Brain monoamine oxidase in mice after exposure to aggression and defeat

Effects on the monoamine Oxidase activity of the hypothalamus, amygdala, and frontal cortex of untrained mice exposed to repeated defeat by trained fighters for two 5-minute periods a day for 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 14, or 20 days were studied. Activity in the hypothalamus increased significantly during the first 2 days of fighting, while the activity in the amygdala and frontal cortex remained essentially unchanged. After 8 days, activity in all three brain areas declined. After 14 days of fighting the monoamine Oxidase activity returned to normal, but another decrease was observed in the three areas after 20 days of fighting.     

Measurement of regional blood flow by indicator dilution

Appropriate selection of injection and collection sites permits quantification of certain regional blood flows by the single-injection, indicator-dilution method. Quantifying formulas are derived, and application of the method to several regional beds is described.     

Brain cells in culture: morphological transformation by a protein

One type of elmbryonic rat brain cell having an epithelioid morphology in the monolayer culture can be transformed by brain extract into cells having extensive processes resembling mature astrocytes. The transforming factor is a protein with a molecular weight of 350,000. A partially purified sample showed that it is active at a concentration as low as 1 x 10(-8)M. The transforming actvity is high in adult brains but low in embryonic brains and tumors of the nervous systems.     

Biotite flakes: alteration by chemical and biological treatment

Biotite alteration under acid conditions proceeds differently from the generally accepted pathway of transformation to vermiculite in which hydrated cations cause interlayer expansion, resulting in a dark-colored peripheral band on mica particles. Acid solutions of synthetic or biologic origin remove octahedral ions, leaving a fragile matrix of amorphous material.     

Meiotic recombination in yeast: alteration by multiple heterozygosities

Although meiotic gene conversion has long been known to be accompanied by crossing-over, a direct test of the converse has not been possible. An experiment was designed to determine whether crossing-over is accompanied by gene conversion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nine restriction site heterologies were introduced into a 9-kilobase chromosomal interval that exhibits 22 percent crossing-over. Of all the exchange events that occurred, at least 59 percent of meiotic crossovers are accompanied by gene conversion of one or more of the restriction site heterologies. The average gene conversion tract length was 1.5 kilobases. An unexpected result was that the introduction of as few as seven heterozygosities significantly altered the outcome of recombination events, reducing the frequency of crossovers by 50 percent and increasing the number of exceptional tetrads. This alteration results from a second recombination event induced by repair of heteroduplex DNA containing multiple mismatched base pairs.     

Adrenaline and noradrenaline: relation to performance in a visual vigilance task

Concentrations of adrenaline and noradrenaline in the circulating blood were measured in blood samples taken from subjects as they performed a visual vigilance task or viewed movies, both under identical conditions. For those subjects whose vigilance performance deteriorated it was concluded that the concentration of circulating adrenaline decreases as a function of time in a vigilance task but not under "relaxed" conditions, such as watching motion pictures. crementers under "relaxed"conditions.     

Carbon dioxide fixation by mouse embryos prior to implantation

Mouse embryos in the stage of development prior to implantation were cultured in vitro in a medium that contained radioactive bicarbonate. The radioactivity was incorporated into the proteins and nucleic acids that were acid soluble. Uptake of radioactivity occurred into protein in the unfertilized ovum and was highest in all fractions in the early blastocyst stage. No incorporation was detected in the lipid fraction.     

Thermal blanketing: a case for aerosol-induced climatic alteration

Long-term temperature records at Phoenix, Arizona, indicate the existence of a post-1946 warming trend that may be attributed to the buildup of pollution in the lower layers of the atmosphere. The causative mechanism appears to be an enhancement of the so-called "greenhouse effect," induced by the inter-action of aerosol with long-wavelength thermal radiation in the lower atmosphere.     

Liver organogenesis promoted by endothelial cells prior to vascular function

The embryonic role of endothelial cells and nascent vessels in promoting organogenesis, prior to vascular function, is unclear. We find that early endothelial cells in mouse embryos surround newly specified hepatic endoderm and delimit the mesenchymal domain into which the liver bud grows. In flk-1 mutant embryos, which lack endothelial cells, hepatic specification occurs, but liver morphogenesis fails prior to mesenchyme invasion. We developed an embryo tissue explant system that permits liver bud vasculogenesis and show that in the absence of endothelial cells, or when the latter are inhibited, there is a selective defect in hepatic outgrowth. We conclude that vasculogenic endothelial cells and nascent vessels are critical for the earliest stages of organogenesis, prior to blood vessel function.     

