Project description:The aim of this study was to examine the hippocampus, frontal cortex and dorsal raphe of Dark Agouti rats with gene expression arrays (Illumina RatRef bead arrays) looking for possible mechanisms and new candidates contributing to the effects of a single dose of MDMA (15 mg/kg) 3 weeks earlier or venlafaxine (40 mg/kg) administration for 3 weeks continously. We also examined the possible interaction between the single dose MDMA treatment and the continous venlafaxine treatment described above.
Project description:The aim of this study was to examine the hippocampus, frontal cortex and dorsal raphe of Dark Agouti rats with gene expression arrays (Illumina RatRef bead arrays) looking for possible mechanisms and new candidates contributing to the effects of a single dose of MDMA (15 mg/kg) 3 weeks earlier or venlafaxine (40 mg/kg) administration for 3 weeks continously. We also examined the possible interaction between the single dose MDMA treatment and the continous venlafaxine treatment described above. With the present study we tried to evaluate the effects of a single, neurotoxic dose of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and/or 3 weeks long venlafaxine (VLX) treatment in the dorsal raphe, frontal cortical or hippocampal neurons in Dark Agouti rats. For the analysis of MDMA long-term effects rats were treated once with 15 mg/kg MDMA i.p. in a volume of 1 ml/kg 3 weeks prior to sacrificing the animals. In the case of VLX, the animals were administered 40 mg/kg of the drug for 3 weeks via Alzet 2001 minipumps inserted under the skin of the rats. In the third group rats received the mentioned treatment protocols simultaneously. Vehicle and sham-operated controls were used for comparison. For microarray analysis all groups consisted of 8 animals. Every two randomly selected samples from the same brain regions were pooled resulting in 4 pooled samples per region and treatment. From the total 48 pooled samples 2 were excluded because of quality control reasons. For RNA extraction Trizol reagent was used and microarray analysis was done by Service XS (Netherlands) according to Illumina protocols (San Diego, CA, USA). Results were validated with Fluidigm GEx (San Francisco, CA, USA) arrays using TaqMan Gene Expression (Carlsbad, CA, USA) assays. In this study no replicates were used.
Project description:Analysis of hormone effects on irradiated LBNF1 rat testes, which contain only somatic cells except for a few type A spermatgogonia. Rats were treated for 2 weeks with either sham treatment (group X), hormonal ablation (GnRH antagonist and the androgen receptor antagonist flutamide, group XAF), testosterone supplementation (GnRH antagonist and testosterone, group XAT), and FSH supplementation ((GnRH antagonist, androgen receptor antagonist, and FSH, group XAFF). Results provide insight into identifying genes in the somatic testis cells regulated by testosterone, LH, or FSH.
Project description:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used to establish exhausted-exercise model by motorized rodent treadmill. Yu-Ping-Feng-San at doses of 2.18 g/kg was administrated by gavage before exercise training for 10 consecutive days. Quantitative proteomics was performed for assessing the related mechanism of Yu-Ping-Feng-San.
Project description:Background and Aims: It is well demonstrated that in the beta cell population of the pancreas there is a dynamic turnover, which results from the net balance of several processes; beta cell replication, apoptosis and neogenesis. These processes have been studied in partial pancreatectomy and glucagon-like peptide 1 treated animals, where an increase in pancreas regeneration has been observed. Similarly, sodium tungstate, which decreases hyperglycemia in several animal models of diabetes, promotes a rise in the beta cell mass of nSTZ and STZ animals. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this pancreas regeneration remain unknown. Therefore the objective of this study is to identify which genes are up or down regulated in the increase of the beta cell population of STZ rats treated with sodium tungstate. Materials and methods: Adult male Wistar (225-250 g) rats were kept under a constant 12-hour light-dark cycle and rats were kept under a constant 12-hour light-dark cycle and were allowed to eat and drink freely. Diabetes was induced by a single i.p. injection of streptozotocin (STZ) (70 mg/Kg body weight) in 0.9% NaCl with 100 mmol/L sodium citrate buffer (pH 4.5). Diabetes was confirmed by determination of its hyperglycaemia (>500mg/dL [Reflotron, Roche Diagnostic]). Healthy rats received an i.p. injection of the vehicle. Treatment started 7 days after the STZ or vehicle injection. Diabetic and healthy rats were divided into two groups. In the first (untreated), rats received deionized drinking water; in the second (treated) group, they were given a solution of sodium tungstate. During the first week of treatment, the rats received a solution of 0.7 mg/mL and in the next 4-5 weeks, the concentration was increased to 2 mg/mL. At the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed and pancreatic RNA isolated. Three chips (Affymetrix RAE-230A) were hybridized for each of the four experimental groups (untreated and treated healthy rats and untreated and treated diabetic rats). The raw intensity data obtained from the microarrays was normalized and summarized using the Bioconductor package RMA.
Project description:Analysis of LBNF1 rat testes from controls, containing both somatic and all germ cell types and from irradiated rats in which all cells germ cells except type A spermatgogonia are eliminated. Results provide insight into distinguishing germ and somatic cell genes and identification of somatic cell genes that are upregulated after irradiation.