Biomedical subjects

Gérard Benoit

Publications and source records attributed to Gérard Benoit.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Impact of different combined preservation modalities on warm ischemic kidneys: effect on oxidative stress, hydrostatic perfusion characteristics and tissue damage.

Hemodynamic disorders in brain dead organ donors induce hypoxia, warm ischemia and finally tissue damage. A cold preservation period also induces tissue and cellular lesions. The two major modes of preservation are cold storage (CS) and hypothermic pulsatile perfusion (HPP). We aimed to compare the influence of each mode of preservation and their combination on oxidative stress, perfusion characteristics and tissue damage, after a period of warm ischemia. Rat kidneys which had undergone ischemia (0, 30, 60 min) were preserved either by CS (12, 24 h), or by HPP (12 h), or by a combination of both (HPP+CS, CS+HPP), in University of Wisconsin cold storage solution (UWCSS) at + 4 degrees C. During HPP, renal vascular pressure decreased then increased to reach 90 mmHg after perfusion for 7 h. If HPP followed CS, the mean pressure reached 200 mmHg, showing successive high amplitude peaks. HPP had a deleterious effects on tissue structure with tubular necrosis, and induced an increase in catalase (Cat) and a decrease in manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn SOD) and gluthatione peroxidase (GPx) activity. Copper zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) activity was not reduced except with CS+HPP. During CS, we observed an increase in GPx, Cu/Zn SOD and Cat activity, a decrease in Mn SOD activity and no histological alterations in the kidney. CS induces a slight oxidative stress which is not important enough to induce major tissue damage. HPP with UWCSS induces a stronger stress, which overpowers the antioxidant defences, inducing tissue damage. The reperfusion of HPP with UWCSS emphasises the stress initiated by CS. In addition an increase in damage occurred in the CS + HPP group.

Adenosine↗

PubMed2002

Pro-erectile effect of systemic apomorphine: existence of a spinal site of action.

PURPOSE: Apomorphine exerts pro-erectile effects by acting on neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. In spinal cord injured rats we assessed whether apomorphine also directly activates the spinal autonomic and somatic neurons controlling penile erection MATERIALS AND METHODS: Intracavernous and blood pressure was monitored in groups of 10 anesthetized rats to quantify intracavernous pressure increases elicited after intravenous apomorphine. We determined the number and duration of increases, percent of maximum intracavernous pressure/mean diastolic blood pressure using the formula, maximum intracavernous pressure/diastolic blood pressure x 100, area under the intracavernous pressure curve/diastolic blood pressure and sum of the area under the curve/diastolic blood pressure. RESULTS: Of 2, 10, 50 and 250 microg./kg. intravenous apomorphine 50 microg./kg. induced significant pro-erectile effects and was subsequently used. In spinal cord injured rats 50 microg./kg. intravenous apomorphine significantly increased median maximum intracavernous pressure/diastolic blood pressure x 100 compared with vehicle injection (56 versus 27 seconds, p <0.001), area under the curve/diastolic blood pressure (21 versus 12 seconds, p = 0.07) and the sum of area under the curve/diastolic blood pressure (132 versus 32 seconds, p = 0.01). These pro-erectile effects of apomorphine were prevented by 50 mg./kg. hexamethonium intravenously or bilateral transection of the pelvic nerves. They were not affected by 3 mg./kg. of the peripheral D1/D2 antagonist domperidone intraperitoneally. In spinal cord injured rats subcutaneous pretreatment with 0.2 mg./kg. of the D1 antagonist SCH23390 significantly enhanced apomorphine induced erections, as indicated by an area under the curve/diastolic blood pressure of 23 to 30 seconds (p = 0.003), whereas they were not changed by 25 mg./kg. of the D2 antagonist sulpiride intraperitoneally. Under the same conditions 1 mg./kg. of the central D1/D2 antagonist haloperidol intraperitoneally only reduced the number of responding rats to 5 versus 10 of 10. CONCLUSIONS: In spinal cord injured rats systemic apomorphine elicits erection by acting at the spinal cord level. This finding suggests that systemic apomorphine elicits penile erections via spinal and supraspinal targets.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

[What are the arguments in favour of local allocation of kidneys harvested for transplantation?].

UNLABELLED: The rules of organ allocation allow one of the two kidneys harvested to be transplanted locally while the other is exchanged. This rule of local priority does not exist in all countries. The purpose of this article is to determine whether this rule provides a benefit for the patient. 804 locally harvested kidneys were compared to 1196 exchanged kidneys transplanted between 1970 and 2000 by the same renal transplantation team. RESULTS: The cold ischaemia time was shorter (-6 h), the number of cases of HLA identity was lower (-0.8), the rate of acute tubular necrosis was lower (-9), and the median graft survival of was 7 months longer for local kidneys. DISCUSSION: An article analysing the North American register reached similar conclusions: the local attribution rule reduces the cold ischaemia and the graft loss at one year. CONCLUSION: The local attribution rule has the advantage of increasing the organ harvesting rate from borderline donors, reducing the cold ischaemia, and improving the results: this rule should therefore be maintained.

Adult↗