Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) treatment of Parkinsonian rats increases thalamic gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels and alters the release of nerve growth factor (NGF) by mast cells.

The ventral anterior nucleus of the thalamus (VATh) gathers motor information from the internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi) and substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNpr) of the basal ganglia and projects directly to motor areas of cortex. GPi/SNpr send their tonically active gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic outputs to VATh. The abnormal firing patterns of GABAergic neurons in GPi/SNpr lead to motor deficits. In Parkinson's disease, the spontaneous firing pattern of GPi/SNpr neurons is abnormal due to the degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway. In a previous study, we found that systemically administered vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) was effective at reversing the motor deficits (but not the decline in striatal dopamine levels) in a rat model of Parkinson's disease (6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) exposure). In addition to the beneficial effects on the motor response, VIP could also attenuate both neuronal cell death and the characteristic loss of the myelin sheath that is associated with 6-OHDA administration into the rat striatum. VIP was thought to preserve neurons by inducing native brain mast cells to adopt a nondegranulating phenotype that had the ability to secrete numerous neuroprotective substances, such as nerve growth factor (NGF) and heparin. In the present study, the effect of systemically administered VIP (25 ng/kg i.p.) was investigated on GABA levels of the VATh, dopamine/3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) levels in the corpus striatum, and the NGF, rat mast cell protease II (RMCPII), serotonin, and heparin content of brain mast cells in 6-OHDA-lesioned rats. Extracellular concentrations of GABA, dopamine, and DOPAC were measured by microdialysis and high-performance liquid chromatography. NGF, RMCPII, serotonin, and heparin levels were examined by immunohistochemical staining techniques. A total of 48 young adult Sprague-Dawley rats were used in the study, and these were assigned to one of six groups. Unilateral injection of 6-OHDA, 2 microl (6 mg/microl), was made into the right corpus striatum. VIP-treated animals received 25 ng/kg VIP i.p. at 2-day intervals for a period of 15 days. The present results demonstrated that VIP significantly increased the levels of GABA in the VATh that were reduced by 6-OHDA application and increased the number of NGF-immunoreactive mast cells but did not alter dopamine metabolism. Therefore, the protective effect of VIP on motor function is possibly related to the increased levels of GABA in the VATh, and its neuroprotective actions may be mediated by the release of NGF from brain mast cells.

Time and temperature dependent microbiological and mycotoxin (ochratoxin-A) levels in boza.

This study describes the examination of microbiological tests and the determination of OTA in boza temperature and time dependently. Prior to the analysis, physicochemical properties of the boza samples such as moisture, total acidity as lactic acid, pH, protein amount and viscosity were investigated. The incidence of total aerobic bacteria (TAB), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), coliforms, E.coli, Salmonella, S. aureus, B. cereus, yeast and moulds were examined. E.coli, Salmonella, S. aureus and B. cereus were not found in all boza samples. Initially, Aspergillus fumigatus; Acremonium sp.; Geotrichum candidum and Geotrichum capitatum were identified in the samples. Certain extraction techniques such as direct injection, liquid-liquid and solid phase (SP) were tried for the OTA analysis. The most available way was found to be direct injection among them and the recovery was 70.56%+/-9.80 (13.89 RSD). OTA amounts were determined in all boza samples utilizing an isocratic HPLC analysis with an ODS column. OTA was detected in only one sample as 3.58 microg/kg and this amount is above the limits of European Commission Regulations. Time and temperature-dependent changes were investigated and insignificant variation was observed.

Adsorption of Acid Blue 193 from aqueous solutions onto DEDMA-sepiolite.

The adsorption of Acid Blue 193 (AB193) onto dodecylethyldimethylammonium (DEDMA)-sepiolite was investigated in aqueous solution in a batch system with respect to contact time, pH and temperature. The surface modification of DEDMA-sepiolite was examined by the FT-IR technique. The pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order kinetic models and the intraparticle diffusion model were used to describe the kinetic data and the rate constants were evaluated. The experimental data fitted very well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and also followed the simple external diffusion model up to initial 10 min and then by intraparticle diffusion model up to 75 min, whereas diffusion is not only the rate-controlling step. The adsorption capacities of natural sepiolite and DEDMA-sepiolite at pH 1.5 and 20 degrees C were (1.19 and 2.57) x 10(-4) mol g(-1), respectively. The above results indicate that DEDMA-sepiolite has around two times higher adsorption capacity than natural sepiolite. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models were applied to describe the equilibrium isotherms and the isotherm constants were also determined. The Freundlich model agrees with experimental data well. The activation energy, change of Gibbs free energy, enthalpy and entropy of adsorption were also evaluated for the adsorption of AB193 onto DEDMA-sepiolite.