Aphrodisiac property of aerial parts of Trianthema decandra Linn.

Aim of the study is to identify and evaluate the active constituents present in the aerial parts of Trianthema decandra Linn. The fresh aerial parts of plant were collected, dried under shade, coarsely powdered and successively extracted with different solvents based on increasing order of polarity. All the extracts of the plant were subjected for phytochemical screening. The methanol extract was screened for aphrodisiac activity. The sexual activity of male mice in Assessment of mating model was determined by administering methanolic extract of Trianthema decandra of different doses and each male mouse was placed in separate cage. After one hour, five oestrous females were placed into each cage and cohabitated overnight. The vaginal smear of each female mouse was examined next day under the microscope to confirm mating by the presence of sperms. To study the Effect on fertility in mice model, different groups of animals (mice) were treated as above and each male mouse was placed in separate cage. After one hour, one oestrous female with proven fertility was admitted into each cage and cohabitated overnight. These females were watched for pregnancy and birth of offspring’s. In the conclusion, out of all test extract doses of Trianthema decandra, medium and high dose showed significant aphrodisiac activity when compared with control and standard groups. Hence this reveals that Trianthema decandra have fertility enhancing activity. Further research is needed to identify biologically active constituents for fertility enhancing activity.

Diurnal rhythms of hepatic carbohydrate metabolism during development of the rat

The `8+16' feeding schedule (8h feeding and 16h without food in each 24h cycle) was applied to nursing mother rats to study enzyme development in neonatal rats in the absence of solid food. A `16+8' suckling schedule (16h with the mother and 8h while the mother is fed in a separate cage) was used to show that the increases in pyruvate kinase, glucokinase and aldolase B activities that occur in the late suckling period of liver development do not require the intake of solid food at this time. Their activities may, however, be modulated by the composition of the diet at the time of weaning. Adaptation to the composition of the diet can occur within one feeding period, and to the periodicity of food provision in one or two feeding periods. In the early neonatal period, diurnal rhythms of tyrosine aminotransferase, liver glycogen and glucokinase are either greatly suppressed or absent, but develop rapidly after weaning. Food-dependent rhythms of glycogen and tyrosine aminotransferase were included in the late suckling period (day 14).

Susceptibility of caesarian-derived rats to natural infection with chronic respiratory disease

Young caesarian-derived rats, sharing cages with conventional rats, developed chronic respiratory disease after 2 months if the conventional rats were young, and after 1 month if they were old. Old caesarian-derived rats developed the disease after only 2 weeks of exposure, irrespective of the age of the cage mate. In long-term experiments, caesarian-derived rats acquired chronic respiratory disease from conventional rats even when kept separately in wiremesh cages adjacent to theirs. If caesarian-derived rats were kept in a separate cage 4 feet away from infected stock more than 1/3 of the rats did not develop chronic respiratory disease, and in the remainder the disease was retarded. When facilities are restricted and it is desirable to use caesarian-derived stock these, if young, could be housed with young conventional rats for up to 2 months with little risk of developing chronic respiratory disease.

A Method of Rearing Caddisflies (Trichoptera)

In a number of the systematic studies of caddisflies with which I have been concerned, it has been necessary to rear larvae to the adult stage in the laboratory. Several methods proposed for rearing aquatic insects were considered, but these seemed open to some improvement, mainly because, for my purpose, it was necessary to rear large numbers of larvae in individual containers. For this reason the rearing equipment described here was designed. The principal advantage gained through its use is that relatively little maintenance is required to achieve fairly constant rearing conditions for large numbers of larvae, with each larva in a separate cage. By combining a number of individual cages into a unit, with its own supply of water and compressed air, attention to the needs of each individual cage is reduced considerably. By adding additional units, the capacity of the equipment can be doubled or trebled, while the corresponding increase in the maintenance requirements is proportionately much lower. In addition to providing an efficient means of rearing larvae in the laboratory, the same equipment can be used in the field under various conditions. Although caddisflies have been the only insects reared up to now, it is altogether likely that similar equipment would be suitable for other aquatic groups as well.

The incidence of cancer in mice of known age

The opportunity of obtaining accurate information of the frequency of spontaneous cancer in mice at different age-period has presented itself in the course of a prolonged inquiry into the possibility of hereditary transmission of a liability to cancer. We have approached the question of heredity experimentally by breeding systematically from mice spontaneously affected with malignant new growths, and propose to determine the frequency of spontaneous cancer in mice in whose ancestry the disease has occurred with varying frequency. This investigation is still in progress and cannot be reviewed profitably for several years, but the data which have so far accumulated are of sufficient interest, in their bearing upon the statistical and biological importance of the age-incident of the disease, to warrant a preliminary account being published ; although the small numbers at present available still render the greatest caution necessary. The method by which the data have been obtained is as follows : Mice spontaneously affected with cancer are not killed when brought into the laboratory, but the tumors are excised and used for translation. The clinical course, the microscopical examination and the results of transplantation. The clinical course, the microscopical examination, and the result of transplantation of the tumours, together with post-mortem examination of the animals, give the best security for the correctness of the diagnosis of cancer. It is only under these precautions that the breeding experiments have proceeded. Each spontaneously affected mouse, or pair mated for breeding, has been housed in a separate cage. The cages have been sterilised and changed at regular intervals. In the first instance, the males mated with these spontaneously affected animals received pregnant. Later, males bred in the laboratory from cancerous parents were used, so that the pedigrees constructed for the later litters show some strains with a relatively enormous preponderance or cancerous ancestors. When a little is born each young mouse receives a number, the date of birth is entered in a list, and the sex and colour or other distinguishing marks noted against each. So soon as they are able to look after themselves the litters are separated from the mother, and the males and females segregated in fresh cages. It is thus possible to distinguish each animal born in the laboratory by reference to an index, which at once gives the ancestry, the date of birth, and the age of the animal in question. The mice have been systematically examined daily.