Interstitial lactate,lactate/pyruvate and glucose in rat muscle before,during and in the recovery from global hypoxia

Background

Hypoxia results in an imbalance between oxygen supply and oxygen consumption. This study utilized microdialysis to monitor changes in the energy-related metabolites lactate, pyruvate and glucose in rat muscle before, during and after 30 minutes of transient global hypoxia. Hypoxia was induced in anaesthetised rats by reducing inspired oxygen to 6% O₂ in nitrogen.

Results

Basal values for lactate, the lactate/pyruvate ratio and glucose were 0.72 ± 0.04 mmol/l, 10.03 ± 1.16 and 3.55 ± 0.19 mmol/l (n = 10), respectively. Significant increases in lactate and the lactate/pyruvate ratio were found in the muscle after the induction of hypoxia. Maximum values of 2.26 ± 0.37 mmol/l for lactate were reached during early reperfusion, while the lactate/pyruvate ratio reached maximum values of 35.84 ± 7.81 at the end of hypoxia. Following recovery to ventilation with air, extracellular lactate levels and the lactate/pyruvate ratio returned to control levels within 30–40 minutes. Extracellular glucose levels showed no significant difference between hypoxia and control experiments.

Conclusions

In our study, the complete post-hypoxic recovery of metabolite levels suggests that metabolic enzymes of the skeletal muscle and their related cellular components may be able to tolerate severe hypoxic periods without prolonged damage. The consumption of glucose in the muscle in relation to its delivery seems to be unaffected.     

Characterisation of tramadol,morphine and tapentadol in an acute pain model in Beagle dogs

ObjectiveTo evaluate the analgesic potential of the centrally acting analgesics tramadol, morphine and the novel analgesic tapentadol in a pre-clinical research model of acute nociceptive pain, the tail-flick model in dogs.Study designProspective part-randomized pre-clinical research trial.AnimalsFifteen male Beagle dogs (HsdCpb:DOBE), aged 12–15 months.MethodsOn different occasions separated by at least 1 week, dogs received intravenous (IV) administrations of tramadol (6.81, 10.0 mg kg^?1), tapentadol (2.15, 4.64, 6.81 mg kg^?1) or morphine (0.464, 0.681, 1.0 mg kg^?1) with subsequent measurement of tail withdrawal latencies from a thermal stimulus (for each treatment n = 5). Blood samples were collected immediately after the pharmacodynamic measurements of tramadol to determine pharmacokinetics and the active metabolite O-demethyltramadol (M1).ResultsTapentadol and morphine induced dose-dependent antinociception with ED50-values of 4.3 mg kg^?1 and 0.71 mg kg^?1, respectively. In contrast, tramadol did not induce antinociception at any dose tested. Measurements of the serum levels of tramadol and the M1 metabolite revealed only marginal amounts of the M1 metabolite, which explains the absence of the antinociptive effect of tramadol in this experimental pain model in dogs.Conclusions and clinical relevanceDifferent breeds of dogs might not or only poorly respond to treatment with tramadol due to low metabolism of the drug. Tapentadol and morphine which act directly on μ-opioid receptors without the need for metabolic activation are demonstrated to induce potent antinociception in the experimental model used and should also provide a reliable pain management in the clinical situation. The non-opioid mechanisms of tramadol do not provide antinociception in this experimental setting. This contrasts to many clinical situations described in the literature, where tramadol appears to provide useful analgesia in dogs for post-operative pain relief and in more chronically pain states.     

Self-organization, embodiment, and biologically inspired robotics

Robotics researchers increasingly agree that ideas from biology and self-organization can strongly benefit the design of autonomous robots. Biological organisms have evolved to perform and survive in a world characterized by rapid changes, high uncertainty, indefinite richness, and limited availability of information. Industrial robots, in contrast, operate in highly controlled environments with no or very little uncertainty. Although many challenges remain, concepts from biologically inspired (bio-inspired) robotics will eventually enable researchers to engineer machines for the real world that possess at least some of the desirable properties of biological organisms, such as adaptivity, robustness, versatility, and agility.     

An astronomical 2175 angstrom feature in interplanetary dust particles

The 2175 angstrom extinction feature is the strongest (visible-ultraviolet) spectral signature of dust in the interstellar medium. Forty years after its discovery, the origin of the feature and the nature of the carrier(s) remain controversial. Using a transmission electron microscope, we detected a 5.7-electron volt (2175 angstrom) feature in interstellar grains embedded within interplanetary dust particles (IDPs). The carriers are organic carbon and amorphous silicates that are abundant in IDPs and in the interstellar medium. These multiple carriers may explain the enigmatic invariant central wavelength and variable bandwidth of the astronomical 2175 angstrom feature.     

Untersuchungen zur Stickstoff-Immobilisation in mineralisch gedüngten Ackerböden aus Löß während der Vegetationszeit von Winter-Weizen

Experiments on nitrogen immobilization in minerally fertilized soils from loess during the growing season of winter wheat The nitrogen regime has been simulated during the growing period of winter wheat 1984/85 on a stagnigleyic cambisol using a simple, functional computer model. The model includes N mineralization from soil organic matter, transport of water and nitrate as well as growth of wheat and N uptake by the crop. Simulation starts at harvest of the previous crop. Simulated and measured N supply (soil mineral nitrogen plus N uptake by the plant) were in good agreement between september and december 1984. On this loess plot as well as on 10 other ones an over-estimation of mineral nitrogen in the soil up to 40 kg/ha was observed with beginning of december/january 1984/85 reflecting a seasonal trend. Experiments with ¹⁵N enriched Ca-nitrate 1984/85 on microplots of the same field point to a non-consideration of nitrogen immobilization. Fertilizer-N-immobilization amounted up to 35 kg/ha in the soil and to further 15 kg/ha in the straw material. The pool of fixed ammonium was of no importance with respect to the mobilization-immobilization-turn-over of fertilizer nitrogen. Experiments 1988/89 on microplots of a colluvial loess soil indicate a change of biomass nitrogen being responsible for the seasonal N-immobilization. An increase of biomass-N of about 30 kg/ha was observed under the growing wheat crop. An additional N-immobilization of nearly 40 kg/ha was observed with straw incorporation. A similar increase of microbial biomass nitrogen under winter wheat has been observed during the growing period 1987/88.     

Genetic variation for resistance to Phytophthora fragariae var. rubi in red raspberries

Summary The inheritance of root rot resistance in red raspberry, caused by Phytophtora fragariae var. rubi, was investigated using two experimental breeding designs. Design A was not randomly mated and genetic parameters could not be calculated. Design B was therefore randomly mated to make it possible to do such estimations. Considerable genetic variation was associated with the recorded traits on seedlings tested in a glasshouse. Disease index and % survival were both found to be highly heritable with broad sense heritabilities (H²) close to 0.9 in each design. Estimates of narrow sense heritability (h²), indicated that progress towards resistance would be moderate. In the first design the cultivars Festival, Asker, Boyne and Sentry and the clones N85-02-13 and N85-06-140 had high general combining abilities. Some crosses had a high specific combining ability indicating the presence of non-additive genetic variation.