The saga of red wine and heart disease has taken a surprising new turn, and a new study suggests that parts of a rat's brain may take short naps even when the animal is awake -- highlights of this week's edition of Lab Notes.
Bring Me a Stent of Your Best Bordeaux, Please
Modest intake of red wine is good for preventing heart disease. But for those with already diseased coronary arteries, a red wine-eluting stent might do the trick.
In a study reported at the American Heart Association's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology conference, industry and academic researchers described how they combined red wine polyphenols resveratrol and quercetin into a coating for drug-eluting stents.
When tested on rats, the plastered stent appeared to dose-dependently block restenosis and local inflammation in the month after stenting compared with a bare metal stent.
Equally as impressive, the red wine compounds accelerated endothelial growth by 31% at 10 days post implant.
James J. Kleinedler of Louisiana State University presented the study.
-- C.P and C.K.
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