ABSTRACT. The systolic, mean and diastolic pressures as well as the heart rate were mesured using the oscillometric method, on a total of 104 cats (60 cats in the normal group, and 44 in the renal disease group) which were brought into Azabu University Animal Hospital. The blood pressure in the normal group was systolic: 115.4 ± 10.1 mmHg, mean: 96.2 ± 12.2 mmHg, and diastolic: 73.7 ± 10.7 mmHg. Although no difference in heart rate, the renal disease group showed significantly (p<0.05) higher values for systolic, mean, and diastolic pressure when compared with the normal group. Moreover, when plasma renin activity, angiotensin I and II, and aldosterone concentrations were measured in other cats (11 normal and seven with chronic renal failure), all cats with chronic renal failure showed significantly (p<0.05) higher values than the normal group. It is, therefore, indicated that hypertension due to stimulating renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system may have manifested in cats with renal dysfunction. -KEY WORDS: blood pressure, feline, hypertension, renin-angiotensinaldosterone system. J. Vet. Med. Sci. 60 (7): [805][806][807][808] 1998 vomitus and anemia), and high concentrations (range: 2.1-13.8 mg/dl; mean: 3.9 ± 3.0 mg/dl) of serum creatinine, were classified as the renal disease group. A sphygmomanometer (USM-700GTM : Ueda Electronic Works, Ltd.), oscillometric method, was used to measure the systolic, mean, diastolic pressures and the heart rate in both groups. The blood pressure measurement sites were either the forelimb or the tail, and a measuring cuff was selected based on the size of approximately 40% circumference of the measuring site. In order to avoid stress to the patients as much as possible, blood pressure was measured in an isolated room apart from the regular consulting room. Moreover, the blood pressure was measured a total of five times at one minute intervals with the owner's presence. The results obtained under the physical movements of the patient were deleted from the values as artifacts.The effects of the number of measurements on the blood pressure and heart rate were firstly examined in the normal group. To examine the effects of measuring sites on the blood pressure, the blood pressure of both the forelimb and the tail was compared using a total of 24 cats selected randomly from the normal group. The effects of both gender and age on blood pressure were examined in the normal group. Thereafter, these values obtained from both the normal and the renal disease groups were analyzed.The plasma renin activity, angiotension I and II, and aldosterone concentrations were measured to by radioimmunoassay compare 11 normal to seven cases with chronic renal dysfunction.The statistical analysis on the number of measurements were conducted, first using the Friedman method, followed by the Wilcoxon method. The Speaman raking correlation Hypertension has been recognized as a risk factor in human patients with cerebral hemorrhage, heart and renal diseases, therefore diagnosis of hypertension is carrie...

Background: Cardiac mortality in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) has recently become important, because risk of respiratory failure has been reduced due to widespread use of the respirator. The cardiac involvement is characterized by distinctive electrocardiographic abnormalities or dilated cardiomyopathy, but the pathogenesis has remained obscure. In research on DMD, Golden retriever-based muscular dystrophy (GRMD) has attracted much attention as an animal model because it resembles DMD, but GRMD is very difficult to maintain because of their severe phenotypes. We therefore established a line of dogs with Beagle-based canine X-linked muscular dystrophy in Japan (CXMD J ) and examined the cardiac involvement.

ABSTRACT. Using the telemetry system, we measured the blood pressure (BP) invasively in seven adult mongrels while unanesthetized and unbound. Post-operative BP after implanting the telemetry BP transmitter showed temporarily high values due to the invasive nature of the surgery. It was, however, observed that BP gradually decreased thereafter, and showed settled trends from the eighth day postoperatively. When we took the average of the systolic, mean and diastolic BP at hourly intervals for each of the dogs once their BP had settled, a twin peak diurnal variation (at 8:00 and 19:00) was observed. Moreover, significantly high values (p<0.05) were identified in active state compared with when sleeping or at rest. The 24 hr BP measured by the telemetry system in seven normal dogs resulted in the following values: systolic 123.4 ± 7.9 mmHg, mean 91.1 ± 5.6 mmHg, and diastolic 74.5 ± 4.9 mmHg.-KEY WORDS: blood pressure, canine, diurnal variation.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 61(6): 643-647, 1999 were exposed under anesthesia, and BP measuring transmitter (model TL10M2-D70) catheter was indwelled. The transmitter body was implanted into a subcutaneous pocket that had created first. After examining the BP by use of transmitter, the digital signal was received by a receiver (RLA2000), and was sent in turn to a consolidation matrix (BCM-100), and a universal adapter (UA10). Finally, the digital signal was converted to an analogue signal by the universal adapter, and output to an analytical computer system (Softron ECG Processor SBP4.8:Softron Co., Tokyo, Japan) (Fig. 1). Further, the systolic, mean and diastolic BP were calculated from the continuous BP readings input for approximately 10 sec at a time at 5 min intervals, and the average were taken to be the systolic, mean and diastolic values for each hour. These measurements were taken continuously for 24 hr, and the following examinations were conducted. Examination of the BP changes after implanting transmitter:We examined the effect of the invasive surgery on BP after the transmitter had been implanted for 14 days post-operatively. For the BP examination, we used the total and average values (24 hr BP) taken every 24 hr using the systolic, mean and diastolic pressure measured at 5 min intervals.Examination into the diurnal BP variations: We examined the diurnal BP variations in normal dogs for a period of seven days after at least one month had passed since the transmitter were implanted. First of all, the systolic, mean and diastolic BP were measured at 5 min intervals and totaled in hourly blocks and examined using their average values. In order to observe the relationship between BP and activity, a comparison was made among the sleeping period (1:00-6:00), the resting period (12:00-17:00), awaking but comparatively settled period, and the periods of intense activity (7:00-9:00 and 18:00-20:00). In addition, comparisons were also made with both the 24 hr BP and For measuring blood pressure (BP) in awake dogs, there are either invasive method by arterial puncture or nonin...

Background-Respiratory support therapy significantly improves life span in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy; cardiac-related fatalities, including lethal arrhythmias, then become a crucial issue. It is therefore important to more thoroughly understand cardiac involvement, especially pathology of the conduction system, in the larger Duchenne muscular dystrophy animal models such as dystrophic dogs. Methods and Results-When 10 dogs with canine X-linked muscular dystrophy in Japan (CXMD J ) were examined at the age of 1 to 13 months, dystrophic changes of the ventricular myocardium were not evident; however, Purkinje fibers showed remarkable vacuolar degeneration as early as 4 months of age. The degeneration of CXMD J Purkinje fibers was coincident with overexpression of Dp71 at the sarcolemma and translocation of -calpain to the cell periphery near the sarcolemma or in the vacuoles. Immunoblotting of the microdissected fraction showed that -calpain-sensitive proteins such as desmin and cardiac troponin-I or -T were selectively degraded in the CXMD J Purkinje fibers. Utrophin was highly upregulated in the earlier stage of CXMD J Purkinje fibers, but the expression was dislocated when vacuolar degeneration was recognized at 4 months of age. Nevertheless, the expression of dystrophin-associated proteins ␣-, ␤-, ␥-, and ␦-sarcoglycans and ␤-dystroglycan was well maintained at the sarcolemma of Purkinje fibers. Conclusions-Selective vacuolar degeneration of Purkinje fibers was found in the early stages of dystrophin deficiency.Dislocation of utrophin besides upregulation of Dp71 can be involved with this pathology. The degeneration of Purkinje fibers can be associated with the distinct deep Q waves in ECG and fatal arrhythmia seen in dystrophin deficiency.