Nutritional (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids influence the behavioral responses to positive events in mice.

The effect of (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) diet deficiency on behavioural responses to appetitive events was assessed in OF1 mice. Pups fed the same diet (deficient in alpha-linolenic acid or a standard control diet) as their dams were used aged 7 to 11 weeks. In a free choice model, the preference for a sucrose solution in both males and females was significantly lower in deficient than in control mice.

Seasonal and sex-linked variations in hepatic and extrahepatic biotransformation activities in striped mullet (Mullus barbatus).

Microsomal cytochrome P450 content, NADPH-cytochrome c reductase, and phase I (ethoxycoumarin and ethoxyresorufin O-dealkylases) and phase II (glutathione S-transferase and UDP-glucuronyltransferase) activities were studied in the liver and intestine of the striped mullet (Mullus barbatus) for 8 months (before and during sexual maturation). Biotransformation activities were much lower in extrahepatic tissues than the corresponding activities in the liver. Intestinal and hepatic biotransformation activities presented similar seasonal fluctuations: Phase I activity increased from October to February (during water cooling) and generally decreased before spawning; Phase II activity was not greatly different.

The uptake metabolism and biological half-life of benzo[a]pyrene in different tissues of sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax.

The disposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aquatic organisms is of interest from the viewpoint of both animal and human health. The kinetics of uptake and metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) were studied in various tissues of the marine fish, sea bass, upon intraperitoneal injection of the compound. A decrease in radioactivity occurred in all tissues and the calculated half-lives were 12.

Simultaneous preparation of basolateral and brush-border membrane vesicles from sea bass intestinal epithelium.

A method is described for simultaneous preparation of brush-border and basolateral sea bass enterocyte membranes using simple differential centrifugation and discontinuous sucrose gradient density centrifugation techniques. Basolateral membranes were purified with a Na+/K(+)-ATPase yield of about 11% of the original activity, with an enrichment factor of 12. The yield of maltase-glucoamylase, a specific marker of brush-border membranes, was also about 11% of the original activity, with 15-fold enrichment.