A Method for Assessing Working Memory in Rats Using Controlled Virtual Environment.

Unlabelled: is to develop an experimental method to effectively assess the working memory in rats. The method uses a state-of-the-art controlled virtual environment with a virtual maze. The setup includes a treadmill for rodents, a fixation system, a dome for displaying virtual environment, and a control unit.

Delivery system for dexamethasone phosphate based on a Zn-crosslinked polyelectrolyte complex of diethylaminoethyl chitosan and chondroitin sulfate.

Hybrid nano- and microparticles based on metal ion crosslinked biopolymers are promising carriers for the development of drug delivery systems with improved biopharmaceutical properties. In this work, dexamethasone phosphate-containing particles based on chondroitin sulfate and chitosan or diethylaminoethyl chitosan additionally crosslinked with Zn were prepared. Depending on the polycation/polyanion ratio in the system, anionic and cationic polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) were obtained.

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines.

In recent decades, the chiral allylation of imines emerged as a key methodology in the synthesis of alkaloids and natural products with 4-, 5- and 6-membered cyclic amine motifs. Initially reliant on stoichiometric reagents, synthetic chemists predominantly used -substituted chiral imines, organometallic chiral reagents and achiral reagents with an equimolar chiral controller. However, recent years have witnessed the rise of asymmetric transition-metal catalysts and, importantly, organocatalytic allylation, reshaping the landscape of modern synthetic chemistry.

Optogenetic stimulation of medial septal glutamatergic neurons modulates theta-gamma coupling in the hippocampus.

Hippocampal cross-frequency theta-gamma coupling (TGC) is a basic mechanism for information processing, retrieval, and consolidation of long-term and working memory. While the role of entorhinal afferents in the modulation of hippocampal TGC is widely accepted, the influence of other main input to the hippocampus, from the medial septal area (MSA, the pacemaker of the hippocampal theta rhythm) is poorly understood. Optogenetics allows us to explore how different neuronal populations of septohippocampal circuits control neuronal oscillations in vivo.

The Cellular Respiration of Endometrial Biopsies from Patients with Various Forms of Endometriosis.

Endometriosis is one of the leading pathologies of the reproductive system of women of fertile age, which shows changes in cell metabolism in the lesions. We conducted a study of the cellular respiration according to the polarography and the mRNA content of the main metabolic proteins using qRT-PCR of intraoperative endometrial biopsies from patients in the control group and with different localizations of endometriosis (adenomyosis, endometrioma, pelvic peritoneum). In biopsy samples of patients with endometriomas and pelvic peritoneum endometriotic lesions, the rate of oxygen absorption was significantly reduced, and, moreover, in the extragenital case, there was a shift to succinate utilization.

Behavioral performance and microglial status in mice after moderate dose of proton irradiation.

Cognitive impairment is a remote effect of gamma radiation treatment of malignancies. The major part of the studies on the effect of proton irradiation (a promising alternative in the treatment of radio-resistant tumors and tumors located close to critical organs) on the cognitive abilities of laboratory animals and their relation to morphological changes in the brain is rather contradictory. The aim of this study was to investigate cognitive functions and the dynamics of changes in morphological parameters of hippocampal microglial cells after 7.

Uridine as a Regulator of Functional and Ultrastructural Changes in the Brain of Rats in a Model of 6-OHDA-Induced Parkinson's Disease.

Using a model of Parkinson's disease (PD) induced by the bilateral injection of neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into rat brain substantia nigra (SN), we showed uridine to exert a protective effect associated with activation of the mitochondrial ATP-dependent potassium (mitoK-ATP) channel. Injection of 4 µg neurotoxin evoked a 70% decrease in the time the experimental animal spent on the rod in the RotaRod test, an increase in the amount of lipid peroxides in blood serum and cerebral-cortex mitochondria and the rate of reactive oxygen species formation, and a decrease in Ca retention in mitochondria. Herewith, lymphocytes featured an increase in the activity of lactate dehydrogenase, a cytosolic enzyme of glycolysis, without changes in succinate-dehydrogenase activity.

Memristive Neural Networks for Predicting Seizure Activity.

Unlabelled: is to assess the possibilities of predicting epileptiform activity using the neuronal activity data recorded from the hippocampus and medial entorhinal cortex of mice with chronic epileptiform activity. To reach this goal, a deep artificial neural network (ANN) has been developed and its implementation based on memristive devices has been demonstrated.

