Failure of two progesterone antagonists, mifepristone and onapristone, to affect luteal activity in lactating rats

The progesterone antagonists, mifepristone (RU-38,486) and onapristone (ZK-98,299), given as 2 mg daily, did not markedly affect lactation in rats. Both litter growth and time spent by 10-pup litters attached to their mothers were similar in antagonist-treated mothers and in solvent-treated controls. The progesterone antagonists did not affect the steroid content in corpora lutea remaining from the preceding pregnancy. Corpora lutea formed after post-partum ovulation also showed nearly normal function throughout the first 17 days of lactation. It is concluded that progesterone itself plays no role in the initiation or maintenance of luteal function when prolactin secretion is governed through an action independent of the ovaries, as through suckling. Antagonist-treated rats ovulated around Day 13 of lactation despite suckling. This ovulation was not associated with a decrease of progesterone production by the corpora lutea formed after post-partum ovulation. Apparently, elimination of progesterone action may protect corpora lutea from luteolysis. The latter finding indicates a possible role of progesterone in luteolysis and deserves further analysis.     

Failure to condition evaluative and electrodermal responses to neutral stimuli by means of prepared cues

To test Gray's proposal (1979, 1982) that prepared cues (snakes, spiders) are unconditioned, innate fear stimuli, a classical conditioning procedure was carried out in which a neutral, conditioned stimulus (CS; slides of flowers, mushrooms or apples) was repeatedly followed by a prepared, unconditioned stimulus (US; slides of snakes or spiders). Dependent variables were subjective evaluation of, and skin conductance responses to the CS slides, while respiration was used as a control variable. In one group of subjects (n = 12), skin conductance was recorded from the left hand, whereas in a second group (n = 11) it was recorded from the right hand. No evidence of skin conductance response - or of evaluative conditioning to the neutral CS as a result of its being paired with the prepared US was found. Thus, the results lend no support to Gray's proposal. No differences in skin conductance responses as a function of left versus right hand recording were found.     

A Mechanism of Energy Dissipation in Cyanobacteria

When grown under a variety of stress conditions, cyanobacteria express the isiA gene, which encodes the IsiA pigment-protein complex. Overexpression of the isiA gene under iron-depletion stress conditions leads to the formation of large IsiA aggregates, which display remarkably short fluorescence lifetimes and thus a strong capacity to dissipate energy. In this work we investigate the underlying molecular mechanism responsible for chlorophyll fluorescence quenching. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy allowed us to follow the process of energy dissipation in real time. The light energy harvested by chlorophyll pigments migrated within the system and eventually reaches a quenching site where the energy is transferred to a carotenoid-excited state, which dissipates it by decaying to the ground state. We compare these findings with those obtained for the main light-harvesting complex in green plants (light-harvesting complex II) and artificial light-harvesting antennas, and conclude that all of these systems show the same mechanism of energy dissipation, i.e., one or more carotenoids act as energy dissipators by accepting energy via low-lying singlet-excited S₁ states and dissipating it as heat.     

The utero-ovarian vascularization of the albino rat

The utero-ovarian vascularisation of the non-pregnant rat was investigated, described and morphometrically evaluated. The ovarian and uterine arteries anastomose together giving up a ramus ovaricus. The leaving of these vessels from their main trunks varies to each body side, just as their length and width. Several segmental arteries arise from each uterine artery to the corpus uteri also side-specifically. Coiled circular arteries are found. The uterine cervical vascularisation is described separately. Different regulating effects on the function of the vessels are discussed.     

Orientation in the dark: brain circuits involved in the perception of electric signals in mormyrid electric fish.

Weakly electric fish produce electric signals with a specialised organ in their tail. In addition, they are electrosensitive and can perceive their self-generated signals (for electrolocation) and electric signals of other electric fishes (for electrocommunication). Mormyrids possess three types of peripheral electroreceptor organs, one used for electrocommunication and two types involved in electolocation. They are innervated by afferent fibres, which project to different zones in the electrosensory lateral line lobe (ELL) in the medulla. Brain circuits for electrolocation and electrocommunication are separated almost throughout the whole brain. Electrolocation pathways run from the ELL-cortex to the torus semicircularis of the midbrain and then via the valvula cerebelli towards the telencephalon. Pathways involved in electrocommunication run from the nucleus of the ELL to another part of the torus and from there through the isthmic granule nucleus to the valvula. In addition, a pathway via the preglomerular complex to the telencephalon might exist. In both the electrolocation and the electrocommunication circuits, prominent recurrent pathways are present.