Relationship of calcium-binding protein containing neurons and projection neurons in the rat basolateral amygdala

Two-laser and two-color approaches were used to observe the colocalization of the calcium-binding proteins, calbindin D28k and parvalbumin, and the retrograde tracer, Fluoro-Gold (FG) in the basolateral amygdala of the rat. The study was performed on five adult rats into which FG was injected to the frontal association cortex. Then, the localization of the retrogradely labeled neurons in the basolateral amygdala was compared with the localization of the neurons labeled by calcium-binding proteins. The present study showed that most of the retrogradely labeled neurons in the posterior part of the basolateral amygdala are also calbindin-positive. Even though a lot of parvalbumin-positive endings were present at the surface of the retrogradely labeled cells, we did not observe the colocalization of the parvalbumin and projective neurons.     

Is there a role of taurine bromamine in inflammation? Interactive effects with nitrite and hydrogen peroxide

Objective and Design: The myeloperoxidase system of neutrophils generates chlorinating and brominating oxidants in vivo. The major haloamines of the system are taurine chloramine (TauCl) and taurine bromamine (TauBr). It has been demonstrated in vitro that TauCl exerts both antiinflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. Much less is known about TauBr. The present study was conducted to compare bactericidal and immunoregulatory capacity of TauBr with that of the major chlorinating oxidants: HOCl and TauCl. Moreover, the effect of nitrites and H₂O₂ on TauBr activity was investigated.Materials: TauBr was prepared by reaction of HOBr with taurine. The reaction was monitored by UV absorption spectra.Methods: Bactericidal activity of TauBr, TauCl and HOCl was tested by incubation of E. coli with the compounds and determined by the pour-plate method. To test the anti-inflammatory activity the compounds were incubated with LPS and IFN- stimulated murine peritoneal macrophages. The production of following mediators was measured: nitrites by Griess reaction; TNF-, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p40 using capture ELISA. In some experiments the compounds were incubated with either nitrites or H₂O₂.Results: In our experimental set-up TauBr and HOCl exerted strong bactericidal effects on E. coli (MBC = 110 M and 8 M, respectively), while TauCl (< 1000 M) did not kill test bacteria. However, both, TauBr and TauCl, at noncytotoxic concentrations (< 300 M) inhibited the cytokine and nitric oxide production by macrophages. H₂O₂ completely abolished the biological activities of TauBr but not those of TauCl. Nitrites did not affect any activity of TauBr or TauCl while they diminished the HOCl^– mediated bacterial killing.Conclusion: TauBr, despite very low concentration of Br^– in body fluids, may support TauCl and HOCl in the regulation of inflammatory response and in killing of bacteria by neutrophils. However, TauBr activity in vivo will depend on the presence of H₂O₂ and possible other mediators of inflammation which can compete with target molecules for TauBr.Received 16 August 2004; returned for revision 16 September 2004; accepted by A. Falus 13 October 2004     

Effect of endurance and sprint exercise on the sensitivity of glucose metabolism to insulin in the epitrochlearis muscle of sedentary and trained rats

Summary The effects of two types of acute exercise (1 h treadmill running at 20 m· min^–1, or 6 × 10-s periods at 43 m · min^–1, 0° inclination), as well as two training regimes (endurance and sprint) on the sensitivity of epitrochlearis muscle [fast twitch (FT) fibres] to insulin were measured in vitro in rats. The hormone concentration in the incubation medium producing the half maximal stimulation of lactate (la) production and glycogen synthesis was determined and used as an index of the muscle insulin sensitivity. A single period of moderate endurance as well as the sprint-type exercise increased the sensitivity of la production to insulin although the rate of la production enhanced markedly only after sprint exercise at 10 and 100 U· ml^–1 of insulin. These effects persisted for up to 2 h after the termination of exercise. Both types of exercise significantly decreased the muscle glycogen content, causing a moderate enhancement in the insulin-stimulated rates of glycogen synthesis in vitro for up to 2 h after exercise. However, a significant increase in the sensitivity of this process to insulin was found only in the muscle removed 0.25 h after the sprint effort. Training of the sprint and endurance types increased insulin-stimulated rates of glycolysis 24 h after the last period of exercise. The sensitivity of this process to insulin was also increased at this instant. Both types of training increased the basal and maximal rates of glycogen snythesis, as well as the sensitivity of this process to insulin at the 24^th following the last training session. It was concluded that in the epitrochlearis muscle, containing mainly FT fibres, both moderate and intensive exercise (acute and repeated) were effective in increasing sensitivity of glucose utilization to insulin. Thus, the response in this muscle type to increased physical activity differs from that reported previously in the soleus muscle, representing the slow-twitch, oxidative fibres in which sprint exercise did not produce any changes in the muscle insulin sensitivity.     