Circadian pattern of plasma 17-hydroxycorticosteroid: alteration by anticholinergic agents

Atropine, administered to cats just prior to the time of the expected circadian rise in levels of 17-hydroxycorticosteroid in plasma, blocks this rise. Atropine does not alter this circadian pattern when administered at other times in the circadian cycle. Results similar to those obtained with atropine have been observed with short-acting barbiturates. Dibenzyline administered just prior to the time of the expected circadian rise is ineffective in blocking this rise. These findings support the hypothesis that the circadian pattern of plasma 17-hydroxycorticosteroid levels reflects activation, by the central nervous system, of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis during a "critical time period" in the circadian cycle.     

Brain polysomes: response to environmental stimulation

Polysomes have been isolated from rat brain and characterized by their appearance in the electron microscope and by their sedimentation in sucrose density gradients. Rats were isolated for 3 days in the dark and were then returned to the light for 15 minutes. The polysomes in brain, but not in liver, decreased in rats deprived of light and increased in those stimulated with light. These findings together with an increased capacity for protein synthesis in the brain in vitro and in vivo suggest that an increase in the activity of messenger RNA in the brain may result from environmental changes.     

Chemically induced porphyria: prevention by prior treatment with phenobarbital

The excessive induction of hepatic delta-aminolevulinic acid synthetase in rats after the administration of porphyria-inducing compounds is prevented by prior treatment with phenobarbital. Studies in vivo and in vitro indicate that phenobarbital prevents the induction of chemical porphyria by increasing the rate of detoxification of inducers by way of drug-metabolizing enzymes of the hepatic endoplasmic reticulum.     

Brain aging correlates: retardation by hormonal-pharmacological treatments

Mid-aged rats were either adrenalectomized and chronically maintained, or left intact and treated daily for a 9- to 10-month period with a potent analog of the peptide adrenocorticotropin (residues 4 to 9), which has some stimulant properties, or with the neural stimulant pentylenetetrazole. All three treatments reduced hippocampal morphologic correlates of brain aging (neuronal loss, glial reactivity). The pentylenetetrazole and peptide treatments also improved reversal learning. These results suggest that certain endogenous peptides, with stimulant properties, may also exert long-term, trophic effects on brain structure and function.     

Brain catecholamines: relation to defense reaction evoked by acute brainstem transection in cat

The concentration of noradrenaline, but not serotonin, in the brainstem of cats is reduced 3 hours after the production of a defense reaction by supracollicular decerebration, even when movements and changes in blood pressure are abolished by transection of the spinal cord. After midcollicular decerebration, which does not elicit a defense reaction, noradrenaline concentrations do not change. The decrease in its concentration accompanying the defense reaction produtced by brain lesions probably reflects activity, in this behavior, of neturons containinig noradrenaline.     

局部狭窄动脉内非牛顿血液脉动流的一个数学模型

目的探讨生理脉动状态下,存在非轴对称性局部狭窄段的动脉内的血流动力学特性。方法以动物实验为基础,采用计算流体动力学的原理及方法进行研究;血液被看成是不可压非牛顿Bingham流体,在心动周期里以脉动的形式在动脉内运动,血液运动的控制方程是Navier-Stokes方程,控制方程的求解采用有限元数值方法。结果得到了心动周期内动态分布的血液流场、速度场、壁面切应力(WSS)分布等重要血流动力学量。结论几何因素是影响动脉内血流动力学环境的最重要因素;血流的脉动性也有一定的影响,在心动周期的舒张期初期到中期阶段,动脉内血流量较快地下降,血液流场、WSS分布等血流动力学量分布最复杂。     

Brain catechol synthesis: control by train tyrosine concentration

Brain catechol synthesis was estimated by measuring the rate at which brain dopa levels rose following decarboxylase inhibition. Dopa accumulation was accelerated by tyrosine administration, and decreased by treatments that lowered brain tyrosine concentrations (for example, intraperitoneal tryptophan, leucine, or parachlorophenylalanine). A low dose of phenylalanine elevated brain tyrosine without accelerating dopa synthesis. Our findings raise the possibility that nutritional and endocrine factors might influence brain catecholamine synthesis by controlling the availability of tyrosine.     

Reductions in arterial diameter produced by chronic decreases in blood flow are endothelium-dependent

A 70 percent reduction in the rate of blood flow through the common carotid artery in rabbits caused a 21 percent decrease in the diameter of this artery within 2 weeks. The smooth muscle relaxant papaverine did not attenuate the response; therefore, such reductions in diameter probably reflect a structural modification of the arterial wall rather than sustained contraction of smooth muscle. This arterial response to reduced blood flow was abolished when the endothelium was removed from the vessels. It appears that the endothelium is essential for the compensatory arterial response to long-term changes in luminal blood flow rates.