Impact of experimental diabetes and chronic hypoxia on rat fetal body weight.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study is to determine the impact of the experimental diabetes and the chronic hypoxia on pregnancy development and rat fetal body weight. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The experiment was performed on female Wistar rats. Animals were divided into the experimen-tal groups. I - Controls, II - Untreated diabetes, III - Insulin-treated diabetes, IV - No diabetes with chronic hypoxia, V - Untreated diabetes and chronic hypoxia, VI - Insulin- treated diabetes and chronic hypoxia. Diabetes was induced in groups II, III, V and VI with intraperitoneal injection of streptozocin (STZ) at a dose of 40 mg/kg. Chronic hypoxia was induced by placing dams (groups IV, V and VI) in conditions of 10.5% oxygen and 89.5%. Insulin was administered subcutaneously at the dose of 9 IU/kg. Starting from the 6th day after STZ injection and chronic hypoxia conditions animals were caged together for 12 hours for 3 consecutive days to ensure fertilization. On day 21 of gestation the animals were decapitated, the fetuses were removed and weighted. RESULTS: Mean fetal body weight in separate groups were: I - 5.38 g, II - 6.04g, III - 5.32g, IV- 5.56 g, V - 3.45 g, VI - 6.23 g. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-existing type 1 diabetes does not affect fetal body weight compared to healthy newborn control rats. Pro-longed hypoxia does not impact on fetal body weight. Chronic hypoxia during pregnancy complicated with untreated type 1 diabetes mellitus leads to significant reduction of fetal body weight. Insulin treatment reversed the detrimental effect of chronic hypoxia on fetal development.

Coping with stress and quality of life in women with stress urinary incontinence.

INTRODUCTION: Urinary incontinence (UI) involves uncontrolled leakage of urine through the urethra as a result of damage to its sphincter muscle and a disturbed function of the urogenital diaphragm within the pelvis minor. The symptoms of UI radically impair psychological, somatic, and social functioning. The aim of each disease stress coping process is to reduce the impact of harmful agents as well as the acquisition of necessary preventive measures in order to combat the disorder. Aim of the study was to assess the relationship between coping styles used when dealing with stress associated with disease and the quality of life. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was carried out at an outpatients' clinic located in the Lublin Province (eastern Poland), covering 150 women with diagnosed stress urinary incontinence, aged between 32 and 79. The following methods were used: (a) Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (Endler, Parker) to assess coping styles, (b) CASP-19 scale (Higgins, Hyde, Wiggins, Blade) to measure the overall quality of life, and (c) Urinary Incontinence Life Quality Scale (Szymona-Palkowska, Kraczkowski). RESULTS: The preferred style in the studied group of women was Task-Oriented Coping. This style is associated with a low score on the Independence from Symptoms scale and low Control, being simultaneously correlated with Autonomy and Self-Realisation. Emotion-Oriented Coping is associated with low psychological, physical and social well-being, as well as with little independence from the disease symptoms, little pleasure and self-realisation, but it gives a sense of internal control. Avoidance-Oriented Coping does not significantly correlate with any of the Overall Quality of Life dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: Women suffering from UI tend to try to solve their problem by means of cognitive transformation. In their situation, clinging to the problem turns out to be a depressing factor and entails a lower quality of their life.

[Influence of chronic hypoxia on optical density of µ-opioid receptors in fetal rat brain]. / Wplyw dlugotrwalego niedotlenienia na gestosc optyczna receptorów µ-opioidowych w mózgu plodów szczurzych.

UNLABELLED: Fetal brain is considered to be the major body organ, critical for the future quality of human life. Offspring exposed to prenatal hypoxia has been evidenced to experience behavioral abnormalities as a result of the injury sustained by neuronal cells in the brain. The relatively early appearance of opioid receptors proved susceptible to endogenous and exogenous factors. Increased concentrations of neurotransmitters in the maternal circulation and amniotic fluid induced by hypoxic exposure imply their role in the regulation of cellular division and differentiation processes. Endogenous neuropeptides and specific opioid receptors are distributed in those brain structures that are associated with behavior and reproduction. Fetuses exposed to the adverse effects of increased opioid level incur structural brain tissue abnormalities. OBJECTIVES: The present study seeks to determine the effects of long-term hypoxic exposure during gestation on the expression of opioid receptors in specific brain regions in both sexes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted on pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats, (120 days old, body weight between 250 and 300 g). Experiments were carried out in order to determine the effect of long-term hypoxia on µ-opioid receptor density in selected structures of fetal central nervous system: caudate-putamen (CPu), zona germinata (ZG), nucleus accumbens (NA), olfactory tubercle (OT), Median Part Medial Preoptic Area (MMPoA) and Lateral Part Medial Preoptic Area (LMPoA). Pregnant female rats were assigned to two research groups: the control group (N=6) and the experimental group subject to prolonged hypoxia for 24 hours from the gestational day 15 to gestational day 20 (E-15-E20). At E-21 rats were sacrificed, their fetuses were removed and their brains were incubated with radioligands. The µ-opioid receptor incubation in selected brain structures was performed with a specific radioisotope [3H]DAMGO [tyrosyl-3,5,-3H(N)-D-Ala-Gly-N-methyl-Phe-Gly-enkephalin]. Optical density of µ-opioid receptors was determined at E-21 of gestation during long-term exposure to chronic hypoxia induced from E-15 to E-21 of gestation. Experimental model coupled with an innovative autoradiography allowed for a precise assessment of the lesions sustained by fetal brain tissues due to hypoxia and the adaptive mechanisms of the central nervous system in reaction to hypoxic exposure. RESULTS: Statistically significant chronic hypoxia (p<0.05) downregulated the values of µ-opioid receptors optical density in relation to control group in CPu and ZG. Chronic hypoxia in ZG substantially reduces the values of µ-opioid receptors optical density in males (p<0.05). The differences among remaining groups did not show to be statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The obtained results of µ-opioid receptor expression can be detected in specific fetal brain regions that mediate sexual behavior and may be attributable to behavioral changes of experimental animals due to hypoxic exposure during gestation.