Neuron-Glia-Ratio-Like Approach Evidenced for Limited Variability and In-Aggregate Circadian Shifts in Cortical Cell-Specific Transcriptomes.

Regardless of shifts in levels of individual transcripts, it remains elusive whether natural variability in cell-specific transcriptomes within the cerebral cortex is limited in aggregate. It is also unclear whether cortical cell-specific transcriptomes might change dynamically in absence of cell number changes. Total variation in neuron- and glia-specific in-aggregate transcriptomes could be identified in a model-free way via glia-neuron ratio approach, by univariate median-to-median ratios comparing integral levels of cell-specific transcripts within a tissue sample.

Molecular mechanisms of exceptional lifespan increase of Drosophila melanogaster with different genotypes after combinations of pro-longevity interventions.

Aging is one of the global challenges of our time. The search for new anti-aging interventions is also an issue of great actuality. We report on the success of Drosophila melanogaster lifespan extension under the combined influence of dietary restriction, co-administration of berberine, fucoxanthin, and rapamycin, photodeprivation, and low-temperature conditions up to 185 days in w strain and up to 213 days in long-lived E(z)/w mutants.

Fitness Analysis and Transcriptome Profiling Following Repeated Mild Heat Stress of Varying Frequency in Females.

Understanding how repeated stress affects metabolic and physiological functions in the long run is of crucial importance for evaluating anthropogenic pressure on the environment. We investigated fertility, longevity and metabolism in females exposed to short-term heat stress (38 °C, 1 h) repeated daily or weekly. Daily stress was shown to cause a significant decrease in both fertility and longevity, as well as in body mass and triglyceride (fat) content, but a significant increase in trehalose and glucose content.

A Link between Atmospheric Pressure and Fertility of Laboratory Strains.

Standardization of conditions under which insects are kept is of great importance when studying their physiology and researchers do their best to maintain it. Nevertheless, sometimes an obvious side effect of some unaccounted factor affecting insects' reproduction can be revealed even under thoroughly controlled laboratory conditions. We faced such a phenomenon when studying the fertility level in two wild type strains.

The transcription factor controls the expression of insulin pathway genes and lipids content under heat stress in .

The insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) pathway is one of the key elements in an organism's response to unfavourable conditions. The deep homology of this pathway and its evolutionary conservative role in controlling the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism make it possible to use for studying its functioning. To identify the properties of interaction of two key IIS pathway components under heat stress in (the forkhead box O transcription factor () and insulin-like peptide 6 (), which intermediates the signal sent from the fat body to the insulin-producing cells of the brain where DILPs1-5 are synthesized), we analysed the expression of the genes , and insulin-like receptor gene in females of strains carrying the hypomorphic mutation and hypofunctional mutation .

Unique Wolbachia strain wMelPlus increases heat stress resistance in Drosophila melanogaster.

Maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia infects Drosophila melanogaster populations worldwide. Its genetic diversity includes several closely related genotypes, which can be attributed to two main genotype groups: wMel and wMelCS. Here, we studied eight D.

The effect of mild heat stress of different frequencies on the adaptability of Drosophila melanogaster females.

In natural populations, insects regularly face an adverse impact of different natures: harsh weather swings, lack of food resources, the insecticidal treatment. We studied the effect of repeated episodes of mild heat stress of different frequencies on stress resistance of Drosophila melanogaster females. We found out that the mild heat stress (38°С, 1 hr) repeated daily within 2 weeks resulted in (a) an increased activity of the dopamine (DA) metabolism enzymes, DA-dependent arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase and alkaline phosphatase, which suggested a decrease in DA level, and (b) an increased survival rate under acute heat stress (38°С, 4 hr).

female fertility and juvenile hormone metabolism depends on the type of infection.

