Effect of acute isooxic hypercapnia on oxidative activity of systemic neutrophils in endotoxemic rabbits.

Introduction: Whether carbon dioxide (CO) affects systemic oxidative phenomena under conditions of endotoxemia is not sufficiently clarified. The study aimed to assess the impact of moderate acute hypercapnia on the respiratory burst of circulating neutrophils in mechanically ventilated endotoxemic rabbits.

Material And Methods: Twenty-four endotoxemic rabbits were mechanically ventilated with standard or CO-enriched gas mixture in order to obtain isooxic hypercapnia.

Effects of local anesthetics on the respiratory burst of cord blood neutrophils in vitro.

Background: Whether local anesthetics exert anti-inflammatory effects in fetal and newborn systemic neutrophils is unclear. The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of bupivacaine and lidocaine on the respiratory burst of cord blood neutrophils in vitro compared with adult cells.

Methods: Whole cord blood (n = 12) and control adult blood samples (n = 7) were incubated with bupivacaine (0.

The influence of the time of day on midazolam pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in rabbits.

Background: This study evaluates the time-of-day effect on midazolam and 1-OH midazolam pharmacokinetics, and on the sedative pharmacodynamic response in rabbits. Also, circadian fluctuations in rabbits' vital signs, such as the blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature were examined. The water intake was measured in order to confirm the presence of the animals' diurnal activity.

The influence of bupivacaine on the whole blood chemiluminescence in laboring women--a preliminary report.

Objective: Local anesthetics are able to inhibit inflammatory phenomena. The influence of bupivacaine broadly applied in obstetrical anesthesia on the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is a matter of controversy. The study was aimed at elucidation of the influence of racemic bupivacaine on the opsonized zymosan (OZ) stimulated-peripheral blood chemiluminescence (CL) in laboring women, reflecting the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production associated with phagocytosis.

Mouse δ opioid receptors are located on presynaptic afferents to hippocampal pyramidal cells.

Delta opioid receptors participate in the control of chronic pain and emotional responses. Recent data have also identified their implication in drug-context associations pointing to a modulatory role on hippocampal activity. We used fluorescent knock-in mice that express a functional delta opioid receptor fused at its carboxy terminus with the green fluorescent protein in place of the native receptor to investigate the receptor neuroanatomical distribution in this structure.

Learning-related feedforward inhibitory connectivity growth required for memory precision.

In the adult brain, new synapses are formed and pre-existing ones are lost, but the function of this structural plasticity has remained unclear. Learning of new skills is correlated with formation of new synapses. These may directly encode new memories, but they may also have more general roles in memory encoding and retrieval processes.

β-Adducin is required for stable assembly of new synapses and improved memory upon environmental enrichment.

Learning is correlated with the assembly of new synapses, but the roles of synaptogenesis processes in memory are poorly understood. Here, we show that mice lacking β-Adducin fail to assemble new synapses upon enhanced plasticity and exhibit diminished long-term hippocampal memory upon environmental enrichment. Enrichment-enhanced the disassembly and assembly of dynamic subpopulations of synapses.

EphA4 signaling in juveniles establishes topographic specificity of structural plasticity in the hippocampus.

The formation and loss of synapses is involved in learning and memory. Distinct subpopulations of permanent and plastic synapses coexist in the adult brain, but the principles and mechanisms underlying the establishment of these distinctions remain unclear. Here we show that in the hippocampus, terminal arborizations (TAs) with high plasticity properties are specified at juvenile stages, and account for most synapse turnover of adult mossy fibers.

The plasma membrane calcium ATPase MCA-3 is required for clathrin-mediated endocytosis in scavenger cells of Caenorhabditis elegans.

Plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPases (PMCAs) maintain proper intracellular Ca2+ levels by extruding Ca2+ from the cytosol. PMCA genes and splice forms are expressed in tissue-specific patterns in vertebrates, suggesting that these isoforms may regulate specific biological processes. However, knockout mutants die as embryos or undergo cell death; thus, it is unclear whether other cell processes utilize PMCAs or whether these pumps are largely committed to the control of toxic levels of calcium.