Ethanol intake during lactation. II. Effects On pups' liver and brain metabolism.

Lactating rats, with litters adjusted to 8 pups on day 1, were divided into 4 groups: control animals (C), which received water and Nuvilab chow ad libitum, and ethanol animals (E), which received 20% (E20), 10% (E10), or 5% (E5) ethanol diluted in the drinking water and Nuvilab chow ad libitum. On day 12 of life, the pups were weighed and decapitated. The intake of 10% and 20% ethanol solutions by the lactating rats decreased the pups' body weight and liver weight.

Ethanol intake during lactation. I. Effects On dams' metabolism and pups' body weight gain.

Wistar lactating rats (8 pups per dam) had free access to either tap water (control group, C) or one of three concentrations of ethanol (E) in the drinking water: 5% (E5), 10% (E10), and 20% (E20). All animals received normal rat chow ad libitum and were killed on day 12 of lactation. Intake of both 10% and 20% ethanol solutions decreased food intake, dams' body weight, and pups' body weight gain as compared with findings in the C group.

Catalase activity is necessary for heat-shock recovery in Aspergillus nidulans germlings.

To understand the molecular mechanisms induced by stress that contribute to the development of tolerance in eukaryotic cells, the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans has been chosen as a model system. Here, the response of A. nidulans germlings to heat shock is reported.

Effect of adrenalectomy and glucocorticoid therapy on lipid metabolism of lactating rats.

Although adrenal glucocorticoids were known to be important for adequate milk production, little is known about their effects on the metabolism of mammary glands during lactation. In this study, lactating Wistar rats on the 12th day of lactation were divided in the following groups: sham-operated (SO) and adrenalectomized (ADX) receiving no treatment; SO and ADX starved for 24 h and refed intragastrically with 2.5 ml of 50% glucose solution, 2 h before the experiment (SOR and ADXR) and ADX receiving substitute therapy with dexamethasone (ADX + DEX).

Lactate transport by cortical synaptosomes from adult rat brain: characterization of kinetics and inhibitor specificity.

Since lactate released by glial cells may be a key substrate for energy in neurons, the kinetics for the uptake of L-[U-14C]lactate by cortical synaptic terminals from 7- to 8-week-old rat brain were determined. Lactate uptake was temperature-dependent, and increased by 64.9% at pH 6.

Post-discharge surveillance and infection rates in obstetric patients.

Objective: To study the impact of post-discharge surveillance on the detection of nosocomial surgical site infection (SSI) after cesarean section and vaginal delivery.

Methods: During a 21-month period, all patients attending the obstetrics service in labor were recruited for a observational study on the incidence of SSI. Examinations to detect SSI were performed daily during the hospitalization period and up to 30 days after hospital discharge in an outpatient clinic supervised by the Infection Control Committee.

Transport of L-lactate by cultured rat brain astrocytes.

Several reports indicate that lactate can serve as an energy substrate for the brain. The rate of oxidation of this substrate by cultured rat brain astrocytes was 3-fold higher than the rate with glucose, suggesting that lactate can serve as an energy source for these cells. Since transport into the astrocytes may play an important role in regulating nutrient use by individuals types of brain cells, we investigated the uptake of L-[U-14C]lactate by primary cultures of rat brain astrocytes.

The metabolism of malate by cultured rat brain astrocytes.

Since malate is known to play an important role in a variety of functions in the brain including energy metabolism, the transfer of reducing equivalents and possibly metabolic trafficking between different cell types; a series of biochemical determinations were initiated to evaluate the rate of 14CO2 production from L-[U-14C]malate in primary cultures of rat brain astrocytes. The 14CO2 production from labeled malate was almost totally suppressed by the metabolic inhibitors rotenone and antimycin A suggesting that most of malate metabolism was coupled to the electron transport system. A double reciprocal plot of the 14CO2 production from the metabolism of labeled malate revealed biphasic kinetics with two apparent Km and Vmax values suggesting the presence of more than one mechanism of malate metabolism in these cells.

Hydrolysis of the brain dipeptide N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate. Identification and characterization of a novel N-acetylated alpha-linked acidic dipeptidase activity from rat brain.

High performance liquid chromatography studies documented the presence of an enzyme activity, N-acetylated alpha-linked acidic dipeptidase (NAALA dipeptidase), in rat brain membranes that cleaves the endogenous brain dipeptide, N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate to N-acetyl-aspartate and glutamate. With ion exchange chromatography, which quantitatively separated [3,4-3H]glutamate from N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-[3,4-3H]glutamate, we found that NAALA dipeptidase activity was essentially restricted to nervous tissue and kidney. We characterized NAALA dipeptidase activity in lysed synaptosomal membranes obtained from rat forebrain.