Steroids are important marker s in pregnancy. Although estimating their levels separately in umbilical arterial (UA) and venous blood (UV) enable more precise insights into the functioning fetoplacental unit compared to using mixed umbilical blood (UM), selective aspiration of UA and UV is technically more demanding than collecting UM. We measured the levels of 67 unconjugated steroids and steroid polar conjugates in UA and UV using GC-MS in 80 women giving birth within weeks 28 to 42 of gestation. The samples were sorted into three groups: women entering labor within weeks 28- 32 (group A, n=19), weeks 33-37 (group B, n=19), and weeks 38-42 (group C, n=42) of gestation, respectively. The preterm labo rs were due to pathologies unrelated to steroid status. Most unconjugated steroids exhibited pronounced arteriovenous differences (AVD). The AVD were less distinct in more stable steroid conjugates. Most steroids positively correlate with gestational age, but unconjugated 5 β -reduced pregnanes show negative correlations, as do testosterone and androstenediol, substrates for the placental synthesis of estrogens. Tight correlations be tween steroids in UA and UV indicate that steroid measurements in UA, UV and UM can be accurately derived from each other, which is important for the diagnostics of steroid related diseases in newborns., A. Pašková ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
It has been reported that the major function of the sterol regulatory element binding protein 2 (SREBP-2) is to activate preferentially cholesterol biosynthesis in liver and adipose tissue rather than fatty acid synthesis. In the current study, we analyzed the effects of overexpression of human dominantpositive SREBP-2 transgene under control of PEPCK promoter in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) on lipid and glucose metabolism. Transgenic overexpression of SREBP-2 was associated with significantly higher hepatic triglycerides (20.4±0.9 vs. 17.0±0.05 μmol/g, P<0.05) but not cholesterol (10.6±0.4 vs. 10.9±0.4 μmol/g) and decreased relative weight of epididymal fat pad (0.73±0.03 vs. 0.830.03, P<0.05). In addition, muscle triglyceride (15.8±3.7 vs. 8.5±1.2 μmol/g, P<0.001) and cholesterol (3.6±0.5 vs. 2.1±0.1 μmol/g, P<0.05) concentrations were significantly increased in transgenic rats when compared to SHR controls. Ectopic fat accumulation was associated with significantly increased serum glucose levels (6.4±0.1 vs. 5.9±0.1 mmol/l, P<0.005) and reduced insulin levels (1.78±0.33 vs. 2.73±0.37 nmol/l, P<0.05) in transgenic rats. These results provide evidence for important role of SREBP-2 in regulation of lipid and glucose metabolism., V. Landa, V. Zídek, P. Mlejnek, M. Šimáková, J. Šilhavý, J. Trnovská, L. Kazdová, M. Pravenec., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The STESYS2 software is a new version of the IBM PC software supporting interactive stereological measurements. In comparison with the previous STESYS, it is enhanced by a number of useful options, e.g. on-line image input via a TV camera coupled with a microscope operating under MS Windows OS. The main advantage, when compared with other such software packages, is the design of the STESYS2 as a module of the freeware image processing system Image Tool which provides a user-friendly environment including a number of image processing and preprocessing routines. Capabilities of the STESYS2 are illustrated by a practical example: estimation of the surface area of capillaries in the terminal villi of human placenta by the Sandau spatial grid method., Z. Tomori, L. Matis, P. Karen, L. Kubínová, I. Krekule., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Streptozotocin (STZ) is used to induce experimental diabetes in animals and is also applied for the treatment of patients with insulinoma. The aim of the present work was to investigate the direct effect of STZ on lipolysis in isolated rat adipocytes. After the isolation, the cells were incubated in a Krebs-Ringer buffer of pH 7.4, at the temperature 37 °C for 90 min with different concentrations of STZ: 0.5, 1 or 2 mmol/l. STZ caused a significant rise in basal values (99 %, 199 %, and 377 %, respectively) and epinephrine-stimulated (1 µmol/l) lipolysis (15 %, 24 % and 46 %, respectively). Augmentation of basal lipolysis by STZ was neither restricted by insulin (1 nmol/l) nor by H-89 (an inhibitor of protein kinase A, 50 µmol/l). These results indicate the stimulatory influence of STZ on the action of hormone-sensitive lipase in isolated cells of white adipose tissue. The obtained outcomes suggest that in studies employing STZ, it is necessary to consider its direct effect upon lipolysis in adipocytes., T. Szkudelski, K. Szkudelska., and Obsahuje bibliografii
