Effects of fluvastatin and coenzyme Q10 on skeletal muscle in normo- and hypercholesterolaemic rats.

Myalgia and muscle weakness may appreciably contribute to the poor adherence to statin therapy. Although the pathomechanism of statin-induced myopathy is not completely understood, changes in calcium homeostasis and reduced coenzyme Q10 levels are hypothesized to play important roles. In our experiments, fluvastatin and/or coenzyme Q10 was administered chronically to normocholesterolaemic or hypercholaestherolaemic rats, and the modifications of the calcium homeostasis and the strength of their muscles were investigated.

Methotrexate induced apoptotic and necrotic chromatin changes in rat myeloid leukemia cells.

Objective: It was tested as to why low-dose methotrexate (MTX) effective against rheumatoid arthritis poses considerable health risk at higher doses.

Methods: The tumorigenic potential of My1/De blast cells was followed by cytology and by the kinetics of (18)FDG uptake. The toxicity of MTX on chromatin condensation was compared to predictive normal intermediates of chromosome condensation in control cells.

Metastatic hepatocarcinoma he/de tumor model in rat.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study is to select among potential tumor models that could be suitable to follow the metastatic spead of tumor cells. (18)FDG-PET tumor diagnostic test has been adapted to investigate tumor growth in vivo in local and metastatic rat models. Materials and Methods.

A comparative study on dyslipidaemia inducing diets in various rat strains.

In our experiments we compared the serum lipoprotein lipid composition of Fischer 344 (F344) and Long-Evans (LE) inbred rats as well as of their hybrid FLF(1) from both sexes after feeding them for 2, 4 and 8 weeks with different diets. The following diets were used: 1) standard diet marked as CRLT/N; 2) diet reach in butter marked as BR; 3) diet containing cholesterol, sodium cholate and methylthiouracil marked as CR; 4) diet marked as BRC, which is the Hartroft-Sós diet modified by our research group consisting of the diets BR and CR. The latter diet was the most effective, because within two weeks the level of serum total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride in the F344 female rats increased 8, 30, 4 and 8 times, respectively.

Lymphoid metastasis of rat My2/De leukemia.

By grafting spontaneous leukemia tumor cells, the myeloid My2/De leukemia rat model was established. Death was caused by impaired functions of heavily infiltrated organs. In vitro culturing of tumor cells, blood and bone marrow counts and cytochemic reactions indicated the leukemic the origin resembling human myeoloblastic leukemia.