Brain injury induced by intrauterine infection affects offspring’s cognitive development and hippocampal neurogenesis

AIM: To explore the effect of brain injury induced by intrauterine infection on offspring’s cognitive development and hippocampal neurogenesis. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley pregnant rats (n=15) were randomly divided into model group (n=8) and control group (n=7). After delivery, the male pups were randomly divided into E. coligroup (n=35) and control group (n=35). Total 20 male pups at postnatal day 28 (P28) were randomly divided into 2 groups for Morris water maze test. Hippocampi of the 2 groups were used for cell apoptosis, neuronal proliferation and survival analysis. RESULTS: (1) The brain tissue was slightly atrophied in E. coligroup. The numbers of TUNEL and caspase-3 positive cells were significantly increased in E. coligroup (P<0.05). (2) In the navigation and memory task, the rats in E. coligroup had longer escape latency than that in control group (P<0.05). (3) There was a significant increase in the BrdU-labeled cells at P3, P7 and P14 in E. coligroup than that in control group (P<0.05). When the cells got mature, no significant difference of BrdU-labeled cells at P28 between the 2 groups was observed (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Intrauterine infection increases hippocampal neuronal apoptosis, which may be regarded as an etiological factor in the cognitive development impairment. Inflammation-induced neurogenesis may play an important role in neuronal protection and repair in immature brain after intrauterine infection.     

苦马豆素对小鼠脑组织抗氧化功能的影响

探讨苦马豆素（Swainsonine,SW）对小鼠脑组织抗氧化功能的影响,进一步揭示SW的毒性作用机理。将64只昆明种小鼠随机分为对照组、试验Ⅰ组、试验Ⅱ组和试验Ⅲ组,将小花棘豆全草粉碎后,按Ⅰ组添加15%（SW含量30 mg/kg）、Ⅱ组添加30%（SW含量60 mg/kg）、Ⅲ组添加45%（SW含量90 mg/kg）的比例制作混合饲料,饲喂至典型中毒症状出现。攻毒后第14、28、42、63天每次每组随机采集4只小鼠的脑组织,检测超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GSH Px）、过氧化氢酶（CAT）、一氧化氮合酶（NOS）活性及丙二醛（MDA）、游离脂肪酸（NEFA）、羟自由基（·OH）、脂褐素（LPO）、一氧化氮（NO）和游离谷氨酸（Glu）含量的变化。结果表明,与正常对照相比,试验组小鼠脑组织SOD、GSH Px、CAT等抗氧化物酶的活性极显著下降（P<0.01）,而MDA、NEFA、·OH、LPO、NO和Glu含量极显著上升（P<0.01）。SW对小鼠脑组织抗氧化功能有显著影响,且具有一定的时间效应和剂量效应关系,长期低剂量摄入SW可导致小鼠不同程度的脑损伤。     

Studies on Thysanura. I. The Water Economy of Machiloides Delanyi Wygodzinsky and Ctenolepisma Longicaudata Escherich

Forebrain extirpations from Hemihaplochromis philander (Pisces: Cichlidae) resulted in a decrease of aggressive (territorial), courtship, and spontaneous behaviour. The stimulus-response latency was found to be increased by the extirpations. Forebrainless males were unable to distinguish between male and female conspecifics on a visual basis. Abnormal responses to certain stimuli occasionally resulted in accidents suggesting a failure of neural feedback mechanisms.

It was suggested that the teleost forebrain houses a primitive limbic system the main functions of which would be general arousal and the selection of appropriate responses to the incoming external and endogenous (motivational) stimuli     

Granulomatous meningoencephalomyelitis in dogs: A review

: Granulomatous meningoencephalomyelitis (GME) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in dogs that is characterised by focal or disseminated granulomatous lesions within the brain and/or spinal cord, non-suppurative meningitis and perivascular mononuclear cuffing. The aetiology of the disease remains unknown, although an immune-mediated cause is suspected. This article reviewed the typical history, clinical signs and pathology of the condition along with current opinions on pathogenesis. The potential differential diagnoses for the disease were discussed along with current treatment options.     

Hereditary ataxia in the Jack Russell Terrier--clinical and genetic investigations

Hereditary ataxia in the Jack Russell Terrier (JRT) is characterized by a gait disturbance with symmetric generalized ataxia and hypermetric and spastic movements. Histopathology shows a disease of the entire central nervous system, predominantly an axonopathy. In the present study, 35 clinically affected dogs were examined. Gait abnormalities began at 2-9 months of age. Generalized seizures occurred in 13 dogs in addition to the ataxia, and 7 dogs developed respiratory distress. Brain stem auditory-evoked potentials (BAEPs) were abnormal in 4 of 8 examined dogs, in which only waves I and II were detected. Abnormal BAEPs suggest the possibility of hereditary ataxia in the JRT. Investigations regarding the mode of inheritance were performed by complex segregation analyses on 3 pedigrees with a total of 115 JRTs (27 clinically affected dogs and 88 unaffected littermates and ancestors). Different modes of inheritance were tested, including monogenic, mixed, and polygenic models, as well as a model with environmental effects only. Models with genetic effects explained the data significantly better than the environmental model. The monogenic model had to be rejected in this study because of an insufficient match of data when compared to that of the most general model. The polygenic and mixed major gene models explained the pedigree data best and therefore have to be regarded as possible hypotheses for the mode of inheritance of hereditary ataxia in the JRT. The polygenic model proved best suited to explain the segregation pattern in the JRT, because it had the fewest number of parameters.     