Materials And Methods: Young healthy outbred CD1 mice were used in our study.

Assessment of heavy metals distribution and environmental risk parameters in bottom sediments of the Pechora River estuary (Arctic Ocean Basin).

The article is devoted to the study of the content of heavy metals in the bottom sediments of the estuary of the Pechora River, which is the largest river in the European Arctic of Russia. In addition to metals, the particle size distribution and physicochemical parameters of river sediments were analyzed, such as the content of carbonates, organics and ash components. Average concentrations of heavy metals in the sediments of the Pechora Delta sediment have been found to be significantly lower than terrestrial values.

Biophysical Characterization and Cytocompatibility of Cellulose Cryogels Reinforced with Chitin Nanowhiskers.

Polysaccharide-based cryogels are promising materials for producing scaffolds in tissue engineering. In this work, we obtained ultralight (0.046-0.

Theta and gamma hippocampal-neocortical oscillations during the episodic-like memory test: Impairment in epileptogenic rats.

Cortical oscillations in different frequency bands have been shown to be intimately involved in exploration of environment and cognition. Here, the local field potentials in the hippocampus, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and the medial entorhinal cortex (mEC) were recorded simultaneously in rats during the execution of the episodic-like memory task. The power of theta (~4-10 Hz), slow gamma (~25-50 Hz), and fast gamma oscillations (~55-100 Hz) was analyzed in all structures examined.

Aβ initiates brain hypometabolism, network dysfunction and behavioral abnormalities via NOX2-induced oxidative stress in mice.

A predominant trigger and driver of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the synergy of brain oxidative stress and glucose hypometabolism starting at early preclinical stages. Oxidative stress damages macromolecules, while glucose hypometabolism impairs cellular energy supply and antioxidant defense. However, the exact cause of AD-associated glucose hypometabolism and its network consequences have remained unknown.

Selective Electrosynthetic Hydrocarboxylation of α,β-Unsaturated Esters with Carbon Dioxide*.

The carboxylation of low-value commodity chemicals to provide higher-value carboxylic acids is of significant interest. Recently alternative routes to the traditional hydroformylation processes that used potentially toxic carbon monoxide and a transition metal catalyst have appeared. A significant challenge has been the selectivity observed for olefin carboxylation.

Selective α,δ-hydrocarboxylation of conjugated dienes utilizing CO and electrosynthesis.

To date the majority of diene carboxylation processes afford the α,δ-dicarboxylated product, the selective mono-carboxylation of dienes is a significant challenge and the major product reported under transition metal catalysis arises from carboxylation at the α-carbon. Herein we report a new electrosynthetic approach, that does not rely on a sacrificial electrode, the reported method allows unprecedented direct access to carboxylic acids derived from dienes at the δ-position. In addition, the α,δ-dicarboxylic acid or the α,δ-reduced alkene can be easily accessed by simple modification of the reaction conditions.

A synthetic diterpene analogue inhibits mycobacterial persistence and biofilm formation by targeting (p)ppGpp synthetases.

Bacterial persistence coupled with biofilm formation is directly associated with failure of antibiotic treatment of tuberculosis. We have now identified 4-(4,7-DiMethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroNaphthalene-1-yl)Pentanoic acid (DMNP), a synthetic diterpene analogue, as a lead compound that was capable of suppressing persistence and eradicating biofilms in Mycobacterium smegmatis. By using two reciprocal experimental approaches - Δrel and ΔrelZ gene knockout mutations versus rel and relZ overexpression technique - we showed that both Rel and RelZ (p)ppGpp synthetases are plausible candidates for serving as targets for DMNP.

Low dose of carbon ion irradiation induces early delayed cognitive impairments in mice.

People often encounter various sources of ionizing radiation, both in modern medicine and under various environmental conditions, such as space travel, nuclear power plants or in conditions of man-made disasters that may lead to long-term cognitive impairment. Whilst the effect of exposure to low and high doses of gamma and X-radiation on the central nervous system (CNS) has been well investigated, the consequences of protons and heavy ions irradiation are quite different and poorly understood. As for the assessment of long-term effects of carbon ions on cognitive abilities and neurodegeneration, very few data appeared in the literature.

