•Running exercise significantly improves the behavior results in depression model rats.•The number of oligodendrocyte of the CA3 and DG is decreased in depression model rats.•Running exercise has ...positive effect on the oligodendrocytes in depression model rats.
Running exercise has been shown to be associated with decreased symptoms of depression. However, the mechanisms underlying these antidepressant effects of running exercise remain relatively unclear. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms in chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) model rats treated with running exercise and changes in oligodendrocytes in the hippocampus. After 4 weeks of CUS, the model group was randomly divided into a CUS standard group (18 rats) and a CUS running group (15 rats). Then, a 4-week treadmill running trial was performed with the CUS running group. In addition, the behavioral effects of exercise were investigated by means of a sucrose preference test (SPT) and an at the end of the 8th week. Immunohistochemical methods and modern stereological methods were used to precisely quantify the total number of 2′,3′-cyclic nucleotide 3′-phosphodiesterase (CNPase)-positive (CNPase+) oligodendrocytes in each hippocampal subregion. At the behavioral level, after four weeks of running, the CUS running group displayed significantly higher consumption of sucrose water in the SPT than the CUS standard group. Unbiased stereological analyses revealed significantly higher total numbers of CNPase+ cells in the hippocampal CA3 and dentate gyrus regions in the CUS running group than in the CUS standard group, whereas there was no significant difference between the groups in the number of CNPase+ cells in the hippocampal CA1 region. The present results further confirm that exercise can alleviate symptoms and protect hippocampal oligodendrocytes in depressed rats.
Lung function declines with advancing age. To improve our understanding of the structure-function relationships leading to this decline, we investigated structural alterations in the lung and their ...impact on micromechanics and lung function in the aging mouse. Lung function analysis was performed in 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months old C57BL/6 mice (
= 7-8/age), followed by lung fixation and stereological sample preparation. Lung parenchymal volume, total, ductal and alveolar airspace volume, alveolar volume and number, septal volume, septal surface area and thickness were quantified by stereology as well as surfactant producing alveolar epithelial type II (ATII) cell volume and number. Parenchymal volume, total and ductal airspace volume increased in old (18 and 24 months) compared with middle-aged (6 and 12 months) and young (3 months) mice. While the alveolar number decreased from young (7.5 × 10
) to middle-aged (6 × 10
) and increased again in old (9 × 10
) mice, the mean alveolar volume and mean septal surface area per alveolus conversely first increased in middle-aged and then declined in old mice. The ATII cell number increased from middle-aged (8.8 × 10
) to old (11.8 × 10
) mice, along with the alveolar number, resulting in a constant ratio of ATII cells per alveolus in all age groups (1.4 ATII cells per alveolus). Lung compliance and inspiratory capacity increased, whereas tissue elastance and tissue resistance decreased with age, showing greatest changes between young and middle-aged mice. In conclusion, alveolar size declined significantly in old mice concomitant with a widening of alveolar ducts and late alveolarization. These changes may partly explain the functional alterations during aging. Interestingly, despite age-related lung remodeling, the number of ATII cells per alveolus showed a tightly controlled relation in all age groups.
Increased dopaminergic activity in the striatum underlies the neurobiology of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia (SZ). Beyond the impaired connectivity among the limbic system, the excess of ...dopamine could lead to inflammation and oxidative/nitrosative stress. It has been suggested that atypical antipsychotic drugs attenuate psychosis not only due to their modulatory activity on the dopaminergic/serotonergic neurotransmission but also due to their anti-inflammatory/antioxidant effects. In such a manner, we assessed the effects of the atypical antipsychotic risperidone (RISP) on the structural neuroplasticity and biochemistry of the striatum in adult rats with neonatal ventral hippocampus lesion (NVHL), which is a developmental SZ-related model. RISP administration (0.25 mg/kg, i.p.) ameliorated the neuronal atrophy and the impairments in the morphology of the dendritic spines in the spiny projection neurons (SPNs) of the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens: NAcc) in the NVHL rats. Also, RISP treatment normalized the pro-inflammatory pathways and induced the antioxidant activity of the nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) in this model. Our results point to the neurotrophic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects of RISP, together with its canonical antipsychotic mechanism, to enhance striatum function in animals with NVHL.
