Thermoregulatory (core, surface and metabolic) responses of unrestrained rats to repeated POAH injections of beta-endorphin or adrenocorticotropin

Repeated preoptic-anterior hypothalamic (POAH) injections of saline and 10 or 25 micrograms/microliters of beta-endorphin or ACTH were given to groups of male Sprague-Dawley rats. One hr after the fifth injection of beta-endorphin or ACTH, each rat received a POAH injection of naloxone HCl (10 micrograms/microliters). Core (Tre-rectal) and surface (Tt-tail) temperatures, metabolic (VO2) and behavioral responses were recorded 30 min before and 60 min after each drug injection. The initial POAH injection of either dose of beta-endorphin produced a hyperthermia. Peak hyperthermia was reduced in the group given 10 micrograms/microliters of beta-endorphin repeatedly. TtS rose after each beta-endorphin injection but temporally lagged Tre increases. Metabolic rate (VO2) was increased with repeated POAH injections of beta-endorphin. Naloxone reduced the elevated Tre seen with beta-endorphin by increasing Tt's further and reducing VO2. POAH administration of ACTH evoked only a slight hyperthermic Tre response, but elevated TtS and VO2S, due to enhanced grooming and explorative behavior. With repeated ACTH injections, TreS did not change from those on the first day as TtS and VO2 remained enhanced. Naloxone reduced VO2 and TtS of the ACTH-treated rats but TreS still were unchanged. Results suggest that the hyperthermia of unrestrained rats given an acute as opposed to repeated POAH beta-endorphin injections is mediated by different effector mechanisms. With the doses used, the slight and unchanging TreS seen with ACTH occurred because this peptide increased heat production due to locomotor activation yet also exaggerated heat loss by vasodilating the peripheral vasculature.     

Thickness of medial layers of arteries prior to and during hibernation

The thickness of the media of the aorta and the carotid, iliac, and renal arteries was measured in hibernating and nonhibernating marmots. A positive correlation was found between body weight and the thickness of the media of carotid and iliac arteries. The relation noted apparently was not due to the mean arterial pressure prior to and during hibernation, since there was no difference in the thickness of the media between nonhibernating and hibernating females. The difference due to gender could be accounted for by the greater average body weight of males. The media of the renal arteries demonstrated no relation between their thickness and body weight.     

Pre-processing of chromatographic data for principal component analysis

This paper examines the selection of the appropriate representation of chromatogram data prior to using principal component analysis (PCA), a multivariate statistical technique, for the diagnosis of chromatogram data sets. The effects of four process variables were investigated; flow rate, temperature, loading concentration and loading volume, for a size exclusion chromatography system used to separate three components (monomer, dimer, trimer). The study showed that major positional shifts in the elution peaks that result when running the separation at different flow rates caused the effects of other variables to be masked if the PCA is performed using elapsed time as the comparative basis. Two alternative methods of representing the data in chromatograms are proposed. In the first data were converted to a volumetric basis prior to performing the PCA, while in the second, having made this transformation the data were adjusted to account for the total material loaded during each separation. Two datasets were analysed to demonstrate the approaches. The results show that by appropriate selection of the basis prior to the analysis, significantly greater process insight can be gained from the PCA and demonstrates the importance of pre-processing prior to such analysis.     

Sexual selection within mating swarms of the lovebug, Plecia nearctica (Diptera: Bibionidae)

Little is known about the structure of mating aggregations of insects or sexual selection within them. Male lovebugs (Plecia nearctica) hover in large swarms above emergence sites in the ground litter. Females emerge periodically and take flight through the hovering males. Females may be grasped by one or more males before or during flight. Male-male interactions and the structure of lovebug swarms are clearly related to competition for access to emerging females. Lovebug swarms are distinctly stratified vertically: large males at the bottom nearest the ground, medium-sized males in the middle, and small males at the top farthest from the ground. Large males closest to the ground have better access to females and experience greater copulatory success.     

Intravenous morphine infusion (IMF) to drug-naive, conscious rats evokes bradycardic, hypotensive effects, but pressor actions are elicited after IMF to rats previously given morphine

Hemodynamic (blood pressure and heart rate) responses of conscious drug-naive rats were studied following intravenous (i.v.) infusion of sterile saline, morphine sulphate, and then naloxone hydrochloride, as well as of other groups previously injected with morphine sulphate. Those groups chronically given morphine sulphate received twice daily injections of morphine sulphate (5 mg/kg, s.c. per injection) for 3 or 6 days before testing with the i.v. infusion of morphine sulphate. Drugs were infused (135 microL/min) through an indwelling femoral venous catheter via a Harvard infusion pump, and blood pressure was recorded from the abdominal aorta via a femoral arterial catheter. Other pretreatment studies were done to determine the receptor mechanisms mediating the blood pressure responses of drug-naive and chronic morphine-treated rats, whereby equimolar doses (0.32 mumol) of specific receptor antagonists were given as a bolus i.v. injection 5 min after saline but before subsequent infusion with morphine sulphate. Intravenous infusion of morphine sulphate (7.5 mg/kg total over 15 min) to drug-native rats caused a transient but precipitous fall in mean arterial pressure and mean heart rate with an associated rise in mean pulse pressure; these effects were blocked in other groups pretreated with atropine. Interestingly, however, rats chronically injected with morphine sulphate for 3 days previously evoked a transient pressor response when subsequently infused i.v. with morphine sulphate, actions that were blocked in other groups when pretreated i.v. with 0.32 mumol of phentolamine, yohimbine, prazosin, or guanethidine. A greater and persistent pressor response occurred following morphine infusion to groups of rats previously injected over 6 days with morphine sulphate, which was associated with tachycardia during the later stages of the 15-min morphine sulphate infusion period. The prolonged pressor and tachycardic responses of this 6-day chronically injected group were completely blocked in another group pretreated i.v. with both phentolamine and propranolol (0.32 mumol). The results suggest that morphine sulphate infusion to conscious, drug-naive rats evokes classical hypotensive effects due to decreases in mean heart rate caused by activation of parasympathetic vagal activity. With 3 or 6 days of chronic morphine sulphate administration beforehand, subsequent i.v. infusion of morphine sulphate evoked pressor actions felt to be caused by a progressive activation of the sympathetic nervous system.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)