Maternally inherited intracellular bacteria cause both parasitic and mutualistic effects on their numerous insect hosts, including manipulating the host reproductive system in order to increase the bacteria spreading in a host population, and increasing the host fitness. Here, we demonstrate that the type of infection determines the effect on egg production as a proxy for fecundity, and metabolism of juvenile hormone (JH), which acts as gonadotropin in adult insects. For this study, we used six lineages carrying the nuclear background of interbred Bi90 lineage and cytoplasmic backgrounds with or without of different genotype variants.

Various Wolbachia genotypes differently influence host Drosophila dopamine metabolism and survival under heat stress conditions.

Background: One of the most widespread prokaryotic symbionts of invertebrates is the intracellular bacteria of Wolbachia genus which can be found in about 50% of insect species. Wolbachia causes both parasitic and mutualistic effects on its host that include manipulating the host reproductive systems in order to increase their transmission through the female germline, and increasing the host fitness. One of the mechanisms, promoting adaptation in biological organisms, is a non-specific neuroendocrine stress reaction.

Estimation of an area between the baseline and the effect curve parameter for lactate levels in the hippocampi of neonatal rats during anesthesia.

Naturally occurring caspase-3-dependent cell death is a widespread event in the immature nervous system. Prolonged exposure to anesthetics promotes activation of caspase-3 in the developing hippocampus. In addition, anesthetics can upregulate the levels of metabolite lactate in the adult brain.

Frequency of 3' VNTR Polymorphism in the Dopamine Transporter Gene SLC6A3 in Humans Predisposed to Antisocial Behavior.

Predisposition to antisocial behavior can be related to the presence of certain polymorphic variants of genes encoding dopaminergic system proteins. We studied the frequencies of allele variants and genotypes of variable number tandem repeat polymorphism in 3' untranslated region (3' VTNR) of the dopaminergic transporter SLC6A3 gene in Caucasian men committed socially dangerous violent and non-violent crimes. Alleles with 9 and 10 repeats were most frequent in both the control group and group of men predisposed to antisocial behavior.

Anoxia ameliorates the dexamethasone-induced neurobehavioral alterations in the neonatal male rat pups.

Glucocorticoids and hypoxia are two essential factors affecting the brain development during labor and delivery. In addition to the neurobehavioral alterations induced separately by these factors, glucocorticoids can attenuate the deleterious consequences of severe hypoxia-ischemia on the brain development, acting as a neuroprotective agent in combination with hypoxia. The role of hypoxia in the combined action with corticosteroids is less clear.

Insulin-like peptide DILP6 regulates juvenile hormone and dopamine metabolism in Drosophila females.

Insulin-like peptide DILP6 is a component of the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway of Drosophila. Juvenile hormone (JH) and dopamine (DA) are involved in the stress response and in the control of reproduction. In this study, we investigate whether DILP6 regulates the JH and DA levels by studying the effect of a strong hypomorphic mutation dilp6 on JH and DA metabolism in D.

Toxic Effects of Lithium Chloride during Early Neonatal Period of Rat Development.

Lithium chloride (85, 255, or 255+127 μg/kg) or dexamethasone (0.2 or 2 mg/kg) were subcutaneously injected to 3-day-old rat pups, whose excretory system did not yet attain functional maturity. Both agents retarded the growth of rat pups and delayed the appearance of negative geotaxis.

proBDNF is a major product of bdnf gene expressed in the perinatal rat cortex.

In the developing brain, mature brain derived neurotrophic factor (mBDNF) and its precursor (proBDNF) exhibit prosurvival and proapoptotic functions, respectively. However, it is still unknown whether mBDNF or proBDNF is a major form of neurotrophin expressed in the immature brain, as well as if the level of active caspase-3 correlates with the levels of BDNF forms during normal brain development. Here we found that both proBDNF and mBDNF were expressed abundantly in the rat brainstem, hippocampus and cerebellum between embryonic day 20 and postnatal day 8.

[Knockdown of InR gene in ventral nephrocytes promotes resistance to toxic stress in Drosophila melanogaster females].

