Cassava starch fermentation wastewater: characterization and preliminary toxicological studies.

Cassava starch fermentation wastewater is an industrial residue composed mainly of lactic acid bacteria with predominance of the genera Lactobacillus, and organic acids. To evaluate the safety of this residue for possible production of probiotic beverages, acute in mice and sub-chronic (28-day repeated dose) toxicity studies in rats were carried. The administration of a single dose of 5 g/kg/body weight did not produce mortality in mice.

Histological study of the liver and biochemistry of the blood of Wistar rats following ligature of right hepatic duct.

Purpose: To observe the histological alterations in the liver and biochemistry in the blood that can happen in Wistar rat, after the ligature of right hepatic duct.

Methods: In this study were used rats (n=46) of Wistar pedigree. The animal groups (n=46) were distributed in 6 experimented sub-groups (n=6).

Effect of post-natal castration on sepsis mortality in rats.

Purpose: To investigate the influence of castration in early periods of development on survival to experimental acute sepsis.

Methods: Four groups of 10 (ten) Wistar rats were used. The groups were comprised of males (M), females (F), males castrated on the fourth day of life (CM) and males castrated on the fourth day of life with testosterone replacement (CMR).

[Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene and polypropylene in the repairing of abdominal wall defects in Wistar rats. Comparative study].

Purpose: To compare the use of polypropylene and PTFE meshes in the treatment of incisional hernias made experimentally on Wistar rats.

Methods: The experiment used 24 Wistar rats divided into three cohorts: C-A (ressection of a segment of abdominal wall), E-A (ressection and placement of PTFEe mesh), E-B (resection and placement of polypropylene mesh). After 28 days, the mesh and the surrounding tissue were removed and submitted to macroscopic analysis (assessment of the abdominal wall for presence of abscess in the surgical wound and/or skin necrosis, and adhesions) as well as microscopic analysis (presence of fibrosis, necrosis and abscess, counting of macrophages, mononuclears and polymorphonuclears).

Morphological analysis of three wound-cleaning processes on potentially contamined wounds in rats.

Purpose: To evaluate the inflammatory response of potentially infected wounds treated with isotonic saline solution, chlorhexidine and PVP-I, seven days after surgery.

Methods: Thirty-two male rats were used, divided into 4 groups. All animals had their surgical wounds infected with a standard bacterial inoculum.

Toxicity and antiviral activity of cinnabarin obtained from Pycnoporus sanguineus (Fr.) Murr.

This work describes the cytopathic effect on cells, cytotoxic action on mice, and antiviral activity of cinnabarin. This substance had no effect on mouse neuroblastoma cells (NA cell, ATCC clone C-1300) at a concentration of 0.31 mg/ml, it was not able to cause toxic effects in mice at concentrations of 1000 mg/kg, and reduced by four times the titers of the rabies virus at concentrations of 0.

Aromatase-immunoreactive neurons in the adult female chicken brain detected using a specific antibody.

Estrogen formation in the brain catalysed by the cytochrome P450arom is required for the control of estrogen-dependent neural mechanisms regulating reproductive behaviour. A polyclonal antibody was raised against a 15-amino acid fragment of the chicken ovarian P450arom protein, to localise aromatase-immunoreactive (AR-IR) cells in the adult female chicken brain. Specificity of antibody reaction was established by Western blot and by inhibition of aromatase activity in homogenates of chicken ovarian follicles determined by a radiometric assay.

The location of the preganglionic neurons that innervate the submandibular gland of the cat. A horseradish peroxidase study.

Horseradish peroxidase was injected under pressure in the main excretory duct of the submandibular gland of cats, to locate the perikarya of the preganglionic parasympathetic salivatory neurons in the brainstem. Labeled multipolar neurons were found ipsilaterally in the lateral reticular formation, where they extended from the rostral plane that contains the genu of the facial nerve to the caudal plane that contains the rostral pole of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve.