These results suggest that endogenous delta2-opioid-receptor-mediated systems are involved in the regulation of anxiety-related behaviors and might play a physiologically important role in the regulation of adrenocortical activity.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate automated measurement of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area using the Kanno-Saitama macro (KSM) software in Image J with swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA) images. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, one photographer scanned the macular area (3 3 3 mm) of healthy volunteers twice on the same day, at the same time. The FAZ area was measured from the en face image of the superficial retinal layer by two masked examiners, using the KSM and the Advanced Retina Imaging (ARI)-network method in Carl Zeiss online analysis. Intra-and interscan reproducibility and FAZ area were compared among the methods. Results: Forty eyes of 22 healthy volunteers were included in the analysis. The mean 6 SD age of the subjects was 34.6 6 12.4 years. Intra-and interscan intraclass coefficients ranged from 0.997 to 1.000 and 0.989 to 0.995, respectively. The mean FAZ area was 0.264 6 0.08 mm 2 by the KSM, 0.245 6 0.08 mm 2 by the ARI, and 0.281 6 0.09 mm 2 by the manual method. The mean difference between the KSM and manual methods was 0.015 mm 2 , which was significantly smaller than the mean difference between the ARI and manual methods (0.034 mm 2 ; P , 0.001). Conclusions: Automated determination of the FAZ area is feasible and yields results comparable to those obtained by manual measurement. The FAZ area measured with the KSM program is less user dependent and could potentially contribute to our understanding of the pathophysiology of various retinal diseases, particularly underlying vascular diseases. Translational Relevance: This study demonstrates a novel automated determination of the FAZ area using the Image J macro program in SS-OCTA images. This program was feasible and yields results comparable to those obtained by manual measurement.

Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for the development of airway hyperresponsiveness and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Little is known concerning the effect of cigarette smoking on the contractility of airway smooth muscle. The current study was performed to determine the responsiveness of bronchial smooth muscles isolated from rats that were subacutely exposed to mainstream cigarette smoke in vivo. Male Wistar rats were exposed to diluted mainstream cigarette smoke for 2 h/d every day for 2 wk. Twenty-four hours after the last cigarette smoke exposure, a marked airway inflammation (i.e., increases in numbers of neutrophils, lymphocytes, and macrophages in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and peribronchial tissues) was observed. In these subacutely cigarette smoke-exposed animals, the responsiveness of isolated intact (nonpermeabilized) bronchial smooth muscle to acetylcholine, but not to high K+ -depolarization, was significantly augmented when compared with the air-exposed control group. In alpha-toxin-permeabilized bronchial smooth muscle strips, the acetylcholine-induced Ca2+ sensitization of contraction was significantly augmented in rats exposed to cigarette smoke, although the contraction induced by Ca2+ was control level. Immunoblot analyses revealed an increased expression of RhoA protein in the bronchial smooth muscle of rats that were exposed to cigarette smoke. Taken together, these findings suggest that the augmented agonist-induced, RhoA-mediated Ca2+ sensitization may be responsible for the enhanced bronchial smooth muscle contraction induced by cigarette smoking, which has relevance to airway hyperresponsiveness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

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