Development in rats of the brain-pituitary-adrenal response to hypoglycemia in vivo and in vitro

1989 ◽  
Vol 257 (5) ◽  
pp. E757-E763 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. P. Widmaier

To clarify the nature of the stress hyporesponsive period that occurs in neonatal rats, the development of the response of the brain-pituitary-adrenal axis to hypoglycemia stress in rats was assessed in vivo and in vitro. Hypothalami were removed from the brains of neonatal (9-35 days postnatal) or adult rats and incubated in vitro for sequential 30-min periods in Krebs buffer for determination of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) secretion under conditions of altered glucose concentrations. As expected from previous studies, CRF secretion from adult hypothalami was significantly increased in severely hypoglycemic conditions (0.55 mM glucose) by approximately 50% above base-line values (in 5.5 mM glucose). However, lowering glucose did not elicit an increase in CRF release from hypothalami of rats less than 35 days of age. Hypothalami obtained from rats less than or equal to 24 days old also failed to show consistent secretory responses to potassium depolarization. At 35 days postnatal the response to hypoglycemia was significant and similar to the adult response. To determine if the lack of hypothalamic response to hypoglycemia in vitro could be correlated with the in vivo responses to hypoglycemia, rats aged 4 days to adult were injected intraperitoneally with porcine insulin and killed at different times after injection. Insulin injections lowered plasma glucose levels in fasted 4-day-old rats in a dose-dependent fashion, but a nadir in glucose (approximately 40 mg/dl) was not reached until 90 min; the same treatment produced a nadir in glucose within 30 min in fasted rats 10 days old and older, suggesting that the 4-day-old rats are relatively insulin insensitive.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

1992 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Wren ◽  
G Wolswijk ◽  
M Noble

We have been studying the differing characteristics of oligodendrocyte-type-2 astrocyte (O-2A) progenitors isolated from optic nerves of perinatal and adult rats. These two cell types display striking differences in their in vitro phenotypes. In addition, the O-2Aperinatal progenitor population appears to have a limited life-span in vivo, while O-2Aadult progenitors appear to be maintained throughout life. O-2Aperinatal progenitors seem to have largely disappeared from the optic nerve by 1 mo after birth, and are not detectable in cultures derived from optic nerves of adult rats. In contrast, O-2Aadult progenitors can first be isolated from optic nerves of 7-d-old rats and are still present in optic nerves of 1-yr-old rats. These observations raise two questions: (a) From what source do O-2Aadult progenitors originate; and (b) how is the O-2Aadult progenitor population maintained in the nerve throughout life? We now provide in vitro evidence indicating that O-2Aadult progenitors are derived directly from a subpopulation of O-2Aperinatal progenitors. We also provide evidence indicating that O-2Aadult progenitors are capable of prolonged self renewal in vitro. In addition, our data suggests that the in vitro generation of oligodendrocytes from O-2Aadult progenitors occurs primarily through asymmetric division and differentiation, in contrast with the self-extinguishing pattern of symmetric division and differentiation displayed by O-2Aperinatal progenitors in vitro. We suggest that O-2Aadult progenitors express at least some properties of stem cells and thus may be able to support the generation of both differentiated progeny cells as well as their own continued replenishment throughout adult life.


1984 ◽  
Vol 247 (6) ◽  
pp. G729-G735
Author(s):  
J. Leichter ◽  
T. Goda ◽  
S. D. Bhandari ◽  
S. Bustamante ◽  
O. Koldovsky

To study the relation between dietary-induced increase of intestinal lactase activity and lactose absorption, 11-wk-old rats were fed either a high-starch (70 cal%), low-fat (7 cal%) diet or a low-starch (5 cal%), high-fat (73 cal%) diet for 7 days. Food intake and body weight changes were similar in the two dietary groups. In the first experiment, lactose absorption was studied in vivo after oral administration of 600 mg lactose (10% solution in water with added [3H]PEG) to rats fasted for 16 h. Groups of rats were killed at time 0 and at 1-h intervals for the next 3 h. Lactase activity and lactose absorption were significantly higher (P less than 0.01) in the high-starch group than in the low-starch group. In the subsequent experiment, 9-wk-old rats were fed the two isocaloric diets for 3 days. By use of the everted sac technique, we have demonstrated a significantly higher absorption of monosaccharides from lactose in the high-starch diet group; also, glucose transport was higher in the high-starch diet-fed animals. When Tris, an inhibitor of lactase, was added into the mucosal fluid, absorption of lactose was abolished and no effect was seen on glucose absorption (in vivo and in vitro). In both experiments, significant linear regression was established between lactase activity and lactose absorption. Our results thus show that the increase in lactase activity, induced by feeding a high-starch diet to adult rats, is accompanied by an increased capacity to hydrolyze lactose and absorb the constituent monosaccharides.


