Electrochemical studies on the stability and corrosion resistance of titanium-based implant materials.

The corrosion susceptibility of Ti, Ti-6A1-4V and Ti-45Ni was studied in a buffered saline solution using anodic polarisation and electrochemical impedance measurements. Pitting potentials as low as + 250 mV(SCE) were recorded for Ti-45Ni and once initiated pits continued to propagate at potentials as low as -150 mV(SCE). It was possible to increase the pitting potential of Ti-45Ni to values greater than +800 mV(SCE) using a H2O2 surface treatment procedure; however, this surface modification process had no beneficial effect on the rate of pit repassivation. Impedance spectra, recorded under open-circuit conditions, were modelled using a dual oxide film model; a porous outer layer and an inner barrier oxide layer. The nature of this porous outer layer was found to depend on the nature of the electrode material and the presence of phosphate anions in the saline-buffered solution. The porous layers formed on Ti-45Ni and Ti-6Al-4V in the presence of phosphate anions had low resistances typically between 10 and 70 ohm cm2. Much higher porous layer resistances were recorded for Ti and also for Ti-45Ni and Ti-6Al-4V in the absence of the phosphate anions.

Brain hyperthermia alters local cerebral glucose utilization: a comparison of hyperthermic agents.

Microwaves have been proposed to alter neural functioning through both thermal and non-thermal mechanisms. We attempted to determine if local cerebral glucose utilization (LCGU) depends on the type of hyperthermic agent employed. We exposed the heads of rats to two different hyperthermic agents (5.6 GHz microwave exposure or exposure to hot/moist air) to create a 2 degree C rise in midbrain temperature. Other rats were sham exposed and remained normothermic. The 2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) autoradiographic method was then used to determine LCGU during a 45-min period of stable hyperthermia. Hyperthermia (created by either hyperthermic agent) caused a general rise in brain glucose utilization. Hot-air exposed rats showed significantly higher LCGUs than microwaved rats in portions of the motor cortex, hypothalamus, lateral lemniscus and the substantia nigra (reticulata). Microwave exposure did not produce significantly higher levels of LCGU (compared to hot-air exposed hyperthermic controls) in any of the 47 brain areas sampled. A time analysis of lateral hypothalamic (LH) temperature during these different heating procedures revealed that microwave exposure produced a more-rapid rise in temperature than did not/moist air. Thus, we wondered if the nuclei-specific differences in LCGU could be explained by localized differences in rate of brain heating during the two hyperthermic treatments. In a second study we carefully matched both the rate of lateral hypothalamic temperature rise and the peak temperatures achieved by our two hyperthermic methods and again measured LH LCGUs. We found that this precise matching eliminated the difference in hypothalamic LCGU previously observed following microwave or hot-air exposure. These data suggest that hyperthermia causes a general rise in brain metabolism and that (as long as steady state and rate of local brain temperature increase are well matched) microwave and hot-air induced hyperthermia produce similar changes in LCGU.

The intensity of a fetal taste aversion is modulated by the anesthesia used during conditioning.

Rat fetuses (E18) can learn a taste aversion in utero if experience with a sweet flavor (saccharin = Sac) is followed by a malaise-producing injection of lithium chloride (LiCl). Here we report that this phenomenon can be significantly modulated by the type of anesthesia administered to the pregnant dam before the conditioning procedure. Dams were anesthetized with one of the following drugs or drug combinations: (1) sodium pentobarbital; (2) ketamine hydrochloride and xylazine; or (3) sodium pentobarbital and ketamine hydrochloride. While under the influence of these anesthetics, rat fetuses received pairings of Sac + LiCl or one of the following sets of oral and systemic (i.p.) control injections: Sac + Saline, H2O + LiCl; H2O + Saline. At age 15 days neonatal rats were given a taste preference test by allowing them to select nipples painted with either saccharin or vehicle (H2O). After weaning, rats were given an additional taste preference test where they were allowed to drink from bottles filled with either 0.30% saccharin or water. Neonates that received Sac + LiCl injections avoided saccharin-painted nipples while neonates that received control injections in utero preferred saccharin-painted nipples. Rats that acquired the taste aversion under the influence of ketamine showed a significantly stronger conditioned taste aversion on the nipple preference test than did those from dams injected with sodium pentobarbital. The conditioned taste aversion was not detectable later during the bottle preference test. Since ketamine blocks N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors, and these receptors have been implicated in neural plasticity during development, our data suggest that NMDA antagonism can potentiate fetal learning. Ketamine has been used as an obstetrical and pediatric anesthetic.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)