Psychostimulants, as well as cannabinoids, have been shown to
significantly affect a great variety of behaviors in both humans
and laboratory animals. Our previous studies have repeatedly
demonstrated that the application of the vehicle for
psychostimulants, i.e. saline, to control groups, generated
different behavioral test results compared to absolute naïve
controls (i.e. without any injection). Therefore, our present study
has set three goals: (1) to evaluate the effect of three different
psychostimulant drugs, (2) to evaluate the effect of three doses
of delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and (3) to evaluate the
effect of saline and ethanol injections vs sham injections and no
injection on spontaneous behavior of adult male rats. The
LABORAS test (Metris B.V., Netherlands) was used to examine
spontaneous locomotor activity and exploratory behavior in an
unknown environment over 1 h. In Experiment 1,
psychostimulant drugs were tested: single subcutaneous (s.c.)
injections of amphetamine (5 mg/kg), cocaine (5 mg/kg), and
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) (5 mg/kg) were
applied prior to testing. Control animals received the same
volume (1 ml/kg) of s.c. saline. In Experiment 2, the effect of
three doses of THC (1, 2, and 5 mg/kg, s.c.) were examined.
An s.c. injection of vehicle (ethanol) was used as a control. In
Experiment 3, injections of saline and ethanol were compared to
the group receiving a sham s.c. injection and to a group of
absolute “naïve” controls. Our results demonstrated that (1) all
psychostimulants increased locomotion time, distance traveled,
and speed while decreasing immobility time of adult male rats
relative to saline controls. The most prominent effect was
associated with MDMA; (2) The effect of THC was dosedependent and was most apparent within the first 10 min of the
LABORAS test. (3) With regard to the effect of injection: absolute
controls (without injection) compared to animals injected with
ethanol, saline, or sham-injected displayed reduced immobility
time, traveled longer distances, and had increased speed. In
conclusion, our data showed drug dependent behavioral changes
in adult male rats after application of psychostimulants and
cannabinoids. Our findings also suggest that not only drugs but
the actual single injection per se also affects the behavior of
laboratory animals in an unknown environment. This effect
seems to be associated with the acute stress associated
with the injection.
The quality of stored blood can be deteriorated by hemolysis caused by free radicals. The purpose of this study was to elucidate whether neutrophile leukocytes are the source of free radicals in stored blood as in hemodialyzed patients. Resuspensions with low (LL) or high (HL) leukocyte concentrations were prepared from samples of twenty healthy volunteers. The samples were incubated for 10 days at 4 °C and then for one day at 37 °C. Markers of hemolysis and free radical metabolism were examined before and after incubation in LL and HL samples. In spite of the difference of leukocytes counts in LL and HL resuspensions (p<0.0001), the pre-incubation values of all laboratory parameters were practically identical. In post-storage samples, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities did not differ in either group. Reduced glutathione in erythrocytes and extracellular antioxidant capacity were insignificantly lower in HL resuspensions, but the increase of malondialdehyde was much more pronounced in the HL samples (p<0.0001). The degree of hemolysis, expressed as the extracellular increase of potassium (p<0.001), hemoglobin (p<0.05) and lactate dehydrogenase (p<0.05), was higher in the HL samples. Our results support the hypothesis that leukocytes participate in free radical production in stored blood., J. Racek, R. Herynková, V. Holeček, J. Faltysová, I. Krejčová., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrinopathy in women (with a prevalence of 5-10 %), is characterized by hormonal and metabolic imbalance. Complexity of symptoms of close relatives of women with PCOS and genetic autosomal trait initiated a hypothesis about the existence of a male equivalent of PCOS. Premature alopecia was suggested as one of the signs of a male phenotype of this syndrome. The present study investigated a group of 30 men, in which premature hair loss started before 30 years of age. In all patients, their hormonal profile was determined. It was possible to form two subgroups. The first one showed similar hormonal changes as women with PCOS, the other had either no anomalies in steroid spectrum or just only lower level of sexual hormones binding globulin (SHBG). Both subgroups did not differ in either BMI or age. In all men with premature alopecia insulin tolerance test was also carried out and the occurrence of allele 3 INS VNTR was investigated, which is one of the candidate genes for PCOS. The subgroup with hormonal changes resembling those of women with PCOS showed a significantly higher insulin resistance than the group without these changes. About one third of the premature balding men showed the combination of hormonal shifts and higher insulin resistance. This frequency corresponds to the prevalence of PCOS in women. There was no significant difference between the two subgroups in the occurrence of allele 3 INS VNTR.