Lignosus rhinocerotis (Cooke) Ryvarden (LR) or tiger milk mushroom has traditionally been used in Malaysia due to its abundant medicinal properties. The potential effects of LR on the male and female fertility teratogenicity were investigated rats. Male Sprague Dawley (10 rats/group) orally administered with 0, 250, 500 1000 mg/kg/day extract for 30 consecutive days. Female (5 received same tre...

Introduction: The role of brain tissues oxidative damage in learning and memory impairments has been well documented. It is also well known that thyroid hormones have a critical role for the brain functions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of brain tissues oxidative damage as a possible mechanism of deleterious effects of propylthiouracil (PTU) - induced hypothyroidism on ...

Marginal iodine deficiency is a major health problem in pregnant women, but its impact on nerve and intelligence development in offspring has been rarely reported. Our study aimed to investigate the effects of maternal marginal iodine deficiency on nerve and cognitive development in offspring and the related mechanisms. Marginal iodine-deficient rats were given 3  μg iodine per day, while norma...

BACKGROUND Prenatal malnutrition can affect the phenotype of offspring by changing epigenetic regulation of specific genes. Several lines of evidence demonstrate that calcium (Ca) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance syndrome. We hypothesized that pregnant female rats fed a Ca-deficient diet would have offspring with altered hepatic glucocorticoid-related gene expre...

Manipulation of dietary choline levels in pregnant rats has been shown to result in enduring alterations in memory and hippocampal function of the offspring, but the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. Hippocampal slices were prepared from adult rats that were offspring of dams fed control, choline supplemented, or choline deficient diets on days 12-17 of gestation. N-methyl-D-a...

Background:The polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) is expressed in developing brain. Fetal brain damage is caused by different conditions such as seizure and hypoxia. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of maternal seizures on the number of PSA-NCAM positive cells in pup's hippocampus. Methods: Female Wistar rats were divided into four groups: (a) kindle...

Maternal immune activation can induce neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia. Previous investigations by our group have shown that prenatal treatment of rats on gestation day 9.5 with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 100 μg/kg, intraperitoneally), which mimics infections by gram-negative bacteria, induced autism-like behavior in male rats, including impaired communication and soci...

The present experiment examined the developmental neurotoxicity of pulsed-wave (pw) ultrasound in rats, using an exposure system designed to eliminate restraint or anesthesia from the exposure conditions. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley CD rats trained to remain immobile in a water-filled ultrasound exposure tank were scanned with 3-MHz pw ultrasound at spatial peak temporal average intensities (ISPTA)...

Previous studies have shown that a diet high in polyunsaturated fatty acids increases mammary tumor incidence in adult and pregnant mice and rats and in the female offspring. The present study investigated whether a high-fat diet alters the number of estrogen receptor (ER) binding sites and protein kinase C (PKC) activity in the mammary gland of these animals. In the female offspring, the effec...

Low doses of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), administered as a single dose to the dam during gestation, alter development of the fetal rodent reproductive system. In male rat and hamster offspring, dosing with TCDD during gestation reduces epididymal and ejaculated sperm counts and delays puberty. In female rats, in utero TCDD-exposure results in reduced ovarian weight and fecundity...