Dynamics of Metabolic Parameters in Rats during Repeated Exposure to Modulated Low-Intensity UHF Radiation.

Metabolic parameters in rats were studied at various stages of repeated exposure to modulated low-intensity UHF radiation. The volume of O2 consumption and level of heat release were reduced by day 4 of intermittent irradiation and remained low over the next 2 days in the absence of a source for electromagnetic radiation. The amount of expired CO2 slightly increased over the first 3 sessions of irradiation, but significantly decreased in the recovery period on days 5 and 6. Changes in metabolic parameters were most significant on day 7 of the study. It was manifested in the decrease of O2 consumption, CO2 release, and intensity of heat exchange not only during irradiation, but also in the inter-exposure period. Electromagnetic radiation can induce a change of metabolic processes in mammals, which is most pronounced during repeated irradiation and persists even under physiological resting conditions.

Behavioral Indexes of Thermal Nociceptive Sensitivity in Rats after Melatonin Administration.

We studied the effect of melatonin (10 mg/kg intraperitoneally) on behavioral indexes reflecting changes in nociceptive sensitivity of rats in response to thermal stimulation in the hot plate test. Administration of melatonin to animals suppressed the perceptual component of nociception, which was manifested in an increase in the perception threshold of noxious thermal stimulus. In the follow-up period, exogenous melatonin contributed to a decrease in the latency of avoidance reactions and enhanced the behavior of escaping the thermal nociceptive stimulation. Our results suggest that the involvement of melatonin in goal-directed behavior of mammals during nociceptive treatment is related to an increase in orientation and exploratory activity, facilitation of memory storage, and improvement of memory retrieval for environmental signals, action program, and reinforcing effect of avoiding the painful stimulus.

Study of behavioral parameters during learning of rats in an operant feeding task and evaluation of biochemical indexes after dietary consumption of the phytoecdysteroid extract.

Experiments on rats were performed to study the process of operant feeding learning, locomotor activity, oxygen consumption, and concentrations of corticosterone, ß-endorphin, and prostaglandin E in blood serum after dietary treatment with the phytoecdysteroid extract. Administration of phytoecdysteroids was followed by the improvement of learning and increase in oxygen consumption and locomotor activity. Locomotor activity and oxygen consumption in the majority of control rats and phytoecdysteroid-treated animals were shown to be interrelated with the total locomotor activity and goal-directed operant behavior, respectively. No significant differences were found in the concentration of hormones in blood serum from animals of the control and treatment groups.

Express method for systemic psychophysiological analysis of human purposeful activity.

A psychophysiological sensorimotor test for systemic evaluation of human purposeful activity and detection of his/her mental strain are created and tested. The novelty and priority of the new test consists in the possibility for the subject to choose the situational and trigger signals for achieving the result. The algorithm of data analysis includes an important component: performance evaluation after errors.

Dynamics of neuronal, autonomic, and motor measures in animals performing an acquired habit.

Previously obtained results and data from other groups showing that intersignal activity in animals correlates with the success of acquisition of defensive and food-procuring behavior are presented. In addition, specific changes in neuron activity and in the dynamics of cardiac and respiratory activity are demonstrated during performance of intersignal behavioral acts. The moments of appearance of intersignal activity were studied, as were patterns of changes in neurophysiological measures during different types of intersignal actions. The first series of experiments showed that different contextual stimuli (mainly ratios of sector illumination, which are ethologically important for rats) have significant effects on the level of intersignal activity and the success of learning active defensive behavior. The next series of experiments, in which learning and extinction of a passive defensive habit in rabbits were performed, demonstrated the existence of two types of intersignal activity. The first type was characterized by repetition of pain reinforcement parameters in the structure of changes in neurophysiological measures during intersignal behavior; the second type was characterized by a coincidence of the whole structure of neuronal activity, cardiac rhythm, and respiration during intersignal activity with the dynamics of these measures during the conditioned reflex behavioral act. This study suggests that the process of intersignal extraction of an efferent program for acquired defensive behavior may be one of the mechanisms by which it is fixed in memory and plays an important role in the animal's achievement of useful adaptive results.

[The dynamics of neuronal, autonomic and movement parameters in animals during the reproduction of a learned habit]. / Dinamika neironnykh, vegetativnykh i dvigatel'nykh pokazatelei u zhivotnykh pri vosproizvedenii priobretennogo navyka.

