Local calibration studies have been performed with lyophilized plasmas at 155 European laboratories to assess coagulometer effects on manual ISI of ECAA thromboplastins (low ISI human recombinant and high ISI rabbit brain). Common sets of 7 normal and 20 artificially depleted lyophilized plasmas were tested with the thromboplastins in the routine local coagulometers. With the human reagent, mar...

The mechanisms of the inotropic effect of mitoxantrone (MTO), a synthetic dihydroxyanthracenedione derivative with antineoplastic activity, was investigated in guinea pig ventricular myocytes using whole-cell patch-clamp methods combined with fura-2 fluorescence and cell-edge tracking techniques. In right ventricular papillary muscles, 30 microM MTO increased isometric force of contraction as w...

Recently we reported that Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-positive immune cells of unknown identity were responsible for the LPS-induced depression of cardiac myocyte shortening. The aim of this study is to identify the TLR4-positive cell type that is responsible for the LPS-induced cardiac dysfunction. Neither neutrophil depletion alone nor mast cell deficiency had any impact on the impairment of ...

We studied the effects of coronary occlusion and of subsequent ouabain administration on regional myocardial function, flow, and electrograms in 14 conscious dogs. Coronary occlusion resulted in a graded loss of regional function as reflected by measurements of segment length (SL), velocity of SL shortening and myocardial "work" from the normal to severely ischemic zones, along with graded flow...

The active state describes the force developed in a muscle when the contractile elements are neither lengthening nor shortening. Recently it was suggested that perturbations used to measure the active state also alter the time-course of the active state. The present research was undertaken to assess quantitatively the effect of two such perturbations, isotonic shortening and quick release, on t...

Effects on isometric tension generation and maximum velocity of unloaded shortening after exposure to cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) were investigated in rat enzymatically isolated, tritonized ventricular myocytes. Exposure of myocytes to PKA in the presence of [32P]ATP resulted in phosphorylation of troponin I and C protein. Ca2+ sensitivity of isometric tension was assessed as pCa50, ie,...

A series of experiments was carried out to determine the effects of load variation on the character of stepwise shortening. We imposed afterloaded isotonic contractions on rat ventricular trabeculae, and measured the effect of load on pause duration, i.e., on the duration of the periods during which there was no sarcomere shortening. Sarcomere lengths were measured by optical diffraction. Incre...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of an active stretch during the onset of a muscle contraction on subsequent active behaviour of the contractile machinery within an intact mammalian muscle-tendon complex. Muscle length and shortening velocity were studied because they may be important variables affecting this so-called prestretch effect. Seven gastrocnemius medialis (G...

BACKGROUND Until now, many investigators have focused on describing right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in groups of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), but very few have addressed the deterioration of RV function over time. The aim of this study was to investigate time courses of RV geometric changes during the progression of RV failure. METHODS Forty-two patients with PAH we...