Adenosine has many of the characteristics of a regulator of cerebral blood flow and adenosine receptors change in morphine dependency. In this study the changes in adenosine receptors' responsiveness of pial vessels in the hind limb area of the sensory cortex were evaluated in morphine dependent rats (MDR) using the laser Doppler flowmetry technique. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats (250-350 ...

AIMS On the basis of an MRI study it has been suggested that subendocardial hypoperfusion is present in patients with cardiac syndrome X. However, further work is required to test whether these findings can be generalized. METHODS AND RESULTS MRI was used to visually and semi-quantitatively assess subendocardial and subepicardial perfusion, at rest and during an infusion of adenosine, in 20 p...

OBJECTIVE Acadesine, an adenosine-regulating agent and activator of AMP-activated protein kinase, has been shown to possess antiinflammatory activity. This study investigated whether and how acadesine inhibits tissue factor (TF) expression and thrombus formation. METHODS AND RESULTS Human umbilical vein endothelial cells and human peripheral blood monocytes were stimulated with lipopolysaccha...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES It was reported that atorvastatin co-administered with clopidogrel for 8 months did not affect the anti-platelet potency of clopidogrel in Korean patients with acute coronary syndrome, but not in patients with stable angina. We investigated whether co-administration of statins with clopidogrel affected the anti-platelet efficacy of clopidogrel in Korean patients with s...

BACKGROUND Among patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) who have multivessel disease, it is unclear if multivessel percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) improves clinical and quality-of-life outcomes compared with culprit-only intervention. We sought to compare clinical and quality-of-life outcomes between multivessel and culprit-only PCI. METHODS AND RESULTS Among 6061 patients wi...

The present study examined the association of myocardial perfusion reserve index (MPRI) in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) with coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) and serum levels of markers of inflammation or endothelial activation. Twelve patients with typical angina pectoris without coronary artery disease were enrolled in this study, and CMR perfusion was analyzed using a stea...

Background: Purinergic receptors can be divided into adenosine (P1) and adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP) (P2) receptors, which play crucial roles in regulating vessel tone, arthrosclerosis, myocardial preconditioning and heart function. However, the relationship of plasma nucleotides with coronary artery disease (CAD) and heart function have not been reported. Methods and results: Total 97 patie...