Denaturation of human plasma high-density lipoproteins by urea studied by apolipoprotein A-I dissociation.

We studied the mechanism of HDL denaturation with concomitant apoA-I dissociation with HDL preparations from 48 patients with a wide range of plasma HDL-C and evaluated the contribution of lipid-free apoA-I into cholesterol efflux from macrophage, in particular, mediated by cholesterol transporter ABCA1. We prepared HDL by precipitation of apoB-containing lipoproteins by polyethylene glycol and used the chaotropic agent urea to denature HDL preparations. Apo-I dissociation from urea-treated HDL was assessed by the increase of preβ-band fraction with agarose gel electrophoresis followed by electro transfer and immunodetection and by the increase of ABCA1-mediated efflux of fluorescent analogue BODIPY-Cholesterol from RAW 264.

Mapping the properties of bidentate ligands with calculated descriptors (LKB-bid).

We have extended the Ligand Knowledge Base (LKB) approach to consider a broad range of bidentate ligands, varying donors, substituents and backbones, which gives rise to a diverse set of 224 ligands in a new database, LKB-bid. Using a subset of steric and electronic parameters described previously for bidentate P,P-donor ligands (LKB-PP), here this approach has been applied to a wider set of bidentate ligands, to explore how these modifications affect the properties of organometallic complexes. The resulting database has been processed with Principal Component Analysis (PCA), generating a "map" of ligand space which highlights the contribution of donor atoms and bridge length to the variation in ligand properties.

Ultrastructural Alterations in Granular Neurons of the Dentate Fascia Caused by Intrahippocampal Injection of Beta-Amyloid 1-42.

The deposition of beta-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain is detected in Alzheimer's disease and during ageing. Until now, ultrastructural studies of changes caused by Aβ in the dentate gyrus are very scarce. The effects of Aβ 1-42 injection into the CA1 field of rat hippocampus were studied by electron microscopy.

Selective hippocampal cell damage and mossy fiber sprouting induced by chronic intracerebral injections of 2-deoxy-D-glucose.

A reduction in glucose consumption has been shown in both patients with acquired epilepsy and in animal epilepsy models. However, the question remains whether the disturbance of glucose metabolism is the driving force of epileptogenesis. We have recently reported that a chronic partial inhibition of brain glycolysis by the non-metabolizable glucose analogue 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) triggers epileptogenesis in initially healthy rats.

Harnessing Applied Potential: Selective β-Hydrocarboxylation of Substituted Olefins.

The construction of carboxylic acid compounds in a selective fashion from low value materials such as alkenes remains a long-standing challenge to synthetic chemists. In particular, β-addition to styrenes is underdeveloped. Herein we report a new electrosynthetic approach to the selective hydrocarboxylation of alkenes that overcomes the limitations of current transition metal and photochemical approaches.

Interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor-β1 facilitate long-term potentiation in CA1 region of hippocampus.

It has been shown that pro-inflammatory cytokines preferentially attenuate long-term potentiation (LTP), at the same time the effect of anti-inflammatory cytokines on synaptic plasticity has not been fully studied yet. Here we studied the effect of two anti-inflammatory cytokines - interleukin-10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) on long-term potentiation. It was found that exogenously added IL-10 as well as TGF-β1 were able to effectively facilitate LTP evoked with ether high frequency or theta burst stimulation protocols in CA1 area of hippocampus.

CLARITY analysis of the Cl/pH sensor expression in the brain of transgenic mice.

Genetically encoded biosensors are widely used in cell biology for the non-invasive imaging of concentrations of ions or the activity of enzymes, to evaluate the distribution of small molecules, proteins and organelles, and to image protein interactions in living cells. These fluorescent molecules can be used either by transient expression in cultured cells or in entire organisms or through stable expression by producing transgenic animals characterized by genetically encoded and heritable biosensors. Using the mouse Thy1 mini-promoter, we generated a line of transgenic mice expressing a genetically encoded sensor for the simultaneous measurements of intracellular Cl and pH.

Stereoselective Synthesis of Atropisomeric Bipyridine N,N'-Dioxides by Oxidative Coupling.

Bipyridine N,N'-dioxide is a structural fragment found in many bioactive compounds. Furthermore, chiral analogues secured their place as powerful Lewis base catalysts. The scope of the existing methods for the synthesis of atropisomeric bipyridine N,N'-dioxides is limited.