Strong association of HLA-Cw6 allele with juvenile psoriasis in Polish patients

Association of psoriasis vulgaris with HLA-C is not equally strong in different human populations. It has not yet been studied in Polish patients at DNA level, but only by serology that is inadequate for HLA-C. Therefore, we examined the distribution of HLA-C alleles by means of low resolution PCR-SSP in 102 Polish psoriatics and 123 healthy controls. We have found significantly higher representation of HLA-Cw*06 (odds ratio, 18.73; P(cor)<0.001) and significantly lower representation of HLA-Cw*07 (odds ratio, 0.41; P(cor)<0.038) in patients than in controls. Association of HLA-Cw*06 with psoriasis was even stronger in early age at onset (0-20 years) group: odds ratio, 77.71; P(cor)<0.001. Therefore, our population seems to belong to those with strong association of psoriasis with HLA-Cw*06.     

Copolymerization of ethylene oxide and sulfur dioxide initiated by lewis bases

Sulfur dioxide undergoes copolymerization with ethylene oxide in the presence of Lewis bases capable of forming onium ions (such as amines, phosphines, diethyl sulfide, dimethyl sulfoxide, N,N-dimethylformamide) yielding poly(ethylene sulfite) bearing also a small amount of ethylene oxide monomeric units homosequencies. After 4–6 h of reaction at 50°C in bulk, the monomer conversion reaches 70–90%. The copolymer obtained is a mixture of linear and cyclic products which tend to degrade to yield ethylene sulfite. At 50°C this decomposition is very slow when unreacted SO₂ is completely removed. However, it proceeds very rapidly, within a few hours, in the presence of compounds with strong electrophilic properties like BF₃, H₃PO₄, or chlorotrimethylsilane. Studies of model reactions indicate that in the systems studied the macrocyclization results mainly from the attack of sulfite or alcoholate active species at the carbon atoms in polysulfites. Chain transfer reactions with the solvent occur also in reactions carried out in ethanol.     

The variability of clinical presentation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in patients with hereditary alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency

Four patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin (alpha-1 AT) deficiency are presented: one woman with severe (phenotype PiZ) and 3 men with moderate (phenotype PiMZ) deficiency of alpha-1 AT. The variability of clinical presentation of hereditary emphysema is described. In all patients tobacco smoking history, spirometric and 6-minutes walking tests as well as HRCT of the lung were performed and compared. The influence of smoking on the functional status is underlined.     

Effect of sound source position on learning and performance of auditory delayed matching-to-sample task in dogs

Spatial adjacency of stimulus source and response site has been proven important for learning of simple behavioural tasks, including auditory quality and location discrimination. We investigated effect of sound source position (adjacent or not adjacent to manipulanda) on learning and performance of a complex auditory recognition memory task. Spatial adjacency of stimuli and manipulanda improved learning of a simple auditory directional task, which was an intermediate stage of training. In contrast, no improvement of learning and performance of the recognition task was found.     

Invasive aspergillosis in autopsy material of patients treated at the Institute of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases during the years 1993-2000

The aim of this paper is an analysis of clinical documentation and results of autopsy of 21 patients (pts) who died of invasive aspergillosis (IA) in the Institute of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases in years 1993-2000 and the assessment of predisposing factors for IA. In 17 pts IA was the main and in other 4 only an accessory cause of death. All pts were treated with corticosteroids and/or cytostatic drugs--because of lung cancer (11 pts), cancer in other site (2 pts), haematologic disorders (2 pts), Wegener's granulomatosis (1 pt), polymyositis (1 pt), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (1 pt) and other diseases (3 pts). In 15 out of 21 pts granulocytopenia was revealed (from 0.008 x 10(9)/L to 0.82 x 10(9)/L) on an average one month before death. In 15 pts IA was limited to the lungs, in 6 others there were also fungal lesions in brain, kidneys, liver, spleen and heart. Pts with disseminated form of IA had significantly lower granulocyte count and were treated with higher doses of corticosteroids than others. Immunosuppressive drugs and granulocytopenia can be regarded as predisposing factors. Fatal course of IA depended also on the late diagnosis.     

Axonal collateral branching of neurones in the inferior olive projecting to the cerebellar paramedian lobule in the rabbit

The double fluorescent retrograde technique was employed to examine the distribution of the inferior olive (IO) neurones projecting to the cortex of the rostral and caudal parts of the paramedian lobule (PML) in the rabbit cerebellum, known to be the face-forelimb and hindlimb receiving areas, respectively. Moreover, this technique was also used to investigate the possibility that IO projections reaching these two somatotopically non-homologous PML regions are collaterals of the same axones. No other reports have addressed this question. After non-overlapping unilateral injections of the cytoplasmic tracer fast blue (FB) and the nuclear dye diamidino yellow (DY) into the rostral and caudal PML, respectively, numerous single FB- or DY-labelled cells were found in the defined regions of the contralateral IO. These regions showed considerable overlap, apart from the dorsal accessory olive where a clear spatial separation of labelled cell groups was observed. Furthermore, double FB + DY-labelled neurones (n = 310) were seen in the medial accessory olive, the dorsal and ventral laminas of the principal olive, in the dorsomedial cell column and the beta nucleus. It suggests that IO neurones may branch to supply the two functionally different PML regions and in this way participate in the mechanisms of forelimb-hindlimb coordination.