Role of olfaction and vision cues in feeding behavior and alarm reaction in the catfish pintado, Pseudoplatystoma corruscans

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Influence of chlorine added to drinking water during the preslaughter feed withdrawal on microbiology and morphology of the broiler gastrointestinal tract

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Lesions of the commissural nucleus of the solitary tract reduce arterial pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats

It has been suggested that increased sympathetic activity and arterial chemoreceptors are important for the high blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Electrolytic lesions of the commissural nucleus of the solitary tract (commNTS) abolish (1) the cardiovascular responses to chemoreflex activation with potassium cyanide (KCN) in normotensive rats and (2) the hypertension that follows acute aortic baroreceptor denervation in rats. Therefore, in this study we investigated the effects of electrolytic lesions of the commNTS on basal mean arterial pressure (MAP), baroreflex, and chemoreflex in SHR and in normotensive control Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Wistar rats. CommNTS lesions elicited a dramatic fall in MAP to normal levels during the period of Study (from the first to fourth day following lesions) in SHR and almost no changes in WKY and Wistar rats. The pressor responses to chemoreflex activation with KCN tested in the days 1 and 4 after commNTS lesions were abolished in SHR and in normotensive strains. The reflex tachycardia induced by sodium nitroprusside was also attenuated in days 1 and 4 after commNTS lesions in SHR, WKY, and Wistar rats. The data suggest that the integrity of commNTS is important for the maintenance or high blood pressure in SHR and for the reflex responses dependent on sympathetic activation either in SHR or in normotensive strains.

White matter abnormalities associated with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment: A critical review of MRI studies

In this article, the authors aim to present a critical review of recent MRI studies addressing white matter (WM) abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), by searching PubMed and reviewing MRI studies evaluating subjects with AD or MCI using WM volumetric methods, diffusion tensor imaging and assessment of WM hyperintensities. Studies have found that, compared with healthy controls, AD and MCI samples display WM volumetric reductions and diffusion tensor imaging findings suggestive of reduced WM integrity. These changes affect complex networks relevant to episodic memory and other cognitive processes, including fiber connections that directly link medial temporal structures and the corpus callosum. Abnormalities in cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical WM interconnections are associated with an increased risk of progression from MCI to dementia. It can be concluded that WM abnormalities are detectable in early stages of AD and MCI. Degeneration of WM networks causes disconnection among neural cells and the degree of such changes is related to cognitive decline. © 2013 2013 Expert Reviews Ltd.

Allometry of Organs and the Gastrintestinal Tract from Water Buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) Finished in Feedlot

The objective of present study was to evaluate the relative growth of organs and viscera from water buffaloes. Fifteen Mediterranean intact males, averaging, 356.7 kg initial live weight and twenty four months of age, were used. The animals were ramdomly assigned into three groups (categories). One group was ramdomly assigned to immediate slaughter (AR), the rest two groups were full-fed a ration containing 50% concentrate, dry matter basis until reaching the slaughter weights of 450 and 500kg, respectively. At slaughter the empty body weight was determined and the weights of head, feet, leather, lungs, heart, liver, spleen, rumen-reticulum, omasum, abomasum, small intestine, large intestine were recorded. Regression equations of log weight of organs and viscera as a function of log empty-body-weight (EBW), were fitted. All body components studied, with exception of liver and spleen, developed slower than in relation to EBW.

Contribution of different segments of the gastrointestinal tract to digestion in growing Saanen goats

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Ethanol intake-induced apoptosis in glial cells and axonal disorders in the cerebellar white matter of UChA rats (voluntary ethanol consumers)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)