The prevalence of sleep apnea is very high in patients with heart failure (HF). The aims of this study were to investigate the influence of intermittent hypoxia (IH) on the failing heart and to evaluate the antioxidant effect of hydrogen gas. Normal male Syrian hamsters (n = 22) and cardiomyopathic (CM) hamsters (n = 33) were exposed to IH (repeated cycles of 1.5 min of 5% oxygen and 5 min of 2...

Peroxisome proliferators (PPs) cause hepatomegaly, peroxisome proliferation, and hepatocarcinogenesis in rats and mice, whereas hamsters are less responsive to PPs. PPs increase the activities of enzymes involved in peroxisomal beta-oxidation and omega-hydroxylation of fatty acids, which has been hypothesized to result in oxidative stress. The hypothesis of this study was that differential modu...

The possible relationship between changes in islet cell mass and in islet neogenesis-associated protein (INGAP)-cell mass induced by sucrose administration to normal hamsters was investigated. Normal hamsters were given sucrose (10% in drinking water) for 5 (S8) or 21 (S24) weeks and compared with control (C) fed hamsters. Serum glucose and insulin levels were measured and quantitative immunocy...

The purpose of this study was 2-fold: to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of 64Cu-bromoacetamidobenzyl- 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-N,N',N'',N'''-tetraacetic acid (BAT)-2-iminothiolane (2IT)-monoclonal antibody (MAb) 1A3 in hamsters, and second, to determine the therapeutic efficacy of 64Cu-BAT-2IT-MAb 1A3 at various dose levels in hamsters with large (600 mg), 7-day-old GW39 hu...

AIM Lercanidipine is a new vasoselective dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker with a short plasma half-life, long duration of action, and demonstrated cardioprotective properties. We hypothesized that it might be effective at attenuating the adverse impact observed on the coronary compartment and myocardium in the transition phase to heart failure in the UM-X7.1 cardiomyopathic (CM) hamster....

A comprehensive study of cholesterol, bile acid, and lipoprotein metabolism was undertaken in two strains of hamster that differed markedly in their response to a sucrose-rich/low fat diet. Under basal conditions, hamsters from the LPN strain differed from Janvier hamsters by a lower cholesterolemia, a higher postprandial insulinemia, a more active cholesterogenesis in both liver [3- to 4-fold ...

25 Sin Nombre virus (SNV) is a rodent-borne hantavirus that causes hantavirus pulmonary 26 syndrome (HPS) predominantly in North America. SNV infection of immunocompetent 27 hamsters results in an asymptomatic infection; the only lethal disease model for a 28 pathogenic hantavirus is Andes virus (ANDV) infection of Syrian hamsters. Efforts to 29 create a lethal SNV disease model in hamsters by ...

Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) undergo bouts of daily torpor in response to reduced photoperiod. Metabolic rate, body temperature and energy cost are reduced during torpor. The present study exposed Djungarian hamsters to two different photoperiod regimes at a room temperature of 19-21°C: long photoperiod (control, 16 h:8 h light:dark, N=8) and short photoperiod (torpor, 8 h:16 h light...

We investigated whether histaminergic tone contributes to the seasonal catabolic state in Siberian hamsters by determining the effect of ablation of histaminergic neurons on food intake, metabolic rate and body weight. A ribosomal toxin (saporin) conjugated to orexin-B was infused into the ventral tuberomammillary region of the hypothalamus, since most histaminergic neurons express orexin recep...

Leptospirosis, a zoonotic infection with worldwide prevalence, is caused by pathogenic spirochaetes of Leptospira spp., and exhibits an extremely broad clinical spectrum in human patients. Although previous studies indicated that specific serovars or genotypes of Leptospira spp. were associated with severe leptospirosis or its outbreak, the mechanism underlying the difference in virulence of th...