Study of Biological Effects Induced in Solid Tumors by Shortened-Duration Thermal Ablation Using High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound.

The HIFU ablation technique is limited by the long duration of the procedure, which results from the large difference between the size of the HIFU beam's focus and the tumor size. Ablation of large tumors requires treating them with a sequence of single HIFU beams, with a specific time interval in-between. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biological effects induced in a malignant solid tumor of the rat mammary gland, implanted in adult Wistar rats, during HIFU treatment according to a new ablation plan which allowed researchers to significantly shorten the duration of the procedure.

High-dose testosterone supplementation disturbs liver pro-oxidant/antioxidant balance and function in adolescent male Wistar rats undergoing moderate-intensity endurance training.

In some countries, anabolic-androgenic steroid abuse is rampant among adolescent boys and young men, including some of those seeking physical fitness and/or pleasing appearance through various exercise types. This tactic carries the risk of severe harmful health effects, including liver injury. Most anabolic-androgenic steroid stacking protocols employed are based on the use of the 'prototypic' anabolic-androgenic steroid testosterone and/or its esters.

Diverging changes in rat striatal extracellular dopamine and DOPAC levels and in frequency-modulated 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations rate during repeated amphetamine treatment.

One characteristic feature of addictive drugs is their ability to induce, after a single exposure, a lasting sensitization to the next doses; the underlying neuroplastic changes supposedly involve the brain dopamine system. We aimed at identifying putative relationships between alterations in extracellular dorsal striatal dopamine, HVA and DOPAC levels and in frequency-modulated 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations rate response during repeated intraperitoneal amphetamine treatment. Measurements were performed before and after amphetamine doses 1, 2, 7 and 8 (Amph1, Amph2, Amph7 and Amph8; treatment days 1, 7, 12 and 23, respectively).

Using anticipatory and drug-evoked appetitive ultrasonic vocalization for monitoring the rewarding effect of amphetamine in a rat model of drug self-administration.

Measuring ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) allows studying psychoactive drug use-related affective states in laboratory rats and may help understand changes underlying the progress of addictions. We aimed at finding an effective scheme for amphetamine self-administration training in rats, identifying factors affecting their anticipatory and drug-evoked, frequency-modulated 50-kHz USV responses, and verifying whether the rewarding action of amphetamine promotes current drug intake during the training. Therefore, we monitored amphetamine intake and anticipatory and drug-evoked USVs in two rat cohorts trained using two different training schemes.

Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: is SMN-Gemins protein complex of importance for the relative resistance of oculomotor nucleus motoneurons to degeneration?

Lower motoneurons (MNs) show varied vulnerability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): those of non-ocular brainstem nuclei and most of those of the spinal cord are highly vulnerable, while those of extraocular brainstem nuclei are quite resistant. Results of our former study on the immunoexpression of the survival of motor neuron protein (SMN) and Gemins 2-4 in cervical spinal cord anterior horn -MNs of sporadic ALS patients suggested that a relative deficit in Gemin2 may play some role in the pathomechanism of the disease. Here, we tested this idea further by comparing immunoexpression patterns of SMN and Gemins 2-8 between MNs of the oculomotor nucleus and -MNs of the cervical spinal cord anterior horns in autopsy material from sALS patients and controls.