, a Rho kinase inhibitor, in dilating the RA graft and increasing graft free flow (GFF) compared with the conventional graft-dilating agents papaverine and verapamil-nitroglycerin (VG). METHODS Between June 20...

Background. Internal thoracic artery (ITA) is a very useful conduit for coronary artery bypass artery (CABG), with excellent long-term patency. With the purpose to dilate the ITA graft and increase graft free flow (GFF) intraoperatively, we evaluated the usefulness of intraluminal injection of fasudil, a Rho-kinase inhibitor, and compared with the conventional graft dilating agent papaverine. M...

Apoptosis of microvascular endothelial cells plays a crucial role in the progression of various lung diseases and triggers microcirculatory disorder and organ dysfunction. LPS, an outer membrane component of Gram-negative bacteria, is one of the major virulence factors for lung diseases. Recent studies have shown that the Rho/Rho kinase (ROCK) pathway plays an important role in the regulation o...

PURPOSE Retinal detachment disrupts the rod-bipolar synapse in the outer plexiform layer by retraction of rod axons. We showed that breakage is due to RhoA activation whereas inhibition of Rho kinase (ROCK), using Y27632, reduces synaptic damage. We test whether the ROCK inhibitor fasudil, used for other clinical applications, can prevent synaptic injury after detachment. METHODS Detachments ...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, yet disease-modifying treatments do not currently exist. Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) was recently described as a novel neuroprotective target in PD. Since alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) aggregation is a major hallmark in the pathogenesis of PD, we aimed to evaluate the anti-aggregative potential of pharmacologica...

1. The neuroprotective properties of fasudil (HA1077), a novel protein kinase inhibitor, were evaluated in two animal models of cerebral ischaemia: transient bilateral carotid artery occlusion in Mongolian gerbils and cerebral microembolization in rats. 2. The cytoprotective effect of fasudil on delayed neuronal death in gerbils was compared with the effects of nimodipine, a calcium channel ant...

Background Dendritic arbor simplification and dendritic spine loss in the hippocampus, a limbic structure implicated in mood disorders, are assumed to contribute to symptoms of depression. These morphological changes imply modifications in dendritic cytoskeleton. Rho GTPases are regulators of actin dynamics through their effector Rho kinase. We have reported that chronic stress promotes depress...

AIM The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Rho kinase inhibitor-Fasudil on hypoxic pulmonary hypertension (HPH) and pulmonary vascular remodeling in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 24 Sprague Dawley rats were evenly randomized into control, model and Fasudil intervention groups. Light and transmission electron microscopy were utilized to observe pulmonary vascular remo...