Abstract. In the present study, we investigated the antidepressant-and anxiolytic-like effects, a non-peptidic selective d -opioid receptor agonist, in various animal models in rodents. SNC80 significantly reduced the duration of immobility in the forced swimming test. Furthermore, in the elevated plus-maze test, SNC80 dose-dependently and significantly increased the time spent in the open arms of the plus-maze. These effects were completely antagonized by a selective d -opioid-receptor antagonist, naltrindole. In the conditioned fear stress test, which examines psychological stress-induced motor suppression, desipramine did not produce any significant effect on the conditioned suppression of locomotor activity. However, SNC80 completely attenuated the conditioned suppression of locomotor activity in the conditioned fear stress test. In conclusion, our results suggest that d -opioid receptors may play an important role in the regulation of emotional responses. Furthermore, it is possible that d -opioid-receptor agonists might be novel and potent antidepressants that also have anxiolytic-like effects.

Background and Purpose-Thrombolysis therapy using tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) is occasionally accompanied by harmful outcomes, including intracerebral hemorrhage. We have reported that Stachybotrys microspora triprenyl phenol-7 (SMTP-7), a candidate thrombolytic drug, has excellent therapeutic effect on cerebral infarction in embolic stroke model in mice; however, little is known regarding whether this agent influences cerebrovascular inflammation following thrombolytic reperfusion. The current study aimed to compare the effects of recombinant t-PA (rt-PA) and SMTP-7 on cerebrovascular inflammation. Methods-The impact of rt-PA-and SMTP-7-induced thrombolytic reperfusion on leukocyte dynamics was investigated in a photochemically induced thrombotic middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAo) model in mice. Results-Both rt-PA and SMTP-7 administration in tMCAo mice (each 10 mg/kg) resulted in thrombolytic reperfusion.The SMTP-7-administered mice showed relatively mild rolling and attachment of leukocytes to the vascular wall in the middle cerebral vein, with weak peroxynitrite reactions and proinflammatory gene expression (IL-1␤, TNF-␣, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1); thus, a small infarct volume compared with rt-PA-administered mice. In vitro study suggested that rt-PA at 20 g/mL, but not SMTP-7 at a similar concentration, promotes cytokine-induced reactive oxygen species generation in cultured endothelial cells; moreover, SMTP-7 suppressed cytokine-induced VCAM-1 induction in the cells and leukocyte/ endothelial cell adhesions. Conclusions-Relatively mild cerebrovascular inflammation and cerebral infarction in the SMTP-7 mice, compared with in rt-PA mice, is thought to be caused at least in part by direct antioxidative actions of SMTP-7 in ECs. (Stroke. 2011; 42:1097-1104.)

In the present paper, numerous micro-communications between myocardial sinusoids and small branches of coronary arteries are studied which existed in a rudimentary right ventricle of a female neonate with pulmonary atresia and an intact ventricular septum, who was born on the 40th week of gestation. Cardioangiography revealed a large fistulous subepicardial communication. At autopsy, myocardium of the right ventricle appeared spongy with extensive sinusoid slits. In addition to the large communication which was connecting a deeply extending sinusoid of the right ventricle to the main trunk of the anterior descending artery, numerous micro-communications were found between myocardial sinusoids in the rudimentary right ventricle and intramural small branches of the coronary artery. Furthermore, morphometrical analysis demonstrated that the medias of the intramural arteries in both ventricles of the present case were significantly hypertrophic, as compared with those in the control cases without communications (p <0.05). These facts indicate the significance of hemodynamic factors on the persistence of embryonic sinusoid-coronary communication. ACTA PATHOL.