Blood platelet, protective effect

Chinese corktree bark contains similar constituents, but with higher berberine content (4—8%). Aqueous extracts of Amur corktree bark have strong antioxidant as well as strong and broad antibacterial and antifungal activities (berberine is one of the active components) the alkaloids (esp. berberine, phellodendrine, and palmatine) also have hypotensive action in animals other activities include hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic, and blood platelet protective effects (jilin wang). 

Many studies have shown that ginseng has a protective effect on the development of atherosclerosis that may lead to myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular diseases. The preventive effects on cardiovascular diseases of ginseng include its potential antihypertensive and antiatherosclerotic effects. Ginsenosides are likely to be responsible for some of these effects as they have been shown to have inhibitory effects on platelet aggregation and to suppress thrombin formation as well as an effect on blood vessel contraction. 

This area has however become even more complex by the abovementioned discovery that salicyclic acid, the major metabolite of aspirin in vivo, counteracts the inhibitory actions of aspirin [430-435]. Salicyclic acid has a much longer half-life in blood than its parent compound and may readily accumulate to plasma concentrations where this anti-inhibitory effect occurs. To complicate matters even further, it has recently been found in the rat that this anti-inhibitory or protective effect of salicyclic acid is considerably greater for the vascular cyclo-oxygenase than for the platelet enzyme [439],... 

In addition, the polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish oil (the (o3 series of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids section 4.3.1-1) have a further protective effect, reducing the stickiness of blood platelets, and hence reducing the risk of blood clot formation. Figure 7.11 shows the beneficial effect of consuming a modest amount of oily fish on the incidence of coronary heart disease — even one fish meal a week reduces the risk to... 

Cardiopulmonary bypass, with extracorporeal circulation during cardiac artery bypass graft or heart valve replacement surgery, causes transient hemostatic defects in blood cells and perioperative bleeding. The protease inhibitor aprotinin (Trasylol) inhibits kalhkrein (coagulation phase) and plasmin (hbrinolysis) and protects platelets from mechanical injury. The overall effect after infusion is a decrease in bleeding. 

The antioxidant properties of tocopherols (such as those found in corn oil) have been suggested to be involved in treating atherosclerosis by preventing the oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (57). Another smdy indicated that the particular ratio of tocopherols in corn oil (a high ratio of y-tocopherol/ot-tocopherol) may achieve better protection against DNA damage than a-tocopherol alone (82). The beneficial effects of corn oil on blood pressure, platelet aggregation, and diabetes have been reported by others (22). 

At low doses, PUFAs provide protection against coronary heart disease and reduce the severity of cardiac arrhythmias at high doses, they lower blood cholesterol and triglycerides, reduce platelet aggregation, have antithrombotic activity, and reduce blood viscosity. Several clinical studies have reported beneficial effects of supplementation on mortality, sudden death, and arrhythmias. In the Diet and Reinfarction Trial (DART), the use of fatty fish or fish oil led to a 29% reduction in mortality, and the GlSSI-Preven-zione trial showed that consumption of 1 g n-3-PUFA daily resulted in a 20% decrease in mortality and 45%i reduction in sudden death. ° ... 

Figure 15. Dose dependently c-GMP inhibits PDE or activates PKG, thereby mediating its effects on the vasculature, platelets and myocytes. The cardiac interstitial NO concentration during early ischemia and early reperfusion is increased. The increase in NO concentration is derived from activated NO synthase (NOS) isoforms (species specific) and from NOS independent pathways. Cardiac c-GMP concentration during ischemia is somewhat increased while upon reperfusion is decreased. NO seems to mediate protective as well as deleterious effects which are critically dependent on the specific experimental conditions. NO at lower concentrations preserves blood flow and attenuates platelet aggregation and neutrophil-endothelium interaction following ischemia and reperfusion. In small amounts might also be beneficial by nitration of the cardioprotective PKCe. Furthermore, NO increases cardiomyocyte function. Figure 16. At higher concentrations, NO depresses cardiomyocyte function, mediates inflammatory processes following ischemia and reperfusion, impairs mitochondrial respiration...

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