The present study examined the effects of dexamethasone and RU-38486 on the spike-and-wave spindling episodes (S&W) which can be spontaneously recorded in the electroencephalogram (EEG) of DBA/2J mice. Our data indicated that dexamethasone (1-10-100 micrograms/kg, ip) in a time- and dose-related manner significantly reduce the S&W occurrence in freely-moving DBA/2J mice. Cycloheximide (10 mg/kg, ip), a protein synthesis inhibitor, by itself did not modify significantly the S&W occurrence in mice, but when injected two hours before DEX (100 mg/kg, ip), induced consistent delay of DEX effects. On the other hand, treatment of mice with RU-38486 (50 mg/kg, ip) induced, after a transitory decrease, a dramatic increase of the rate of S&W episodes. In addition, we performed a "chemical adrenalectomy" treating mice with RU-38486 (50 mg/kg, po/d) for 4 days, and also in this case we observed a significant increase of S&W 24 h after the 4th treatment. Finally a series of experiments indicated that low doses of morphine inhibited, whereas high doses of naltrexone strongly enforced S&W. The present results suggest that glucocorticoids are able to modulate inherited spindling episodes in DBA/2J mice and that this effect may be related to a genomic activation mechanism. Studies in this field may give, in the near future, some important contributions to the understanding of corticosteroids involvement in brain excitability, and of their relationships with the opioid system.
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Pharmaceutics
January 2025
Innovation and Medical Science, SIFI S.p.A., 95025 Aci Sant'Antonio, Italy.
Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) protection represents an unmet need in glaucoma. This study assessed the neuroprotective, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effect of a new nutraceutical formulation named Epicolin, based on citicoline, homotaurine, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, forskolin, and vitamins, through in vitro and in vivo studies. The neuroprotective effect of Epicolin or its single components, and Epicolin compared to an untreated control and two marketed formulations [Formulation G (FG) and N (FN)], was evaluated in neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) challenged with staurosporine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Eye Res
January 2025
Department of Ophthalmology, Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
Purpose: This study aimed to initially test whether machine learning approaches could categorically predict two simple biological features, mouse age and mouse species, using the retinal segmentation metrics.
Methods: The retinal layer thickness data obtained from C57BL/6 and DBA/2J mice were processed for machine learning after segmenting mouse retinal SD-OCT scans. Twenty-two models were trained to predict the mouse groups.
FASEB J
January 2025
Department of Eye Center, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) are a class of small molecular mass intracellular lipid chaperone proteins that bind to hydrophobic ligands, such as long-chain fatty acids. FABP5 expression was significantly upregulated in the N-methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA) model, the microbead-induced chronic glaucoma model, and the DBA/2J mice. Previous studies have demonstrated that FABP5 can mediate mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in ischemic neurons, but the role of FABP5 in oxidative stress and cell death in retina NMDA injury models is unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
December 2024
Robinson Research Institute, School of Biomedicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Studies in humans and rodents show exercise in pregnancy can modulate maternal blood pressure, vascular volume, and placental efficiency, but whether exercise affects early uteroplacental vascular adaptations is unknown. To investigate this, CBA/J female mice mated with BALB/c males to generate healthy uncomplicated pregnancies (BALB/c-mated) or mated with DBA/2J males to generate abortion-prone pregnancies (DBA/2J-mated), were subjected to treadmill exercise (5 days/week, 10 m/min, 30 min/day for 6 weeks before and throughout pregnancy), or remained sedentary. In uncomplicated pregnancies, exercise caused symmetric fetal growth restriction in fetuses evidenced by reductions in fetal weight, crown-to-rump length, abdominal girth and biparietal diameter.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
December 2024
Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Drug addiction is a multifactorial syndrome in which genetic predispositions and exposure to environmental stressors constitute major risk factors for the early onset, escalation, and relapse of addictive behaviors. While it is well known that stress plays a key role in drug addiction, the genetic factors that make certain individuals particularly sensitive to stress and, thereby, more vulnerable to becoming addicted are unknown. In an effort to test a complex set of gene x environment interactions-specifically gene x chronic stress-here we leveraged a systems genetics resource: BXD recombinant inbred mice (BXD5, BXD8, BXD14, BXD22, BXD29, and BXD32) and their parental mouse lines, C57BL/6J and DBA/2J.
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