Sublethal doses of methyl parathion (O,O-dimethyl-O-nitrophenyl- thiophosphate) injected intraperitoneally to 15 and 21 day old rat pups induced regional alterations in the central nervous system (CNS) in the levels of total RNA, total proteins, modulatory protein Calmodulin (CaM), in the activity levels of membrane bound enzyme Ca(2+)-ATPase and phospholipids. Levels of RNA and total proteins ...

Social isolation is known to induce emotional and behavioral changes in animals and humans. The effect of treadmill exercise on depression was investigated using social isolated rat pups. The rat pups in the social isolation groups were housed individually. The rat pups in the exercise groups were forced to run on treadmill for 30 min once a day from postnatal day 21 to postnatal day 34. In ord...

Central oxytocin mediates the acquisition of a filial preference for maternal odour in rat pups, manifested by their huddling preferences. The present study was designed to examine whether maternal care modulates oxytocin concentrations in rat pups and, if so, how different types of maternal contact are associated with the pups' oxytocin concentrations. Pairs of 14-day-old littermates were remo...

Background RFamide-related peptide-3 (RFRP-3) inhibits gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion in rats. This study evaluates the effects of litter size and suckling intensity on RFRP mRNA expression in the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus (DMH) of rats. MaterialsAndMethods A total of 32 pregnant and 4 non-lactating ovariectomized (control group) Sprague-Dawl...

INTRODUCTION Up to 84% of prematurely born infants suffer hypoxic, anoxic, and ischemic insults. Those infants with subsequent behavioral, motor or cognitive dysfunction represent 8-11% of all live births. Yet, no interventions employed during pregnancy attenuate risk of morbidity in those at-risk infants. Dietary supplementation with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFAs) has been sho...

There are conflicting data to support the practice of delaying the introduction of allergenic foods into the infant diet to prevent allergy development. This study investigated immune response development after early oral egg antigen (Ovalbumin; OVA) exposure in a rat pup model. Brown Norway (BN) rat pups were randomly allocated into groups: dam reared (DR), DR pups challenged daily (days 4-13)...

Rat pups (7-9 days of age) were made cold and hypoxic simultaneously while interscapular temperature, rectal temperature, and ultrasound emission were monitored. These hypoxic pups cooled faster than control pups, which indicates decreased thermogenesis and decreased oxygen consumption, and produced less ultrasound. In a separate experiment, pups deprived of milk for 24 hr cooled faster and als...

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of rat colostrum and mature milk on newborn rat gastrointestinal growth under conditions that controlled the possible confounding effects of energy intake and mode of feeding. Newborn Sprague-Dawley rat pups were tubefed equicaloric amounts of rat colostrum or mature rat milk for 40 h before they were killed. Compared to littermates that were...