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Depression is a complex psychiatric disorder. Previous studies have shown that running exercise reverses depression-like behavior faster and more effectively than fluoxetine therapy. GABAergic ...interneurons, including the PV+ interneuron subtype, in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) are involved in pathological changes of depression. It was unknown whether running exercise and fluoxetine therapy reverse depression-like behavior via GABAergic interneurons or the PV+ interneurons subtype in MPFC. To address this issue, we subjected mice with chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) to a 4-week running exercise or fluoxetine therapy. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis showed that running exercise enriched GABAergic synaptic pathways in the MPFC of CUS-exposed mice. However, the number of PV+ interneurons but not the total number of GABAergic interneurons in the MPFC of CUS-exposed mice reversed by running exercise, not fluoxetine therapy. Running exercise increased the relative gene expression levels of the PV gene in the MPFC of CUS-exposed mice without altering other subtypes of GABAergic interneurons. Moreover, running exercise and fluoxetine therapy both significantly improved the length, area and volume of dendrites and the spine morphology of PV+ interneurons in the MPFC of mice exposed to CUS. However, running exercise but not fluoxetine therapy improved the dendritic complexity level of PV+ interneurons in the MPFC of CUS-exposed mice. In summary, the number and dendritic complexity level of PV+ interneurons may be important therapeutic targets for the mechanism by which running exercise reverses depression-like behavior faster and more effectively than fluoxetine therapy.
•Runing exercise improved depression-like behavior faster and more comprehensively in CUS-exposed mice than fluoxetine therapy.•The number of PV+ interneurons rather than the total number of GABAergic neurons in the MPFC was increased by running exercise but not fluoxetine therapy.•Runing exercise, but not fluoxetine therapy, reversed the complexity levels of PV+ interneuron dendrites in the MPFC of CUS-exposed mice.
Background and Aim: Diabetes is a well-known disease with such complications, as retinopathy, nephropathy, and gastropathy. This study aimed to investigate the effects of thiamine and lead acetate on ...the colon of induced-alloxan diabetic rats; the effects of which become obvious in the treatment or reduction of tissue complications caused by diabetes. Methods & Materials: In this study, 63 rats weighing 200 g were divided into 9 groups, as follows: 1) Group of diabetes+pb acetate 200 ppm; 2) Group of thiamin+pb acetate 200 ppm; 3) Group of thiamine+pb acetate 1000 ppm; 4) Group of diabetes+thiamine+Pb acetate 1000 ppm; 5) Diabetes group; 6) Group of diabetes+thiamine; 7) Group of diabetes+thiamine+acetate 200 ppm; 8) Group of diabetes+pb acetate 1000 ppm, and 9) the control group. After 20 days, the study samples were removed from the abdominal cavity and the slides were prepared by routine tissue method. Then, the slides were evaluated for stereological and histomorphometric studies. Ethical Considerations: This study was approved by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahrekord University (Code: GRN1M1903). Moreover, all methods used in the present study, including facilitation, were conducted per the ethical principles of animal restraint. Results: The mean thickness of mucosa-sub-mucosa suggested significant differences in groups 6 and 7, compared to other treatment groups. There was a significant difference in the thickness of the muscle layer between the control and all treatment groups except for groups 2, 6, and 7. There was no significant difference in the mean thickness of advantia layer in groups 1, 7, and 8, and the control group. The obtained results also indicated a significant difference concerning different layers of colon tissue between group 1 and controls. Conclusion: Based on the present research results, thiamine presented enhancing effects on muscle layer thickness and adventitia layer thickness. Furthermore, the area of the mucosal layer was not affected by the improving effects of thiamine.
Abstract Introduction Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression follows a specific spreading pattern, emphasizing the need to characterize those brain areas that degenerate first. The brainstem's locus ...coeruleus (LC) is the first area to develop neurofibrillary changes (neurofibrillary tangles NFTs). Methods The methods include unbiased stereological analyses in human brainstems to estimate LC volume and neuronal population in controls and individuals across all AD stages. Results As the Braak stage increases by 1 unit, the LC volume decreases by 8.4%. Neuronal loss started only midway through AD progression. Age-related changes spare the LC. Discussion The long gap between NFT accumulation and neuronal loss suggests that a second trigger may be necessary to induce neuronal death in AD. Imaging studies should determine whether LC volumetry can replicate the stage-wise atrophy observed here and how these changes are specific to AD. LC volumetry may develop into a screening biomarker for selecting high-yield candidates to undergo expensive and less accessible positron emission tomography scans and to monitor AD progression from presymptomatic stages.
