Temporal Analysis of Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Sickness Behavior in Virgin and Lactating Female Rats

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

Photoperiod modulation of aggressive behavior is independent of androgens in a tropical cichlid fish

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Análise multivariada de leucograma e da resposta de fase aguda em equinos acometidos por síndrome cólica de origem natural ou experimental

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FCAV

Uso de probiótico e óleos essenciais na ração sobre a microbiota intestinal, atividade de enzimas digestivas e a expressão de genes relacionados aos processos de digestão e absorção de nutrientes em frangos

Pós-graduação em Zootecnia - FCAV

Neonatal anoxia in rats: hippocampal cellular and subcellular changes related to cell death and spatial memory

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

Involvement of major components from sporothrix schenckii cell wall in the caspase-1 activation, nitric oxide and cytokines production during experimental sporotrichosis

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

Molecular detection of the blood meal source of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in a transmission area of American cutaneous leishmaniasis, Parana State, Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Effects of castration and of testosterone replacement on alpha(1)-adrenoceptor subtypes in the rat vas deferens

The contractions of the rat vas deferens in response to noradrenaline are mediated through alpha(1A)-adrenoceptors. We observed participation of alpha(1B)-adrenoceptors in these contractions after castration. We now investigated the time course of this plasticity and the effects of testosterone by determining the actions of competitive antagonists on noradrenaline-induced contractions after 7, 14, 21 and 30 days of castration. BMY 7378 (8-[2-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1-piperazinyl]ethyl]-8-azaspiro[4.5]decane-7,9-dione dihydrochloride) antagonised noradrenaline-induced contractions in control and castrated rats with low pA(2) values (approximately = 6.8). In control vas deferens, WB 4101 (2-(2,6-dimethoxyphenoxyethyl)aminomethyl-1,4-benzodioxane hydrochloride) had a slope in the Schild plot no different from 1.0, while slopes lower than 1.0 (approximately 0.6) were observed for vas deferens from castrated rats. Chloroethylclonidine was ineffective in the control vas while it inhibited noradrenaline-induced contractions in vasa from castrated rats and converted the complex antagonism by WB 4101 into simple competitive antagonism. Treatment of castrated rats with testosterone prevented the effects of castration. The results suggest that alpha(1B)-adrenoceptors are detectable in vas deferens from at least the 7th through the 30th day after castration and that testosterone prevents this plasticity.

A review of pharmacokinetic parameters of metabolites and prodrugs

In drug discovery and development, the kinetic study of active metabolites plays an important role, helping to define the time course of the drug in the body and its activity or toxicity. After a pharmacokinetics assessment of a drug and its metabolite or a prodrug and its parent-drug, several parameters can be calculated. In some cases, achieving the objective of the study does not require all possible parameters to be calculated. When parameters are calculated, it is essential that their denotations are widely accepted and used. However, some parameters undergo a certain variability of denotation, which may confuse some readers. Thus, this review summarizes the current published data for experimental pharmacokinetic parameters of metabolites and the calculations involved in simple metabolite pharmacokinetic studies. It also evaluates the most common pharmacokinetic parameters in the literature and suggests metabolite parameters that could be determined to help advance metabolite kinetic models.

Nanoencapsulation enhances the post-emergence herbicidal activity of atrazine against mustard plants

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

Lignases Production and Partial Purification of Mnp from Brazilian Fungal Isolate in Submerged Fermentation

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Mycobacterium bovis–Infected White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus): Detection of Immunoglobulin Specific to Crude Mycobacterial Antigens by ELISA

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have recently emerged as a source of Mycobacterium bovis infection for cattle within North America. The objective of this study was to evaluate the antibody response of M. bovis–infected deer to crude mycobacterial antigens. Deer were experimentally inoculated with M. bovis strain 1315 either by intratonsilar instillation or by exposure to M. bovis–infected (i.e., in contact) deer. To determine the time course of the response, including the effects of antigen administration for comparative cervical skin testing, serum was collected periodically and evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for immunoglobulin (i.e., IgG heavy and light chains) reactivity to mycobacterial antigens. The reactivity to M. bovis purified protein derivative (PPDb) exceeded (P < 0.05) the reactivity to M. avium PPD (PPDa) only after in vivo administration of PPDa and PPDb for comparative cervical testing of the infected deer. The mean immunoglobulin response, as measured by ELISA, of intratonsilar-inoculated deer to a proteinase K–digested whole-cell sonicate (WCS-PK) of M. bovis strain 1315 exceeded (P < 0.05) the mean of the prechallenge responses to this antigen at approximately 1 month after inoculation and throughout the remainder of the study (i.e., ~11 months). This response also exceeded (P < 0.05) that of the uninfected deer. Although this is encouraging, further studies are necessary to validate the use of the proteinase K–digested M. bovis antigens in the antibody-based assays of tuberculosis.

