Diabetes up-regulated collagen IV and laminin α5 genes in mRNA and protein levels in seminiferous tubules of C57BL/6 adult mice.

Diabetes is a disease associated with impairment of the male reproductive system that causes complications such as decreased testosterone, the diameter of the seminiferous tubule, libido, and fertility. Extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules are involved in testicular development and spermatogenesis. Laminin and collagen are key proteins in seminiferous tubule basement membrane and play an important role in spermatogenesis. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of diabetes on collagen IV and laminin α5 changes in mice testis. In this experimental study, 40 mice (C57BL/6) were divided randomly into 4 groups: 1) Control group: without intervention, 2) Diabetic group: treated mice with 50 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ), 3) Diabetic + Insulin group: treated mice with STZ and insulin, and 4) Sham group: received citrate buffer. After 35 days, the left testes of all specimens were used for Real-Time PCR while their right testes were applied for immunohistochemical study and Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining. This study showed that gene expression and immunoreactivity of laminin α5 and collagen IV were significantly increased in diabetic mice compared to other groups (P<0.05). Also, PAS staining showed the thickness of seminiferous tubule basement membrane in the Diabetic group compared to other group increased significantly (p<0.05). In Diabetic + Insulin compared to Diabetic group, gene expression, the intensity of immunoreactivity and thickness of seminiferous tubule basement membrane decreased significantly (P<0.05). Our findings indicated that diabetes causes up-regulation of collagen IV and laminin α5 in mRNA and protein levels in the seminiferous tubule basement membrane and may cause disorder in spermatogenesis in mice.

Protective effects of ascorbic acid and garlic extract against lead-induced apoptosis in developing rat hippocampus.

Lead exposure has negative effects on developing nervous system and induces apoptosis in newly generated neurons. Natural antioxidants (i.e. Ascorbic acid and Garlic) might protect against lead-induced neuronal cell damage. The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effects of Ascorbic acid and Garlic administration during pregnancy and lactation on lead-induced apoptosis in rat developing hippocampus. Timed pregnant Wistar rats were administrated with Lead (1500 ppm) via drinking water (Pb group) or lead plus Ascorbic acid (Pb + AA Group, 500 mg/kg, IP), or lead plus Garlic Extract (Pb + G Group, 1 ml garlic juice/100 g BW, via Gavage) from early gestation (GD 0) until postnatal day 50 (PN 50). At the end of experiments, the pups' brains were carefully dissected. To identify neuronal death, the brain sections were stained with TUNEL assay. Mean of blood and brain lead levels increased significantly in Pb group comparing to other studied groups (P < 0.01). There was significant reduction in blood and brain lead level in Pb + AA and Pb + G groups when compared to those of Pb group (P < 0.01). The mean number of TUNEL positive cells in the CA1, CA3, and DG was significantly lower in the groups treated by either Ascorbic acid or Garlic (P < 0.05). Administration of Ascorbic acid and Garlic during pregnancy and lactation protect against lead-induced neuronal cell apoptosis in the hippocampus of rat pups partially via the reduction of Pb concentration in the blood and in the brain.

Analysis of Amygdala Nucleus in the Rat Brain: A review study.

Amygdale is one of the limbic related sub-cortical nuclei lying in the depth of temporal lobe and rostral of the inferior horn of lateral ventricle. In fact, amygdale is a nucleus complex that plays an important role in the emotional response, anger, fear, regulation of cardiovascular system, memory processes and learning and in pathophysiology of many diseases such as epilepsy, schizophrenia, Alzheimer, anxiety and depression. With regard to important of the amygdala in many critical functions, the cerebral disease and because of ethical problems most studies were done on animal models especially rats. Hence, in this review paper we tried to investigate different aspects of the rat amygdala complex including cyto, myelo and receptoarchitectonic.

Morphometrical study of polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule positive cells in rat pups hippocampus following induction of seizure during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: The polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) is expressed in developing brain. Fetal brain damage is caused by different conditions such as seizure and hypoxia. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of maternal seizures on the number of PSA-NCAM positive cells in pup's hippocampus. METHODS: Female Wistar rats were divided into four groups: (a) kindled rats which received PTZ (40 mg/kg, i.p.) during pregnancy from embryonic day 14-19 (E14-E19) every 48 h, (b) kindled rats which did not receive PTZ during pregnancy, (c) non-kindle, pregnant rats which received PTZ injection (40 mg/kg, i.p.) during pregnancy from E14 to E19 every 48 h, and (d) non-kindle, pregnant rats which received injection with an equal volume of normal saline as sham controls. At postnatal day 14 (PD14), rat pups were perfused, and their brain were fixed, embedded and coronal sections stained by immunohistochemistry method. The number of PSA-NCAM positive cells per unit area in the pup's hippocampus was counted. RESULTS: The number of PSA-NCAM positive cells in the CA1, CA3, and DG fields of pup's hippocampus, which was obtained from mothers who experienced PTZ injection during pregnancy, was decreased approximately 2.6 (P = 0.001), 2 (P = 0.001), and 2.1 (P = 0.001) times compared with non-PTZ treated maternal groups, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that maternal seizures reduced the number of neurons and also PSA-NCAM positive cells per unit area in the offspring hippocampus that it may cause impairment in hippocampal functions.