Blood Collection Procedure of Laboratory Primates: A Neglected Variable in Biomedical Research

A survey of 75 biomedical articles dealing with stress-dependent blood parameters in caged primates revealed that the conditions under which blood collection occurred were in most cases described either not at all or so haphazardly that it would be impossible to determine if humane handling procedures were used and basic principles of scientific methodology applied. These findings were unexpected because there is ample scientific evidence not only that stress-sensitive research data are influenced by traditional blood sampling procedures, but also that those data-biasing effects can be avoided. If dependent variables of the blood collection procedure are not controlled, data variability will increase, automatically increasing the number of animals needed for statistical analysis. For ethical and scientific reasons, it was recommended that editors of biomedical journals require authors to provide sufficient information of the blood collection--and, when applicable, the sedative injection--procedure to ensure that the experiment was done with the smallest number of animals possible to achieve statistical significance and that the investigation can be replicated reliably in another laboratory and the research data interpreted with reasonable accuracy.     

Lipids of Angiostrongylus cantonensis (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea): a comparison between young adults and gravid worms

1. All major classes of lipids were found in the young adults in brain (22 days post-infection) and gravid Angiostrongylus cantonensis in lung of rats (34 days post-infection) comprising approximately 60% of phospholipids, 30% of neutral lipids and the rest, glycolipids. 2. The relative composition of phospholipids were quite similar between worms from the two different habitats, with phosphatidylcholine predominating. The glycolipid profiles were also similar. 3. More neutral lipids in the worms from brain existed as cholesterol and cholesterol esters than those from the lung. More than 20% of the fatty acids in these lipids of the brain were found as C10-C14 acids while oleic acid was the main component in the lung worm.     

Female sex steroid induced epithelial changes in the gallbladder of the ovariectomized Syrian hamster.

Ovariectomized Syrian hamsters treated by female sex steroids during a 1-month period show gallbladder surface epithelial changes in the fundic area consistent with apical bulging and decapitations of the epithelial cells. These events were detected in the infundibulum and the fundic or body regions of estrogen- and estrogen+progesterone-treated hamsters. In control hamsters, these events were restricted to the region in the vicinity of the bile duct. Following steroid treatment, intraluminal deposits detected resembled Ca-bilirubinate deposits described in previous studies while decapitations are similar to endometrial epithelium changes associated with hormonal physiological changes or treatments. Moreover some small electron-dense deposits are comparable to those found in human cholesterol gallstones. This report indicates that, besides an alteration in bile composition, cell fragments originating from the surface epithelium of the bile duct and/or of the gallbladder mucosal epithelium could participate in gallstone nucleation.     

Triiodothyronine effect on some parameters of carbohydrate metabolism in rat blood and liver. I. In vivo effect of triiodothyronine on liver glycogen content, blood metabolites and serum glycogenolytic activity

Short (7 days) T3-treatment has no influence on the plasma glucose and FFA concentration and blood lactate level, as well as on the hepatic glycogen content in the rats. The rise in T3 levels, observed in our study, was accompanied by a fall in T4 concentrations, indicating suppression of the endogenous T4 production. On the other hand, glycogenolytic activity of rat serum in vitro is the highest in the system: control liver slices-serum of rats pretreated with T3 as compared to the system: control liver slices-control serum. These observations may lead to conclusions, that serum of rats pretreated with T3 contains factors exhibiting the greater ability to mobilize glucose from liver slices than the control serum (euthyroid). The possibility, that pretreatment with T3 may cause a decrease in the number and/or affinity of beta-adrenergic receptors in the rat liver, is discussed.     

Durch Seitenwurzelbildung induzierte und spontane Mitosen in den Dauergeweben der Wurzel

Ohne ZusammenfassungDie wesentlichen Untersuchungsergebnisse wurden im Rahmen einer Doktorarbeit am Botanischen Institut der Universität Wien gewonnen. Für Anregung und förderliche Kritik danken wir Herrn Prof. Dr. L.Geitler bestens.     

Cardiotrophin-1 review

Background: Cardiotrophin-1 is newly discovered chemokin with a lot of functions. Aim of our work was to describe most important of them. Methods: systematically scan of available scientific resources. Results: Cardiotrophin-1 stimulates the proliferation of cardiomyocytes. Cardiotrophin-1 expression and plasma values are elevated in individuals with heart failure and have high diagnostic efficacy for the heart failure. Plasma values are also an independent prognostic factor. Preliminary findings suggest that the determination of plasma cardiotrophin-1 may be useful for the follow-up of hypertensive heart disease in routine clinical practice. Cardiotrophin-1 also plays an important cardioprotective effect on myocardial damage, is a potent regulator of signaling in adipocytes in vitro and in vivo and potentiates the elevation the acute-phase proteins. Cardiotrophin-1 may play also an important protective role in other organ systems (such as hematopoietic, neuronal, developmental). Conclusion: Cardiotrophin is a newly discovered chemokin with a lot of system effects and is stable in system circulation hence permitting its development in the routine clinical investigation.