Hemolymph filtration in insects is performed by nephrocytes, additional cells of the circulatory system that are not connected to Malpighian vessels. Drosophila has two types of nephrocytes: the ventral ("garland"), which are situated around the connection site of the esophagus and proventriculus, and the pericardial, which are localized around the heart. In this study, we examined the role of the of insulin-like receptor (InR)gene in regulation of the function of ventral nephrocytes (VNC) in D.

[The effects of dexamethasone and hypoxia on the content of active caspase-3 in the cerebellum and the behavior of neonatal rats].

Synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone decreased locomotor activity of neonatal rats 120 h after administration. Behavioral changes were associated with an increase in the content of active caspase-3 in the cerebellum. We found that expression of this apoptotic protease was similar to the control value when dexamethasone action was combined to hypoxic treatment to rats; however, the locomotor activity decreased to the hormone action did not recovered.

Disruption of insulin signalling affects the neuroendocrine stress reaction in Drosophila females.

Juvenile hormone (JH) and dopamine are involved in the stress response in insects. The insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway has also recently been found to be involved in the regulation of various processes, including stress tolerance. However, the relationships between the JH, dopamine and insulin signalling pathways remain unclear.

Dexamethasone suppresses the locomotor response of neonatal rats to novel environment.

Locomotion of animals in the novel environment is determined by two main factors-the intrinsic motor activity and the specific locomotor response to novelty. Glucocorticoids alter neurobehavioral development of mammals and its locomotor manifestations. However, it remains unclear whether the intrinsic and/or the novelty-induced activity are affected by glucocorticoids during early life.

[Features of spontaneous locomotor activity in neonatal rats in a novel environment].

Dynamics of spontaneous locomotor activity was investigated in neonatal rats. The increased level of activity and its subsequent decrease in testing were observed already on postnatal day 6 and persisted during the second week of development. These behavioral features were due to simultaneous changes in motility of both front and hind limbs.

[Analysis of mosaic expression of the nptII gene in transgenic tobacco plant lines contrasting in mosaicism].

Differences in the frequency of occurrence of plants with the mosaic phenotype between the Nu5 and Nu6 lines of transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants remained irrespective of the allelic state of the nptII marker gene. Transition of the nptII gene from the hemizygous state (T3) to the homozygous state (T4) was accompanied by an increase in the frequency of mosaics in both lines. Transition from the homozygous state (T4) into the hemizygous state (F1) resulted in a further increase in the frequency of mosaic plants in the Nu5 line, whereas in the Nu6 line this parameter remained at a high level.

Acute antiapoptotic effects of hydrocortisone in the hippocampus of neonatal rats.

Natural glucocorticoid hydrocortisone was suggested as a potent substitution for dexamethasone in the treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in neonates. The aim of this study was to investigate whether hydrocortisone is able to affect the expression of apoptotic genes and the intensity of naturally occurring cell death in the developing rat hippocampus. Hormone treatment decreased procaspase-3 and active caspase-3 levels as well as DNA fragmentation intensity in the hippocampal formation of one-week-old rats in 6 h after injection.

Effects of dexamethasone on the development of neonatal rats and level of active caspase-3 in brain cortex.

Dexamethasone increased the levels of active caspase-3 form in the brain cortex of neonatal rats 120 h after drug administration, but did not affect the expression of this key apoptotic protease in the brain 6 or 24 h postinjection. Increased expression of the active form of caspase-3 in the cerebral cortex was associated with earlier eye opening and delayed formation of startle-reflex in rats.

Downregulation of the dopamine D2-like receptor in corpus allatum affects juvenile hormone synthesis in Drosophila melanogaster females.

In Drosophila, juvenile hormone (JH) is synthesized de novo in the specialized endocrine gland, corpusallatum (CA). Dopamine (DA) controls JH levels by either stimulating or inhibiting its synthesis and degradation depending on the developmental stage. The present study focuses on the role of D2-like receptors in the regulation of JH synthesis by dopamine.