1992 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 501-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew T. Lyos ◽  
William E. Winter ◽  
Charles M. Henley

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), a key enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis, is important in development and regeneration. We hypothesize that aminoglycoside inhibition of ODC mediates developmental hypersensitivity to aminoglycoside ototoxicity. Kanamycin effects on ODC activity (decarboxylation of ornithine) in vitro were determined in the postmitochondriai fraction of cochlear and renal homogenates from 11-day-old rats. Kanamycin inhibited cochlear and renal ODC by an uncompetitive mechanism. For the cochlear enzyme, the inhibitor constant (Ki) for kanamycin was 99 ± 25 (μmol/L; for the renal enzyme, the Ki = 1.5 ± 0.1 mmol/L. In vivo effects of kanamycin on cochlear, renal, brain ODC activity were determined in rats treated with kanamycin (400 mg/kg/day, intramuscularly) or saline during postnatal days 11 through 20, the hypersensitive period for ototoxicity. Rats were killed on postnatal days 12,14,16, and 20 and ODC was assayed. Kanamycin significantly inhibited ODC in the lateral wall-organ of Corti and kidney (ANOVA α = 0.05), but had no effect on cochlear nerve and no consistent inhibitory effect in the brain. These results suggest that ODC is a potential target of kanamycin in susceptible tissues and may be a contributing factor in developmental sensitivity to the drug by inhibiting repair and developmental processes mediated by ODC.


1988 ◽  
Vol 255 (3) ◽  
pp. E287-E292 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. P. Widmaier ◽  
P. M. Plotsky ◽  
S. W. Sutton ◽  
W. W. Vale

The neurosecretory responses of the isolated rat hypothalamus were assessed in vitro. Rat hypothalamic blocks were incubated for 30 min in a N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid-buffered salt solution with 5.5 mM glucose (base-line collection period). The blocks were transferred to fresh buffer with a new concentration of glucose with or without various additions (test period); corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and other hormones in the media were determined by radioimmunoassay. CRF secretion was maximally increased to approximately 200% of base line at glucose concentrations less than 4 mM and decreased to 65% of base line at higher glucose concentrations. The increase in CRF secretion at low glucose (0.55 or 1.38 mM) was Ca2+ dependent and completely reversible. Hexamethonium, cyproheptadine, and atropine partially blocked the CRF response to 0.55 mM glucose. Glucose concentrations from 0 to 11 mM had no effect on the CRF response to 47.5 mM KCl. The inhibitory effects of high glucose were completely reversed by the addition of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (3-49 mM). Glucose levels did not alter secretion of either gonadotropin-releasing hormone or arginine vasopressin from hypothalamic blocks. The results suggest that the isolated rat hypothalamus is extremely sensitive to the level of glucose and that CRF is rapidly and reversibly secreted in response to slight reductions in glucose concentrations. These concentrations are consistent with those observed during moderate to severe hypoglycemia in vivo. The rise in glucocorticoids observed in vivo during hypoglycemia may result at least in part from the ability of the hypothalamus to directly sense glucose levels and promote secretion of CRF.


1990 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarina Drakenberg ◽  
Claes-Göran Östenson ◽  
Vicki Sara

Abstract. A variant of IGF-I with a truncated aminoterminal region has been isolated and shown to display increased biological activity in vitro, but weak affinity of binding to the IGF binding proteins compared with intact IGF-I. In the present study, the circulating molecular forms and biological activity of intact and truncated IGF-I were compared after in vivo administration. Adult and 10-day-old rats were given 125I-truncated or 125I-intact IGF-I iv. In both adult and 10-day-old rats 125I-truncated IGF-I showed weaker affinity of binding to the IGF binding proteins and greater degradation than 125I-intact IGF-I. Serum half-life was 2 h for 125I-truncated IGF-I and 3 h for 125I-intact IGF-I in adult rats. The half-life in 10-day-old rats was 20.5 min for 125I-truncated IGF-I and 27 min for 125I-intact IGF-I. The uptake of 125I-truncated IGF-I into the kidney, liver and brain of 10-day-old rats was significantly higher than for 125I-intact IGF-I 15 min after iv administration. The insulin-like effects of the IGF-I peptides were examined in vitro and in vivo. Truncated IGF-I stimulated [3-3H]glucose incorporation into free fatty acids in adipocytes in vitro to a greater extent than did intact IGF-I. In vivo administration of both intact and truncated IGF-I to adult rats significantly decreased serum glucose levels and significantly increased the incorporation of [U-14C]glucose into glycogen. Thus, the present results demonstrated that truncated IGF-I displays reduced binding to the IGF binding proteins in vivo compared with intact IGF-I.