Data by the authors, as well as from other laboratories, show that the intertrial responses correlated with accuracy of avoidance or feeding behaviour. Moreover our previously data demonstrated the definite changes of neuronal activity, heart rate and respiration during intertrial responses. In this study we investigated the time-course of intertrial response appearance, the pattern of neurophysiological parameters during intertrial periods, and the types of intertrial responses. Experiment 1 showed that different environmental stimuli influenced the level of intertrial responses and successfulness of the avoidance learning. In experiment 2, in which learning and extinction procedures were presented in rabbit passive-avoidance conditioning, two types of intertrial responses were observed; the first type repeated the pain reinforcement, the second one imitated the conditioned reaction of neuronal activity, heart rate, respiration, and moving. These investigations suggest that the processes of intertrial eliciting of avoidance effector programs may be one of the mechanisms of fixation in memory and play an important role in acquisition of more effective results.

[Characteristics of motor and cardiac activity in men during the performance of test "shooter"]. / Osobennosti dvigatel'noi aktivnosti i serdechnoi deiatel'nosti cheloveka pri vypolnenii testa "strelok".

Subject's behavior and electrocardiogram were investigated during execution of the test "Shooter". Three kinds of strategies were used by subjects during the task performance. Three types of the motor activity of subjects were also found in the "interresulting" periods during the system activity. The spatial and temporal characteristics of these types of activity were similar to those during the actual achieving the result. Differences in the dynamics of the R-R-interval changes were found in the periods before achieving the positive or negative result.

Systems analysis of the neuroimmunological mechanisms of memory.

Experimental data on the role of immunomodulators in the mechanisms of neurological memory are presented and assessed from the point of view of functional systems theory. It is demonstrated that the immunomodulator interleukin-1 beta and the alpha-2-interferon fragment RITLY improve the processes of learning and reproduction of an active defensive habit. These substances were found to have effects on the productivity of behavior, on orientational-investigative reactions, and on vocalization in response to a conditioned signal. A positive correlation between intersignal activity and productivity is demonstrated as a reflection of the mechanisms of anticipatory reorganization of behavior during learning. However, interleukin has a selective action depending on the ethological conditions obtained during learning.

[Systemic analysis of neuroimmune mechanisms of memory]. / Sistemnyi analiz neiroimmunologicheskikh mekhanizmov pamiati.

Administration of IL-1 beta and 125-129 fragment of alpha 2-interferon improved learning and retention of active avoidance behaviour in memory in rats. It also improved the correlation between intersignal runs and success of the avoidance behaviour learning. The data obtained suggest that an activation of the intersignal retention process is one of the mechanisms of the immunomodulators effect on learning and memory.

[Food-acquisition and avoidance behaviors: the role of immunomodulators in their systemic organization]. / Pishchedobyvatel'noe i oboronitel'noe povedenie: rol' immunomoduliatorov v sistemnoi organizatsii.

The experimental data concerning some aspects of neuroimmunology were analysed. The problems of likeness between immune and nervous systems (origin, functions, common substances, etc.) and particularly the participation of immunomodulators in the mechanisms of neural memory are under discussion. It was shown that administration of immunomodulator neurotropin (NSP) results in more steady consolidation and retention of feeding and avoidance behavior, and some neurophysiological mechanisms of that phenomena were revealed. Among them were the reorganization of neuronal interspike patterns in cortex and hippocampus; increasing the levels of vegetative (heart rate, respiration) and behavior parameters of learning during conditioning. Whole this complex of changes was retrieved during intersignal periods. The results suggest that one of the mechanisms of immunomodulators action on the learning and memory is the activation of reverberation processes in brain.

[The effect of the immunomodulator neurotropin on the learning of active defensive behavior by rats]. / Vliianie immunomoduliatora neirotropina na obuchenie krys aktivno-oboronitel'nomu povedeniiu.

Rats were intraperitoneally injected with neurotropin (NSP), a substrate extracted from the inflammatory dermis of rabbits inoculated with Vaccine virus. Active avoidance behaviour of rats was studied. After NSP administration rats demonstrated higher levels of conditioning and true responses compared with control. In NSP-treated rats relationship between the time of beginning of intersignal run during learning and success of the avoidance trial differed from that in the control group. The results suggest that neurotropin administration activates the retrieval processes and leads to stronger consolidation of avoidance behaviour.

Effects of medial septal stimulation & its blockade with atropine on hippocampal rhythmical slow activity in free-moving rabbits.

