MMM - The molecular model of memory.

Identifying mechanisms underlying neurons ability to process information including acquisition, storage, and retrieval plays an important role in the understanding of the different types of memory, pathogenesis of many neurological diseases affecting memory and therapeutic target discovery. However, the traditional understanding of the mechanisms of memory associated with the electrical signals having a unique combination of frequency and amplitude does not answer the question how the memories can survive for life-long periods of time, while exposed to synaptic noise. Recent evidence suggests that, apart from neuronal circuits, a diversity of the molecular memory (MM) carriers, are essential for memory performance.

Identification of cardiac stem cells within mature cardiac myocytes.

Cardiac stem cells are described in a number of mammalian species including humans. Cardiac stem cell clusters consisting of both lineage-negative and partially committed cells are generally identified between contracting cardiac myocytes. In the present study, c-kit(+), Sca(+), and Isl1(+) stem cells were revealed to be located inside the sarcoplasm of cardiac myocytes in myocardial cell cultures derived from newborn, 20-, and 40-day-old rats.

Intestinal injury can be reduced by intra-arterial postischemic perfusion with hypertonic saline.

Aim: To investigate the effect of local intestinal perfusion with hypertonic saline (HTS) on intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) in both ex vivo and in vivo rat models.

Methods: All experiments were performed on male Wistar rats anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium given intraperitoneally at a dose of 60 mg/kg. Ex vivo vascularly perfused rat intestine was subjected to 60-min ischemia and either 30-min reperfusion with isotonic buffer (controls), or 5 min with HTS of 365 or 415 mOsm/L osmolarity (HTS(365mOsm) or HTS(415mOsm), respectively) followed by 25-min reperfusion with isotonic buffer.