ABSTRACT
In order to determine possible functional and morphometrical alterations produced by perinatal undernourishment on peripheral nerves, sensory sural nerves from control and undernourished rats of 30 and 90 postnatal days of age were dissected and divided in two segments, one for recording the compound action potential (CAP) and the other for histological examination. Nerves from undernourished animals showed maximal CAP responses of smaller amplitude and area, larger trial-to-trial variability in area, and a significant reduction in axonal myelin sheath thickness than nerves from control animals. It is suggested that perinatal undernourishment produces changes in axonal myelin sheath structure, resulting in severe alterations in the generation and propagation of action potentials (block and/or intermittent conduction) in sensory afferent fibers in the rat.
Subject(s)
Action Potentials/physiology , Malnutrition/physiopathology , Neural Conduction/physiology , Peripheral Nervous System Diseases/physiopathology , Sural Nerve , Age Factors , Animals , Axons/physiology , Electrophysiology/methods , Male , Myelin Sheath/physiology , RatsABSTRACT
An improved, straightforward and accurate method for the derivatization and quantitative high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of carboxylic acids in food and beverages is presented. Thirty-two p-nitrobenzyl esters were prepared in high yields by direct reaction of the free acid with O-(4-nitrobenzyl)-N,N'-diisopropylisourea in dioxane-water (9:1). Benzylmalonic acid was used as a new internal standard. Excess of reagent was removed on a strong cation-exchange resin. The advantage of this original and very convenient procedure over the usual clean-up step involving filtration through a disposable silica cartridge is discussed. The p-nitrobenzyl ester derivatives were readily separated using a single linear gradient of solvent (acetonitrile in water). With a high-performance liquid chromatography column of conventional size (20-25 cm X 4.6 mm I.D.), the analysis lasted for less than 20 min. This analysis time was even shorter (less than 12 min) when using modern small-bore (100 X 2.1 mm I.D.) columns. Applications of the method to the analysis of the main carboxylic acids in coffee, wine and fruit juices are presented.
