Bioequivalência de duas formulações de oxalato de escitalopram comprimidos em voluntários sadios administradas em jejum / Bioequivalence of two tablets formulations of escitalopram oxalate in healthy volunteers under fasting conditions

O estudo foi conduzido para verificar a bioequivalência entre duas formulações de oxalato de escitalopram 10 mg, comprimidos. Foram 32 voluntários sadios de ambos os sexos que participaram no estudo randomizado, cruzado, dois períodos, com washout mínimo de dez dias. Um comprimido de cada formulação foi administrado após jejum noturno de dez horas. Após administração, amostras seriadas de sangue foram coletadas por 144 horas. As amostras de plasma foram analisadas para determinação do escitalopram por método validado de cromatografia líquida acoplada à detecção por espectrometria de massas (LC-MS-MS). Os parâmetros farmacocinéticos área sob a curva de concentração plasmática do tempo zero a última concentração medida (ASC0-t) e concentração máxima observada (Cmax) foram os principais critérios para verificação da bioequivalência entre as formulações. Área sob a curva de zero a infinito (ASC0-inf), tempo em que ocorre Cmax (Tmax) e meia-vida (t1/2) também foram determinados. Os intervalos de confiança (IC) de 90% obtidos por análise de variância (ANOVA) não mostraram diferenças significativas entre as duas formulações e caíram dentro dos limites pre-estabelecidos (96,91-106,79 para ASC0-t e 89,40-102,39 para Cmax). A bioequivalência entre as duas formulações foi demonstrada tanto em termos de taxa quanto de extensão da absorção.

Kinetics of TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma mRNA expression in islets and spleen of NOD mice

Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is caused by autoimmune destruction of pancreatic ß cells. Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice spontaneously develop diabetes similar to the human disease. Cytokines produced by islet-infiltrating mononuclear cells may be directly cytotoxic and can be involved in islet destruction coordinated by CD4+ and CD8+ cells. We utilized a semiquantitative RT-PCR assay to analyze in vitro the mRNA expression of TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma cytokine genes in isolated islets (N = 100) and spleen cells (5 x 10(5) cells) from female NOD mice during the development of diabetes and from female CBA-j mice as a related control strain that does not develop diabetes. Cytokine mRNAs were measured at 2, 4, 8, 14 and 28 weeks of age from the onset of insulitis to the development of overt diabetes. An increase in IFN-gamma expression in islets was observed for females aged 28 weeks (149 ± 29 arbitrary units (AU), P<0.05, Student t-test) with advanced destructive insulitis when compared with CBA-j mice, while TNF-alpha was expressed in both NOD and CBA-j female islets at the same level at all ages studied. In contrast, TNF-alpha in spleen was expressed at higher levels in NOD females at 14 weeks (99 ± 8 AU, P<0.05) and 28 weeks (144 ± 17 AU, P<0.05) of age when compared to CBA-j mice. The data suggest that IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha expression in pancreatic islets of female NOD mice is associated with ß cell destruction and overt diabetes

Behavioral and biochemical changes following reapeted administration of carbaryl to aging rats

Motor, sensory and thermoregulatoty function were examined in aging rats (12 months) following two schedules of repated po adminstration of the carbamate insecticide carbaryl and these effects were assessed in terms of blood cholinesterase activity. Administration of carbaryl (50 mg/Kg) by gavage daily for 30 days resulted in a resultad in a reduction of locomotor activity in thre open-field and an inhibition of cholinesterase activity within 30 min after the last treatment. Twenty-for h later, only the locomotor effect was evident. After 90 days of exposure to carbaryl in drinking water, no significant effects were observed. These findings suggest that repeated administration of carbaril to aging rats can induce an impairment of motor function and a reduction of cholinesterase activity, while tolerance develops in some other parameters