Rèsumè Contexte Le bisphénol A (BPA) est l’un des produits chimiques synthétiques les plus utilisés dans le monde. Le BPA en tant que perturbateur endocrinien affecte le système reproducteur par le ...biais de ses propriétés œstrogéniques et anti-androgènes. Le resvératrol (RES), en tant que polyphénol naturel et puissant antioxydant, présente des effets protecteurs contre la toxicité sur la reproduction en inhibant le stress oxydatif. Quarante-huit rats mâles ont été divisés en huit groupes (n = 6), comprenant les groupes TÉMOIN, HUILE D’OLIVE (0,5 ml/jour), méthylcellulose Carboxyle (MCC) (1 ml de 10 g/L), RES (100 mg/kg/ jour), faible dose de 25 de BPA (25 mg/kg/jour), dose élevée de BPA (50 mg/kg/jour), faible dose de BPA + RES et dose élevée de BPA + RES. Tous les traitements ont été effectués quotidiennement par voie orale pendant 56 jours. À la fin de la 8ème semaine, des échantillons de sang ont été prélevés pour dosages hormonaux. Ensuite, les paramètres du sperme ont été analysés et le testicule gauche a été retiré pour une étude stéréologique. Résultats Nous avons montré une diminution significative des paramètres spermatiques dans les groupes traités par doses faibles et doses élevées de BPA par rapport aux groupe témoin (P<0,05). Le volume des composants testiculaires ainsi que le diamètre et la longueur des tubules séminifères ont été considérablement réduits (11-64 %) ; le nombre total des types de cellules testiculaires a diminué (34-67 %) en moyenne dans les groupes traités par doses faibles et doses élevées de BPA. De plus, la concentration sérique d’hormone folliculostimulante (FSH), lutéinisante (LH) et de testostérone a montré une réduction significative dans les groupes traités quelle que soit la dose de BPA (P<0,01). Néanmoins, le traitement par RES pourrait améliorer tous les changements mentionnés ci-dessus dans les groupes traités par doses faibles et élevées de BPA (P<0,05). Conclusions Le RES pourrait avoir un effet positif sur les changements structurels testiculaires induits par le BPA, ainsi que la qualité du sperme, en améliorant les taux sériques d’hormones gonadotrophines et de testostérone. Mots-clés Bisphénol A Resvératrol Toxicité testiculaire Paramètres du Sperme Stéréologie
Dexamethasone is a synthetic glucocorticoid commonly used in both human and veterinary medicine. Prolonged treatment with dexamethasone can lead to serious metabolic side effects such as insulin ...resistance and diabetes. In this study, the morphological, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural changes in the rat pancreatic islets were investigated after dexamethasone treatment (2 mg/kg, intraperitoneally for 12 days). The results showed that the volume density, mean diameter and profile area of islets were significantly increased in dexamethasone-treated animals. The volume density, profile area and mass of B-cells increased, whereas the volume density of A-and D-cells decreased, as did the number of A-cells per mm 2 of islet. Mild insulin immunopositivity of the centrally located B-cells together with altered ultrastructural features indicated their loss of function. The results of the present study suggest adverse effects of dexamethasone on pancreatic endocrine function that may ultimately seriously affect glucose homeostasis.
Ethanolic extract of bitter fraction of
Stevia rebaudiana
(
Srbf
) was extracted to investigate its antihyperglycemic and protective effects on renal structural changes in STZ-induced diabetes. ...Thirty-five male mice were divided into five groups randomly; the first group as non-diabetic control, the second group as untreated diabetic, the third group treated with glibenclamide 0.5 mg/kg, and the fourth and fifth groups treated with
Srbf
by 200 and 400 μg/kg bw through gavage, respectively, for 15 days. Diabetes was induced in the second to fifth groups by administration of 60 mg/kg bw of streptozotocin intraperitoneally. Serum glucose level was monitored every day. At the 16th day, the subjects were sacrificed and their left kidneys were removed. Tissue sections were stained by periodic acid Schiff and used for stereological analysis. The means were compared by one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test at the significance level of
p
≤ 0.05. The results showed that
Srbf
significantly restored the blood glucose level toward normal level faster than glibenclamide. High dose of
Srbf
could significantly decrease the length and volume of proximal and distal tubules and vessels and the volume of the interstitial tissue in the diabetic treated group. Both doses of
Srbf
could significantly prevent the glomerular hypertrophy and reduction of glomerular number in comparison with the untreated diabetic group. It can be concluded that the antihyperglycemic properties of a bitter fraction of
S. rebaudiana
are better than glibenclamide, and at high dose, it can ameliorate structural nephropathy in diabetic mice.
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