In this study, we tested the hypothesis that experimental stress induces a specific change of left-right electrodermal activity (EDA) coupling pattern, as indexed by pointwise transinformation (PTI). Further, we hypothesized that this change is associated with scores on psychometric measures of the chronic stress-related psychopathology. Ninety-nine university students underwent bilateral measurement of EDA during rest and stress-inducing Stroop test and completed a battery of self-report measures of chronic stress-related psychopathology. A significant decrease in the mean PTI value was the prevalent response to the stress conditions. No association between chronic stress and PTI was found. Raw scores of psychometric measures of stress-related psychopathology had no effect on either the resting levels of PTI or the amount of stress-induced PTI change. In summary, acute stress alters the level of coupling pattern of cortico-autonomic influences on the left and right sympathetic pathways to the palmar sweat glands. Different results obtained using the PTI, EDA laterality coefficient, and skin conductance level also show that the PTI algorithm represents a ne w analytical approach to EDA asymmetry description., M. Světlák ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The role of the striatal adenylyl cyclase (AC) and cholinergic systems in the learning and expression of new forepaw movements (reaching with prolonged pushing on a fixed piston) was studied in male Wistar rats. Motor learning processes, prenatal hypoxia, and cholinergic drugs changed the properties of the AC system in the striatum. After learning, the striatal basal AC activity was decreased compared to untrained control rats. In addition, the AC activity was more decreased in animals with a good ability to learn compared to poor learners (up to 31 % and 51 %, correspondingly; p<0.01). Rats subjected to prenatal hypoxia (13-14th days of embryogenesis) had a lower ability to learn the new movements requiring tactile control and the striatal AC activity in these rats was 1.8 times higher (p<0.001) than controls. In vitro application of the cholinergic agonist carbachol (CARB) 10-5 M (corresponding to ~ 0.3 µg), as well as the antagonist scopolomine (SCOP) 10-5 M (~ 0.3 µg) decreased AC activity in the synaptosomal fraction of the striatum. In vivo injections of CARB (0.3-3 µg/1µl) or SCOP (0.3-3 µg/1µl) into the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens) modified the newly learned sensorimotor skill. After CARB injections the rats performed slower movements with more prolonged pushing. After SCOP the rats could not retain the learned pushing movement. These in vivo and in vitro data suggest that the cholinergic mediator system of the striatum is involved in learning sensory-controlled forepaw movements as well as the regulation of new motor skills by modulating the AC signal transduction process in the striatum. The data confirmed that modification of the striatal AC system resulted in the modulation of reaching behavior and better expression of the learned reflex., I. A. Zhuravin, N. M. Dubrovskaya, S. A. Plesneva., and Obsahuje bibliografii
NMDA receptors have received much attention over the last few decades, due to their role in many types of neural plasticity on the one hand, and their involvement in excitotoxicity on the other hand. There is great interest in developing clinically relevant NMDA receptor antagonists that would block excitotoxic NMDA receptor activation, without interfering with NMDA receptor function needed for normal synaptic transmission and plasticity. This review summarizes current understanding of the structure of NMDA receptors and the mechanisms of NMDA receptor activation and modulation, with special attention given to data describing the properties of various types of NMDA receptor inhibition. Our recent analyses point to certain neurosteroids as NMDA receptor inhibitors with desirable properties. Specifically, these compounds show use-dependent but voltage-independent block, that is predicted to preferentially target excessive tonic NMDA receptor activation. Importantly, neurosteroids are also characterized by use-independent unblock, compatible with minimal disruption of normal synaptic transmission. Thus, neurosteroids are a promising class of NMDA receptor modulators that may lead to the development of neuroprotective drugs with optimal therapeutic profiles., V. Vyklicky ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
