Diabetes and pregnancy in Wistar rats: renal effects for mothers in the postpartum period.

In this study, diabetes mellitus (DM) was induced in Wistar rats during pregnancy and maintained in the postpartum period (PP) and we evaluated systolic blood pressure (SBP), glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and renal immunohistochemical and morphometric studies from different groups: G1 (non-pregnant control rats), G2 (non-pregnant diabetic rats), G3 (control mothers) and G4 (diabetic mothers). We found that there were no differences in relation to SBP, but there was a tendency for reduction in GFR from G4 compared with the other groups (G). There was increased total kidney weight/body weight ratio of G4 compared with other G. There were increase in glomerular tuft area in G3 and G4 compared with G1 and G2. G2 and G4 showed even higher percentage of cortical collagen. G3 showed increased glomerular proliferating cells compared with G1 and G2, while in G4 this number was smaller than G3. Cell proliferation was higher in the tubulointerstitial (TBI) compartment from G4. Glomerular and TBI α-smooth muscle actin expression was increased in G4 compared with other G. The glomerular p-p38 expression showed a pattern similar to proliferation cell nuclear antigen, with a reduction of p-p38 in G4 relative to other G. The immunoreactivity of p-JNK was higher in both the glomeruli and TBI compartment in G4 compared with G1, G2 and G3. The DM induced during pregnancy and maintained in the PP resulted in renal structural and functional changes to mothers. In addition, altered mitogen-activated protein kinase expression in association with these changes may play an important role in renal damage observed in the present investigation.

Efeitos da própolis na proliferação de fibroblastos em lesões cutâneas de ratos / Effect of propolis on fibroblast proliferation in skin lesions in rats

O presente estudo teve por objetivo verificar o efeito tópico da própolis na proliferação de fibroblastos e a disposição e volume de fibras colágenas presentes durante o processo de reparo tecidual. Foram utilizados ratos wistar, machos, divididos em dois grupos: Grupo Controle (CC) n=16 lesão tratada com creme não-iônico; Grupo Própolis (PP) n=16 lesão tratada com creme não-iônico + Própolis 10%. Nos 4º, 7°, 14° e 21° dias de tratamento foram sacrificados 4 animais de cada grupo em câmara de gás carbônico. O tecido lesionado foi coletado e fixado em formalina a 10% por 48 horas, incluído em álcool a 70%, fixado em parafina e depositado em lâminas para análise histológica. Os resultados demonstraram um aumento no número de fibroblastos e também maior e melhor disposição de fibras colágenas no grupo PP em relação ao grupo CC. Assim, as evidências obtidas no estudo mostraram que o efeito da própolis na aceleração do processo de reparo tecidual não é somente por sua ação antiinflamatória, conforme diversos estudos demonstram, mas também por sua ação direta sobre a proliferação de fibroblastos, acelerando a reversão de fibrócito para fibroblasto, e, consequentemente favorecendo a síntese e deposição de fibras colágenas, melhorando o reparo tecidual e reduzindo o tempo de cicatrização...

This study aimed to verify the effect of topical propolis on fibroblast proliferation and disposicao and volume of collagen fibers present in the tissue repair process. We used male Wistar rats were divided into two groups: control (CC) n = 16 lesions treated with non-ionic cream; Propolis Group (PP) n = 16 lesion treated with non-ionic cream + 10% propolis. At 4, 7, 14 and 21 days of treatment where sacrificed four animals from each group in a carbon dioxide chamber. The injured tissue was collected and fixed in 10% formalin for 48 hours, then in 70% alcohol, embedded in paraffin and placed on slides for histological analysis. The results showed an increase in the number of fibroblasts and also bigger and better arrangement of collagen fibers in PP group than in CC group. Thus, the evidence obtained in the study showed that the effect of propolis to speed up tissuerepair process is not only for its anti-inflammatory action, as several studies show, but also by its direct action on the proliferation of fibroblasts, accelerating the rate at which fibrocytes revert to fibroblasts, and collagen fiber arrangement, improving tissue repair and reducing the healing time...