Central and peripheral effects of repeated noise stress on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in pigs

The present study was performed to examine the effects of a repeated noise exposure (4 weeks) on basal and noise-induced plasma adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH), cortisol and corticosteroid binding globulin (CBG) levels, brain glucocorticoid receptors (GR) and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) concentrations as well as on the morphology of adrenal glands in German Landrace pigs. Chronically cannulated pigs were exposed to either a daily stimulation with broad-band noise (2 h, 90 dB) (N1), or to the same stimulus three times a week (N2), or to an equal handling procedure without noise stimulation. Noise exposure caused an increase of basal CBG concentrations in N1 animals in the first week. During noise session, an increase of plasma ACTH and cortisol levels in N1 animals was measured in week 1 followed by a subsequent decrease until week 4. The ACTH and cortisol response of the N2 animals increased after week 1 and was significantly elevated in week 4. Furthermore, noise stress caused an increased hippocampal GR binding of N2 pigs, but had no effects on GR binding in the amygdala and on hypothalamic CRH levels. There were also significant structural modifications in the adrenal gland of N1 pigs resulting in differentiated effects on the adrenal cortex and medulla. The present results show that repeated noise exposure of pigs causes considerable alterations at different levels of the HPA system in association with the frequency of noise stimulation. This may have substantial impact on the general vulnerability of the animal with respect to productivity, health and welfare.     

野桑蚕脑组织cDNA文库的构建及化学感受蛋白基因(CSP3)的克隆和序列分析

利用TAKARA公司生产的cDNA Library Construction Kit构建了野桑蚕脑组织的cDNA文库,经鉴定文库的滴度达3.5×105pfu/mL,文库插入片段的平均大小为1.2kb。从文库的测序结果中获得野桑蚕化学感受蛋白基因(CSP3)完整的开放阅读框(登录号:EU439267)并对其进行了序列分析。结果表明:该基因读码框由384个核苷酸组成,编码127个氨基酸,分子质量为14.6kD。通过对该基因编码的氨基酸和其它17种昆虫的CSP编码的氨基酸进行进化分析,发现该基因与家蚕CSP3的同源性最高,达96.85%。该基因的发现对于研究家蚕和野桑蚕对化学农药的敏感性差异具有重要意义。     

Level of copeptin for early prediction of cardiorenal syndrome in rats

AIM: To study the value of copeptin (CPP) level for the prediction of cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) in the rats with subtotal nephrectomy (SNX) combined with myocardial infarction (MI).METHODS: Male SD rats (n=60) were divided into blank control group (Con group), renal failure group (SNX group), heart failure group (MI group) and heart failure+renal failure group (CRS group). The concentrations of CPP in the serum and urine, hemodynamic indexes, blood pressure and renal function indexes were measured 1~5 weeks after modeling. The predictive value of CPP for CRS in the rats was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.RESULTS: Compared with Con group, left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP) at 9 d in CRS group was significantly decreased (P<0.05), left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) at 9 d in CRS group was significantly increased (P<0.05), and the difference of blood pressure at each time point was not statistically significant. The levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and urinary creatinine (UCr) in CRS group were significantly increased at 1 and 3 weeks (P<0.05). Compared with Con group, serum CPP level was significantly increased at 1, 3 and 5 weeks (P<0.05), and urine CPP level was significantly increased at 3 weeks in CRS group. Serum brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level was significantly increased at 1 and 3 weeks, while urine BNP level was significantly increased at 5 weeks after modeling in CRS group (P<0.05). No correlation between serum or urine CPP and BNP or BUN levels at 1 week in CRS group was observed. The results of ROC curve analysis indicated that the area under the curve (AUC) of serum CPP was 0.908 (95% CI:0.789~1.028), and the cut-off value was 56.59 ng/L (sensitivity 0.875, specificity 0.800).CONCLUSION: The combination of SNX and MI establishes a CRS rat model with both heart and kidney injury, and serum CPP can be used as a sensitive and specific biomarker for early prediction of CRS.     

Effect of rosuvastatin on cerebral microvascular endothelial cell injury induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation

AIM: To explore the effect of rosuvastatin on the oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)/reoxygenation induced injury of cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs). METHODS: BMECs derived from BALB/c mice were isolated and cultured. BMECs were pretreated with rosuvastatin, followed by OGD for 3 h or 6 h and reoxygenation for 24 h. The morphological changes of BMECs were observed under light microscope. MTT assay was used to measured the cell viability, and carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFDA-SE) staining was used to assess the proliferation of BMECs. The protein levels of cleaved caspase-3 was observed by immunofluorescence staining. The protein levels of Bcl-2, Bax, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2, MMP9, phosphorylated nuclear factor kappa B (p-NF-κB), phosphorylated P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p-P38) and phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK) were determined by Western blot. RESULTS: Rosuvastatin at 10 μmol/L improved the viability of the BMECs with OGD/reoxygenation-induced damage, and maintained the structure of BMECs. Moreover, rosuvastatin significantly prohibited the protein levels of cleaved caspase-3, MMP2, MMP9, p-NF-κB, p-P38 and p-JNK, and up-regulated the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Rosuvastatin reduces OGD/reoxygenation-induced injury of BMECs by inhibiting the expression of apoptosis-related proteins and MMPs, suggesting that rosuvastatin has potential value for the maintenance of blood-brain barrier.