a1_The long-term feeding of a high-concentrate diet (the concentrate ratio is greater than 60 %) leads to mammary gland inflammatory response in ruminants and decreased quality in dairy cows and affects the robust development of the dairy industry. The main reason is closely related to elevated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the body. In this experiment, a bovine mammary epithelial cell line (MAC-T) was used as a model, and LPS at different concentrations (0 ng/ml, 1 ng/ml, 10 ng/ml, 100 ng/ml, 1000 ng/ml, 10000 ng/ml) was added to the cells. The cell survival rate, oxidative stress indicators, total lipid droplet area, triglyceride content and key genes regulating lipid metabolism were detected by 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo(-z-y1)- 3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT), assay kit, microscope observation and RT-PCR methods to explore the regulatory mechanism of mammary health and milk fat synthesis.The results showed that compared with those of the control group, the survival rates of cells were significantly decreased after 9 h of stimulation with 1000 ng/ml and 10000 ng/ml LPS (P<0.01).The contents of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in cells were significantly decreased (P<0.05).Compared with that of the control group, the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in cells was significantly increased (P<0.05) after stimulation with 10000 ng/ml LPS for 9 h. After 9 h of stimulation with 100 ng/ml, 1000 ng/ml and 10000 ng/ml LPS, the total lipid drop area and triglyceride (TG) content of MAC-T cells were significantly decreased (P<0.05).The expression levels of fatty acid synthesis-related genes AcetylCoA carboxylase (ACC) and Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD-1) were significantly decreased after 9 h of stimulation with 100 ng/ml, 1000 ng/ml and 10000 ng/ml LPS (P<0.05), while the expression levels of Fatty Acid synthetase (FAS) were significantly decreased after stimulation with 1000 ng/ml and 1000 ng/ml LPS (P<0.05)., Lin Li, Weibin Tang, Mei Zhao, Binbin Gong, Meng Cao, Jianyuan Li., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Agonist-induced subcellular redistribution of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) and of trimeric guanine-nucleotide binding regulatory proteins (G-proteins) represent mechanisms of desensitization of hormone response, which have been studied in our laboratory since 1989. This review brings a short summary of these results and also presents information about related literature data covering at least small part of research carried out in this area. We have also mentioned sodium plus potassium dependent adenosine triphosp hatase (Na, K-ATPase) and 3H-ouabain binding as useful reference standard of plasma membrane purity in the brain., Z. Drastichová, L. Bouřová, V. Lisý, L. Hejnová, V. Rudajev, J. Stöhr, D. Durchánková, P. Ostašov, J. Teisinger, T. Soukup, J. Novotný, P. Svoboda., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Kainic acid (KA) is a potent neurotoxic substance valuable in research of temporal lobe epilepsy. We tested how subconvulsive dose of KA influences spontaneous behavior of adult Wistar rats. Animals were treated with 5 mg/kg of KA and tested in Laboras open field test for one hour in order to evaluate various behavioral parameters. Week after the KA treatment animals were tested again in Laboras open field test. Finally, rat’s brains were sliced and stained with Fluoro-Jade B to detect possible neuronal degeneration. Treatment with KA increased the time spent by locomotion (p<0.01), exploratory rearing (p<0.05) and animals traveled longer distance (p<0.01). These parameters tended to increase thirty minutes after KA administration. Week after the treatment we did not found differences in any measured behavioral parameter. Histology in terms of Fluoro-Jade B staining did not reveal any obvious neuronal damage in hippocampus. These results demonstrate that subconvulsive KA dose changes the behavioral parameters only transiently. Clarification of timing of the KA induced changes may contribute to understand mutual relationship between non-convulsive seizures and behavioral/cognitive consequences., V. Riljak, D. Marešová, J. Pokorný, K. Jandová., and Obsahuje bibliografii