Relevance. Unreasonably high pollutant emissions into the environment, ill-considered use of natural resources and raw material orientation exports have led to an environmental crisis in many areas. Purpose. To study effect ecotoxicants on histochemical structure tooth jaw germs laboratory rats ways reduce this during perinatal prevention. Materials methods. The experiment included 50 white out...

Growth hormone (GH) recently has been shown to be expressed in the neonatal rat lung during alveolarization. The possible functional importance of lung GH in lung function, therefore, has been assessed by determining changes in GH-responsive proteins in the developing rat lung after the overexpression of the GH gene in this tissue. GH overexpression was achieved using an adenovirus that express...

The intrinsic properties of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the site of the main circadian pacemaker in mammals, have recently been studied in vitro by means of organotypic slice culturing. So far, only neonatal rats and mice have been used for such developmental and functional analyses of the isolated pacemaker. Here, the authors present a comparative developmental study of the SCN of voles...

Prenatal cocaine exposure can alter the postnatal care received by rat pups. Such effects could be caused in part by alterations in pup-produced stimuli that elicit early postnatal maternal care. Pup ultrasonic vocalizations are thought to be a particularly salient stimulus, and when paired with other cues, may elicit maternal attention. Cocaine is known to acutely alter thermoregulatory and ca...

Altered gravity load induced by spaceflight (microgravity) and centrifugation (hypergravity) is associated with changes in circadian, metabolic, and reproductive systems. Exposure to 2-g hypergravity (HG) during pregnancy and lactation decreased rate of mammary metabolic activity and increased pup mortality. We hypothesize HG disrupted maternal homeorhetic responses to pregnancy and lactation a...

PURPOSE To investigate whether acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) retards L-buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine (BSO)-induced cataractogenesis in Wistar rat pups. METHODS On postpartum day 3, group I pups received intraperitoneal (ip) saline and group II and group III pups received i.p. injections of BSO once daily for three consecutive days. In addition, group III pups received ip ALCAR once daily from pos...

Maternal care in mammals is the prevailing environmental influence during perinatal development. The adult rat offspring of mothers exhibiting increased levels of pup licking/grooming (LG; High LG mothers), compared to those reared by Low LG dams, show increased hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor expression, complex dendritic tree structure, and an enhanced capacity for synaptic potentiation. ...

The present study investigated the release of dopamine from the nucleus accumbens (shell) in response to pup-stimuli in the absence of lactation and maternal behaviors at time of sample collection. Subjects were female rats given maternal experiences through prior parturitions, recent pup-induced sensitization, or a combination of both. Nulliparous (N) or multiparous (M, had 2 prior litters but...

To determine the pattern of gene expression in brains associated with mothering during the postpartum period, in the present study we assessed gene expression through microarrays in four groups of female rats: two groups of new mothers that were experiencing the hormonal and neurochemical changes associated with pregnancy and parturition, and two groups of virgin females that were not. Within e...

The neuropeptide arginine vasopressin (AVP) is arguably among the most potent regulators of social behaviors in mammals identified to date. However, only the related neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has been shown to promote maternal behavior. Here, we assess the role of AVP in maternal care, in particular in arched back nursing, pup retrieval, and pup contact by using complementary pharmacological ...