Platelets were activated in the cerebral circulation of patients with stroke even in the chronic phase, which suggests the development of underlying vascular lesions and of thrombogenesis with or without infarction. Platelets were activated mainly within the heart in cases of cardioembolic stroke. An enhanced release reaction secondary to platelet activation was often seen in patients with Binswanger's disease, which indicates that its pathophysiology differs from that of other subtypes of stroke.
Edited by Laszlo NagyKeywords: GM2AP Adipokine Insulin a b s t r a c t Recently, we identified ganglioside GM2 activator protein (GM2AP) as a novel adipokine, and revealed that treatment of cultured cells with GM2AP impairs insulin signal transduction. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of GM2AP on glucose metabolism in vivo. Injection of recombinant GM2AP in mice significantly lowered blood glucose levels in glucose tolerance tests. Administration of GM2AP to mice for 10 days increased serum insulin levels, whereas the contents of glucose, leptin and FFA were significantly decreased. Stimulation of calcium influx and insulin secretion by GM2AP was observed in hamster insulinoma HIT-T15 cells. Blockage of GM2AP function by specific antibodies inhibited GM2AP-induced insulin secretion. These results provide novel insights into the physiological functions of GM2AP in obesity.
Many clinical studies of regenerative medicine using bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been conducted globally. We initiated clinical studies using MSCs in 2001 and have now treated over 100 cases with patients aged 0-92 years. In a few cases involving patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), we observed that MSCs proliferated poorly. This contrasts with cell therapy studies wherein MSCs of patients with CHF were used for treatment. The effects of serum on the proliferation of MSCs from donors with normal heart function and with CHF have not been reported. Moreover, whether cell therapy is effective for elderly patients remains uncertain. Therefore, characterization of MSCs from aged donors and/or donors with CHF is urgently required. We retrospectively analysed the population doubling times (PDTs) of MSCs between the first and second passages. Although we had data for many samples of well-expanded MSCs from aged donors, a positive correlation was observed between donor age and PDT. A trend towards reduced variance in PDTs was observed in MSCs supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS) compared with those supplemented with autologous serum. When autologous serum was used, the average PDT of MSCs from donors with CHF was significantly longer than that of MSCs from donors without CHF. In contrast, when FBS was used, similar PDTs were observed in MSCs from donors with and without CHF. Thus, FBS promotes MSC expansion even from donors with CHF and MSC-based regenerative medicine might be feasible even for elderly patients.
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