Foods and Herbs That May Interact with Medications Used for Arterial Hypertension and Dyslipidemia

The aim of this review was to verify the risks of drug-nutrient interactions in the elderly. This is an integrative literature review, with a descriptive approach, carried out through research in indexed databases, legislation and pharmacopoeias. Data collection took place in the year 2022, through the analysis of literature collected of the last 10 years collected. The data showed that many of the continuous drugs use by the elderly can lead to interactions of different orders with nutrients, increasing the risk of plasmatic fluctuation as grapefruit, orange, lemon and lime interact with systemic arterial hypertension, increasing the risk of drug intoxication in the elderly. The action of the health team is essential, through the careful evaluation of the administered drugs, diet therapy and the interaction between them, to benefit the elderly with better use of the therapy and improvement of nutritional conditions.

Immunoglobulin Transport during Gestation in Domestic Animals and Humans—A Review

Maternal immunity is the main early defense against infectious agents in newborns. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) is indispensable for immune defense against infectious agents. IgG is transported through either the colostrum or the placenta. Immunoglobulins are antibodies, and the five different classes of these antibodies are IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD and IgE. Through their biological function of binding antigens, antibodies facilitate the removal of antigens from the body. The placenta is a temporary maternal-fetal organ, whose principal function is to allow the controlled exchange of metabolites between mother and embryo/fetus during gestation. The placenta types in different species are classified by the number of membranes separating the maternal and fetal blood circulation. Humans, lagomorphs and rodents have hemochorial placentas, which require a receptor for IgG transfer. In other animals, such as horse and pig (epitheliochorial placenta), ruminants (synepitheliochorial placenta) and carnivores (endotheliochorial placenta), antibodies are transferred via the colostrum and absorbed by passive diffusion. This review covers immunoglobulin transport in several types of placentas.

VEGF System in Dog’s Thymus—Temporal Expression

Given the importance of the thymus to the immune system and the limited knowledge about its development and involution processes, this study evaluated the expression of the vascular endo-thelial growth factor, a key angiogenic factor for the formation of vascular tissue bed and modulation of functions related to cell proliferation and migration, hormone synthesis, and immunomodulation. In this study, thymus samples of dog fetuses (30, 40, 50 and 60 days old), and young (180 days old) and adult (365 days old) dogs were submitted to real-time PCR and Western blot. Time-dependent changes were observed for proteins and genes associated with the development of the vascular system, such as VEGF-A, VEGF-C, Flt-1, KDR, FLT-4, and EG-VEGF. This result demonstrates that these system components play different roles during development and involution of the thymus. Possible functions, such as the modulatory effect on vasculogenesis and microenvironment, influence the proliferation and differentiation of thymocytes, T cells maturation, cell-cell interaction and hormone secretion.

Expression of Multidrug Resistance ATP-Binding Cassette(ABC)Transporters in Canine Mammary Tumors

Mammary neoplasms are the most common tumors in female dogs. They are usually treated using solely surgical mastectomy—which is recognized as unsatisfactory in many cases. Given this, the benefits of chemotherapy in dogs with mammary cancer need to be further explored. Some drugs that can be used for treating canines with mammary tumors may be substrates of uptake and/or efflux transporters such as the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. Unfortunately, very little is known regarding the pathobiology of such proteins in canine tumors, including mammary cancer. Accordingly, this study was designed to characterize the expression of ABC transporters P-glycoprotein, MRP1, and MRP2 and their relation with clinicopathologic factors in order to allow a better understanding of their influence in canine mammary cancer. P-glycoprotein was expressed in tumors from 55.8% of patients, while MRP1 and MRP2 were expressed in 37.2% and 39.5% of tumors, respectively. P-glycoprotein expression showed to be related with regional lymph node spread (P = 0.0038), as well as with tumor grade (P = 0.0353) and with a shorter survival (P = 0.0245). MRP1 revealed a strong association with a higher histological grade (P < 0.0001) and overall survival (P = 0.0002). Additionally, MRP1 was determined as prognostic indicator independent of lymph node status using Cox proportional-hazards regression multivariate analysis (P = 0.0216). No relations between MRP2 and clinicopathologic features were observed. We have found that P-glycoprotein and MRP1 are expressed in highly aggressive canine mammary tumors and are related with poor prognosis. Our results suggest that they may play a significant role in the course of canine mammary cancer progression and be promising candidate markers for a validation study on therapy outcome.

Snai-1 and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition-Related Protein Immunoexpression in Canine Mammary Carcinomas

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is defined as switching of polarized epithelial cells to a migratory fibroblastoid phenotype. EMT is known to be involved in the progression and metastasis of various cancers in humans, but this specific process is still little explored in the veterinary literature. The aim of this research was to evaluate the expression of EMT-related proteins in canine mammary carcinomas (CMCs). The expression of six EMT-related proteins in 94 CMCs of female dogs was evaluated by immunohistochemistry using a tissue array method. Additionally, clinicopathological characteristics were compared with the expression of EMT-related proteins. Loss of epithelial protein and/or acquisition of the expression of mesenchymal proteins were observed in CMCs. Loss of epithelial protein and/or acquisition of the expression of mesenchymal proteins were observed, particularly in tumors with evidence of stromal invasion;however, significance was only observed between the S100A4 and vascular invasion. In addition, Snai-1 nuclear immunoexpression was significantly related to E-cadherin loss. In conclusion, loss of epithelial proteins and/or the acquisition of mesenchymal proteins are associated with EMT and may have an important role in the evaluation of CMC patients. The unique immunoexpression pattern of Snai-1 could help to distinguish between an adenoma and a non-metastatic carcinoma and seems to be related to conversion of myoepithelial cells to a complete mesenchymal-like phenotype. Loss of E-cadherin and cytokeratin and change of immunoexpression pattern of Snai-1, N-cadherin, S100A4 and MMP-2 indicate the occurrence of EMT in canine mammary carcinomas and should result in an en bloc resection or a close follow-up.