Age-Related Alterations in Blood Biochemical Characterization of Hepatorenal Function in the PCK Rat: A Model of Polycystic Kidney Disease.

PCK rats develop age-related polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and liver disease and have been used to investigate pharmacotherapies to ameliorate hepatorenal lesions for patients with PKD. The PCK rat may be useful to understand the possible susceptibility to hepatotoxicity observed in the patient with PKD having hepatic polycystic lesions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the background blood biochemical changes that reflect the hepatorenal function of PCK rats as well as the terminal histopathology in order to determine whether this model would be suitable for extrapolating the susceptibility of hepatotoxicity in patients.

Refractive index profile changes caused by arc discharge in long-period fiber gratings fabricated by a point-by-point method.

Long-period fiber gratings were inscribed in a commercial silica fiber by a point-by-point arc discharge technique with different discharge conditions. The refractive index (RI) profile change induced by arc discharge was measured using the quantitative phase microscopy for the first time to our knowledge. The causes of the transmission variations induced by different arc discharges and the mechanisms of the RI profile change were investigated based on the measured phase profiles.

Transfer-matrix method based on a discrete coupling model for analyzing uniform and nonuniform codirectional fiber grating couplers.

A simple and efficient transfer-matrix method based on a discrete coupling model is presented to analyze uniform and nonuniform fiber grating couplers between copropagating core and cladding modes. Uniform and piecewise-uniform long-period gratings were fabricated by a point-by-point arc discharge technique. Their measured transmission spectra were compared with the transmission spectra calculated by the presented method.

Nonclinical safety profile of tolvaptan.

Purpose: In the present study, the nonclinical safety profile of tolvaptan was evaluated.

Methods: A series of safety pharmacology and toxicology studies were performed in vitro and in mice, rats, dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs.

Results: In safety pharmacological studies, tolvaptan had no adverse effects on the central nervous, somatic nervous, autonomic nervous, smooth muscle, respiratory and cardiovascular, or digestive systems.

Gene expression profile in liver of differing ages of rats after single oral administration of acetaminophen.

In order to verify the influence of the rat age on hepatotoxicity, male Sprague-Dawley rats of 6 (young) and 12 (adult) weeks of age were orally administered acetaminophen (APAP), isoniazid (INH), or carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Liver samples were obtained in a time-course manner, and changes in gene expression examined by an Affymetrix GeneChip. APAP caused more prominent hepatic injury with respect to pathology and blood biochemistry in adults than in young rats, whereas no obvious age-related differences were observed in INH- or CCl4-treated rats.

Effect of the difference in vehicles on gene expression in the rat liver--analysis of the control data in the Toxicogenomics Project Database.

The Toxicogenomics Project is a 5-year collaborative project by the Japanese government and pharmaceutical companies in 2002. Its aim is to construct a large-scale toxicology database of 150 compounds orally administered to rats. The test consists of a single administration test (3, 6, 9 and 24 h) and a repeated administration test (3, 7, 14 and 28 days), and the conventional toxicology data together with the gene expression data in liver as analyzed by using Affymetrix GeneChip are being accumulated.

Adjusting resonance wavelengths of long-period fiber gratings by the glass-structure change.

Long-period fiber gratings written by arc discharge are heated at different temperatures, and the postheating changes of transmission characteristics are investigated. The resonance wavelengths are shifted to longer wavelengths by heating at a temperature lower than the fictive temperature of the fiber, and they move more quickly with increasing heating temperature. The resonance wavelength shifts more for the loss peak generated by the higher cladding mode.