Host-Specificity of Myxoma Virus: Pathogenesis of South American and North American Strains of Myxoma Virus in Two North American Lagomorph Species

The pathogenesis of South American and North American myxoma viruses was examined in two species of North American lagomorphs, Sylvilagus nuttallii (mountain cottontail) and Sylvilagus audubonii (desert cottontail) both of which have been shown to have the potential to transmit the South American type of myxoma virus. Following infection with the South American strain (Lausanne, Lu), S. nuttallii developed both a local lesion and secondary lesions on the skin. They did not develop the classical myxomatosis seen in European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). The infection at the inoculation site did not resolve during the 20-day time course of the trial and contained transmissible virus titres at all times. In contrast, S. audubonii infected with Lu had very few signs of disseminated infection and partially controlled virus replication at the inoculation site. The prototype Californian strain of myxoma virus (MSW) was able to replicate at the inoculation site of both species but did not induce clinical signs of a disseminated infection. In S. audubonii, there was a rapid response to MSW characterized by a massive T lymphocyte infiltration of the inoculation site by day 5. MSW did not reach transmissible titres at the inoculation site in either species. This might explain why the Californian myxoma virus has not expanded its host-range in North America.

Learned helplessness in the rat: Effect of response topography in a within-subject design

Three experiments investigated learned helplessness in rats manipulating response topography within-subject and different intervals between treatment and tests among groups. In Experiment 1, rats previously exposed to inescapable shocks were tested under an escape contingency where either jumping or nose poking was required to terminate shocks: tests were run either 1, 14 or 28 days after treatment. Most rats failed to jump, as expected, but learned to nose poke, regardless of the interval between treatment and tests and order of testing. The same results were observed in male and female rats from a different laboratory (Experiment 2) and despite increased exposure to the escape contingencies using a within-subject design (Experiment 3). Furthermore, no evidence of helplessness reversal was observed, since animals failed to jump even after having learned to nose-poke in a previous test session. These results are not consistent with a learned helplessness hypothesis, which claims that shock (un)controllability is the key variable responsible for the effect. They are nonetheless consistent with the view that inescapable shocks enhance control by irrelevant features of the relationship between the environment and behavior. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Lymphatic fluctuation in the parenchymal remodeling stage of acute interstitial pneumonia, organizing pneumonia, nonspecific interstitial pneumonia and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Because the superficial lymphatics in the lungs are distributed in the subpleural, interlobular and peribroncovascular interstitium, lymphatic impairment may occur in the lungs of patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs) and increase their severity. We investigated the distribution of lymphatics in different remodeling stages of IIPs by immunohistochemistry using the D2-40 antibody. Pulmonary tissue was obtained from 69 patients with acute interstitial pneumonia/diffuse alveolar damage (AIP/DAD, N = 24), cryptogenic organizing pneumonia/organizing pneumonia (COP/OP, N = 6), nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP/NSIP, N = 20), and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis/usual interstitial pneumonia (IPF/UIP, N = 19). D2-40+ lymphatic in the lesions was quantitatively determined and associated with remodeling stage score. We observed an increase in the D2-40+ percent from DAD (6.66 +/- 1.11) to UIP (23.45 +/- 5.24, P = 0.008) with the advanced process of remodeling stage of the lesions. Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed a better survival for patients with higher lymphatic D2-40+ expression than 9.3%. Lymphatic impairment occurs in the lungs of IIPs and its severity increases according to remodeling stage. The results suggest that disruption of the superficial lymphatics may impair alveolar clearance, delay organ repair and cause severe disease progress mainly in patients with AIP/DAD. Therefore, lymphatic distribution may serve as a surrogate marker for the identification of patients at greatest risk for death due to IIPs.