1982 ◽  
Vol 208 (3) ◽  
pp. 765-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
C A Brass ◽  
O Greengard

Hyperphenylalaninaemia induced by daily injections of alpha-methylphenylalanine plus phenylalanine caused 20-40% decreases in cerebral dopamine (3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine) and noradrenaline in 7- and 11-day-old rats. alpha-Methylphenylalanine alone as well as phenylalanine alone caused cerebral dopamine depletion. However, the effects were not additive, in that the depletion caused by alpha-methylphenylalanine was greater, not less, than that after treatment with both it and phenylalanine. Increased concentrations of tyrosine in the brain, owing to administered or endogenously formed tyrosine, could overcome the effect of excess phenylalanine on cerebral dopamine content. The fact that the inhibition of tyrosine hydroxylase by phenylalanine (or alpha-methylphenylalanine) in vitro was overcome by tyrosine concentrations similar to those effective in vivo further implicates the tyrosine hydroxylase inhibition as the mechanism underlying the dopamine depletion in hyperphenylalaninaemia. These results provide a theoretical basis for elevation, by tyrosine supplementation, of the cerebral phenylalanine/tyrosine ratio as a possible treatment modality for phenylketonuria.


Author(s):  
Beverly E. Maleeff ◽  
Timothy K. Hart ◽  
Stephen J. Wood ◽  
Ronald Wetzel

Alzheimer's disease is characterized post-mortem in part by abnormal extracellular neuritic plaques found in brain tissue. There appears to be a correlation between the severity of Alzheimer's dementia in vivo and the number of plaques found in particular areas of the brain. These plaques are known to be the deposition sites of fibrils of the protein β-amyloid. It is thought that if the assembly of these plaques could be inhibited, the severity of the disease would be decreased. The peptide fragment Aβ, a precursor of the p-amyloid protein, has a 40 amino acid sequence, and has been shown to be toxic to neuronal cells in culture after an aging process of several days. This toxicity corresponds to the kinetics of in vitro amyloid fibril formation. In this study, we report the biochemical and ultrastructural effects of pH and the inhibitory agent hexadecyl-N-methylpiperidinium (HMP) bromide, one of a class of ionic micellar detergents known to be capable of solubilizing hydrophobic peptides, on the in vitro assembly of the peptide fragment Aβ.


1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (05) ◽  
pp. 805-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuo Takahashi ◽  
Yoshitaka Hosaka ◽  
Hiromi Niina ◽  
Katsuaki Nagasawa ◽  
Masaaki Naotsuka ◽  
...  

SummaryWe examined the anticoagulant activity of two major molecules of soluble thrombomodulin purified from human urine. The apparent molecular weights of these urinary thrombomodulins (UTMs) were 72,000 and 79,000, respectively. Both UTMs showed more potent cofactor activity for protein C activation [specific activity >5,000 thrombomodulin units (TMU)/mg] than human placental thrombomodulin (2,180 TMU/mg) and rabbit lung thrombomodulin (1,980 TMU/mg). The UTMs prolonged thrombin-induced fibrinogen clotting time (>1 TMU/ml), APTT (>5 TMU/ml), TT (>5 TMU/ml) and PT (>40 TMU/ml) in a dose-dependent fashion. These effects appeared in the concentration range of soluble thrombomodulins present in human plasma and urine. In the rat DIC model induced by thromboplastin, administration of UTMs by infusion (300-3,000 TMU/kg) restored the hematological abnormalities derived from DIC in a dose-dependent fashion. These results demonstrate that UTMs exhibit potent anticoagulant and antithrombotic activities, and could play a physiologically important role in microcirculation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-245
Author(s):  
Gang Wang ◽  
Junjie Wang ◽  
Rui Guan

Background: Owing to the rich anticancer properties of flavonoids, there is a need for their incorporation into drug delivery vehicles like nanomicelles for safe delivery of the drug into the brain tumor microenvironment. Objective: This study, therefore, aimed to prepare the phospholipid-based Labrasol/Pluronic F68 modified nano micelles loaded with flavonoids (Nano-flavonoids) for the delivery of the drug to the target brain tumor. Methods: Myricetin, quercetin and fisetin were selected as the initial drugs to evaluate the biodistribution and acute toxicity of the drug delivery vehicles in rats with implanted C6 glioma tumors after oral administration, while the uptake, retention, release in human intestinal Caco-2 cells and the effect on the brain endothelial barrier were investigated in Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells (HBMECs). Results: The results demonstrated that nano-flavonoids loaded with myricetin showed more evenly distributed targeting tissues and enhanced anti-tumor efficiency in vivo without significant cytotoxicity to Caco-2 cells and alteration in the Trans Epithelial Electric Resistance (TEER). There was no pathological evidence of renal, hepatic or other organs dysfunction after the administration of nanoflavonoids, which showed no significant influence on cytotoxicity to Caco-2 cells. Conclusion: In conclusion, Labrasol/F68-NMs loaded with MYR and quercetin could enhance antiglioma effect in vitro and in vivo, which may be better tools for medical therapy, while the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of nano-flavonoids may ensure optimal therapeutic benefits.


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