The influence of the medial septal nucleus (MSN) on hippocampal rhythmical slow activity (RSA) was investigated in hunger motivated free-moving rabbits. Single unit activity of 29 CA3 dorsal hippocampal neurones was studied under two paradigms viz., electrical stimulation (3v/1msec/5Hz) and chemical blockade of atropine-sensitive medial septal cells (dose of 5 micrograms in 5 microliters). The analysis of interspike interval sample histograms recorded with Apple II, along with single unit neuronal spikes recorded on polygraph showed bimodal pattern with two peaks; one at bin 10-20 (high frequency) and second at bin 100-300 (theta frequency). On stimulation of MSN, there was total suppression of bin 100-300 with peaks at bin 1-20 and at bin greater than 1000 (very low frequency). Blockade of cholinergic receptors at MSN showed reduction of bin 100-300 and peak at bin 700- greater than 1000; this was followed by gradual decrease of spike's amplitude and thereafter its total abolition. The results indicate that the septal region is not a pacemaker per se in the genesis of hippocampal RSA (theta rhythm), but serves more in the nature of a relay station for a number of inputs and that its influence on the hippocampal electrical activity depends on the integrity of cholinergic inputs, be it from hippocampus proper or from mid-brain reticular formation.

[Effects of neuropeptide Y on behavior and noradrenaline level in the brain]. / Vliianie neiropeptida Y na povedenie i dinamiku urovnia noradrenalinav mozge.

The administration of neuropeptide Y in lower doses (1 and 100 ng/rat) into the lateral ventricle of the brain gave rise to the inhibition of locomotor activity, weakening of the orienting-exploratory behaviour, increase in the period of rest in animals. Feeding and drinking behaviour after the administration of neuropeptide was not observed. Alterations of behaviour in rats were followed by a dose-depended increase in noradrenaline in hypothalamus. No changes were observed in the content of noradrenaline in the frontal cortex and septum. Some variations in the level of noradrenaline were found in amygdala and hippocamp. It may be assumed that behavioural effects, aroused by the central administration of neuropeptide Y, is connected with the activation of catecholaminergic systems of hypothalamus.

[Heterogeneity and physiological activity of bovine k-casein proteolysis products]. / K voprosu o geterogennosti i fiziologicheskoi aktivnosti produktov proteoliza korov'ego k-kazeina.

Gel chromatography in columns with Sephadex G-50 and biogel P-2 was used to separate a number of fractions formed in k-casein of cow's milk after short-term treatment with swine trypsin. These fractions, similar to beta-casomorphin, are capable of reducing the respiration and heart rates in rabbits after intravenous injection in a dose of 100 micrograms/kg, that suggests their capacity for interaction with opiate receptors. Some fractions injected subcutaneously induce in starving animals an electroencephalographic picture of satiation, similar to that observed after cholecystokinin injections. Correlation of amino acid composition and physiologic activity has evidenced that cholecystokinin and opioid effects are caused by different peptides.

[Amino acid composition and biological action of a peptide bioregulator from bovine k-casein]. / Aminokislotnyi sostav i biologicheskoe deistvie peptidnogo bioreguliatora iz korov'ego k-kazeina.

Peptide material has been first isolated from k-casein pepsin hydrolysate. Its subcutaneous injection to hungry animals induced high amplitude (250-350 mV) and high frequency (16-20 Hz) oscillations of electrical potentials usually observed in food satiety and cholecystokinin administration. The peptide reduced respiratory and to a lesser extent heart rate. Its effect is temporary eliminated by naloxone. According to an aminogram, the peptide is a fragment of para-k-casein. A neurotropic peptide effect is connected with satiety regulation and milk consumption in the postnatal period.

[Effect of centrally administered cholecystokinin on feeding behavior induced by electric stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus in the rabbit]. / Vliianie kholetsistokinina pri tsentral'nom vvedenii na pishchevoe povedenie u krolikov, vyzvannoe élektricheskoi stimuliatsiei lateral'nogo gipotalamusa.

In experiments on 15 freely moving rabbits cholecystokinin octapeptide sulfate (CCK-8-S) in a dose of 10 ng considerably suppressed alimentary behaviour of the animals elicited by electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus. Increasing of the peptide doses to 100 and 200 ng elicited an analogous effect. CCK-8-NS in 10 ng dose produced a lesser effect on feeding of the animal, but increasing of the dose of nonsulphated CCK to 100 ng led to a considerable prolongation of feeding. CCK-8-S and CCK-8-NS in doses used did not affect the reaction of avoidance in rabbits caused by electrical stimulation of the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus.