This study was designed to compare the effectiveness of different activation treatments for activation of in vitro matured oocytes and their developmental potency in mCR2aa medium so as to obtain maximum number of embryos. A total of 1090 cumulus oocyte complexes (COC's) were collected from 480 ovaries. In vitro matured oocytes were randomly divided into four groups. Group 1 in vitro matured oo...

Neuronal responses to alcohol involve several hormone- and neurotransmitter-activated signal transduction pathways. Recent studies suggest that the adenosine A2 receptor (A2) mediates important actions of alcohol. Ethanol inhibits adenosine reuptake, increases extracellular adenosine, and promotes activation of A2. This leads to enhanced cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) signaling ranging from increa...

Brain metabolism is exquisitely responsive to activation or inhibition of brain activity, including activation or inhibition of receptors. By multivariate statistical analysis of the metabolic labelling patterns produced following one hour incubation with [3-] pyruvate in the presence of receptor ligands of known activity, we have developed a metabolic “footprint” of the GABAergic system. Using...

Consumption of ethanol is a considerable risk factor for death in heroin overdose. We sought to determine whether a mildly intoxicating concentration of ethanol could alter morphine tolerance at the cellular level. In rat locus coeruleus (LC) neurons, tolerance to morphine was reversed by acute exposure of the brain slice to ethanol (20 mM). Tolerance to the opioid peptide [d-Ala(2),N-MePhe(4),...

Chronic exposure to ethanol increases transcription of the molecular chaperone Hsc70 in NG108-15 neuroblastoma X glioma cells. This and other ethanol-induced changes in gene expression may contribute to central nervous system tolerance and dependence in alcoholics. Here, we characterized sequences in the hsc70 promoter that are required for ethanol-induced transcriptional regulation. Deletion a...

The loss of muscle mass in alcoholic myopathy may reflect alcohol inhibition of myogenic cell differentiation into myotubes. Here, using a high content imaging system we show that ethanol inhibits C2C12 myoblast differentiation by reducing myogenic fusion, creating smaller and less complex myotubes compared with controls. Ethanol administration during C2C12 differentiation reduced MyoD and myog...

BACKGROUND We previously identified a group of glucocorticoid-responsive genes, including Serum Glucocorticoid kinase 1 (Sgk1), regulated by acute ethanol in prefrontal cortex of DBA2/J mice. Acute ethanol activates the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) causing release of glucocorticoids. Chronic ethanol dysregulates the HPA response in both humans and rodents, possibly contributing to ...

There is compelling evidence that acute ethanol exposure stimulates ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine cell activity and that VTA-dependent dopamine release in terminal fields within the nucleus accumbens plays an integral role in the regulation of ethanol drinking behaviors. Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, the specific temporal dynamics linking VTA dopamine cell activation and ...

Gastric mucosal inflammation can develop after challenge with noxious stimuli such as alcohol. Specially, alcohol stimulates the release of inflammatory cytokines but does not increase gastric acid secretion, leading to gastric mucosal damage. The plant sterol guggulsterone and its novel derivative GG-52 have been reported to inhibit nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling in intestinal epithelial ...

Excessive alcohol consumption results in neurodegeneration which some hypothesize is caused by neuroinflammation. One characteristic of neuroinflammation is microglial activation, but it is now well accepted that microglial activation may be pro- or anti-inflammatory. Recent work indicates that the Majchrowicz model of alcohol-induced neurodegeneration results in anti-inflammatory microglia, wh...