Reproduction studies in the rat with shea oleine and hardened shea oleine.

Shea oleine is an oil fraction derived from the nut of the tree Butyrospermum parkii, which grows in central and western Africa. There are several uses of shea oleine including its use as a frying oil and, after hardening, in margarine and toffee fat. This investigation was performed to examine the toxicity of 7 or 15% hardened shea oleine in comparison with 7 or 15% unhardened shea oleine and various commercially available materials, sheanut and palm oils, cocoa butter and toffee powder following dietary administration to rats during pre-mating, mating, pregnancy and offspring weaning in two separate investigations. Reproduction was assessed using number of litters and pups born plus survival and body weights at birth and at weaning on day 21. Skeletal evaluation using X-ray, clinical pathology and a macroscopic examination were also performed for F1 rats. Study measures for parent animals comprised evaluation of body weight, food consumption, clinical pathology, organ weights and macroscopic examination. Fatty acids and hydrocarbon levels were measured and an evaluation for lipogranulomata was made for various tissues. Results showed that shea oleine, whether unhardened or hardened, produced no evidence of reproduction toxicity and gave a similar profile to the other commercially available materials used in this study in the rat. Minor findings with shea oleine were not related to reproduction performance but comprised slightly reduced body weight gain and reduced cholesterol and raised alkaline phosphatase levels. None of the findings in this study were considered to be of toxicological significance. Thus, no evidence of reproduction toxicity was seen for both unhardened and hardened shea oleine in this investigation in the rat at levels equating to greater than 7.5 g/kg/day.

Field and observer modes of remembering.

Nigro and Neisser (1983) contrasted two ways of remembering personal experiences: the rememberer may 'see' the event from his or her perspective as in normal perception, or 'see' the self engaged in the event as an observer would. Several factors contribute to the determination of perspective, but Nigro and Neisser also reported that many subjects claimed they could change to another perspective at will. We sampled personal memories from several life periods and assessed ability to change the initially reported perspective. Changing was easier for recent or vividly recalled events, harder for older and less vividly recalled events. Memory perspectives may differ in other aspects than their imagery. A second study was conducted to determine whether affective experience is altered when perspectives are changed. The affect experienced decreased when shifting from a field to an observer perspective, but did not change with the converse shift. These studies provide further evidence that remembering is more than retrieval. The information that enters awareness is determined by the information sources in memory and the organisational scheme adopted for recollection.

Serum tumor necrosis factor alpha concentrations and clinical abnormalities in colostrum-fed and colostrum-deprived neonatal foals given endotoxin.

We examined the effect of infusion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on serum tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) concentration and clinical attitude in 2- 3-day-old colostrum-fed (CF) and colostrum-deprived (CD) foals. Eleven CF and 8 CD neonatal foals were given a bolus i.v. infusion of Escherichia coli O55:B5 lipopolysaccharide (0.5 microgram/kg of body weight) in sterile saline (0.9% NaCl) solution. Four CF and 2 CD foals were given saline solution alone. Serum IgG concentration and serum anti-LPS IgG(T) antibody titer were determined for each foal prior to infusion. A depression index was used to score clinical abnormalities. Serum TNF alpha concentration was estimated by use of an in vitro cytotoxicity bioassay that used WEHI 164 clone 13 cells as targets. The cytotoxic serum factor was identified as TNF alpha by immunoprecipitation with caprine antisera raised against the 15 NH2-terminal amino acids of human TNF alpha. Tumor necrosis factor alpha was not detected in any preinfusion serum samples nor in any samples from foals given saline solution alone. Serum TNF alpha concentration increased in all LPS-infused foals and peaked between 60 and 90 minutes after infusion. Serum TNF alpha concentrations, expressed as mean percentage of peak serum TNF alpha concentration, persisted longer in CD foals given LPS than in CF foals given LPS. All LPS-infused foals displayed clinical signs of endotoxemia, but mean depression index scores of the CF and CD foals given LPS were not significantly different at any time. Serum TNF alpha concentrations were correlated with depression index scores in both LPS-infused groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Serum interleukin-6 concentrations in endotoxin-infused neonatal foals.

Serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentration was measured in 11 colostrum-fed (CF) and 8 colostrum-deprived (CD) 2- to 3-day-old foals after foals were infused with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; Escherichia coli O55:B5 endotoxin, 0.5 microgram/kg of body weight in sterile saline [0.9% NaCl] solution). Four CF and 2 CD foals were given saline solution alone. Serum IL-6 concentration was estimated by use of an in vitro proliferative bioassay, using the IL-6 dependent B.13.29 clone 9 cells. Interleukin-6 concentration increased in all LPS-infused foals, and geometric mean serum IL-6 concentration was significantly higher in CF than CD foals 30 and 90 minutes after infusion. Both LPS-infused groups had multiple spikes of mean IL-6 concentration that peaked at 120 minutes in CF foals and 150 minutes in CD foals. Results indicated that IL-6 is produced in neonatal foals in response to LPS infusion. Furthermore, colostrum deprivation resulted in longer times to peak mean serum IL-6 concentration and tended to reduce serum IL-6 concentration in neonatal foals.

A prospective study of septicaemia in colostrum-deprived foals.

Fourteen mares and their foals were attended at parturition. After mare-foal bonding, 8 colostrum-deprived (CD) foals were removed from their dams, deprived of colostrum, and provided with an alternative milk source for the first 24 h of life. The mares were milked out every 2-4 h during this period to remove colostrum, after which the CD foals were returned to their mares and allowed to nurse. Six colostrum-fed (CF) foals were allowed to suck colostrum in the normal manner. Foal serum IgG concentration was determined by single radial immunodiffusion (means, CD = 0 mg/dl; CF = 1,508 mg/dl). Accepted methods were used to minimise infections in the neonatal foals. Of the 8 CD foals, 7 demonstrated clinical signs of sepsis. Septicaemia was confirmed in 5 of the 7 septicaemic CD foals by ante-mortem blood culture or by culture of tissue at necropsy. Organisms isolated included: Actinobacillus equuli, Escherichia coli, undifferentiated coliforms, Pseudomonas spp., and Actinomyces pyogenes. Clinically ill foals were treated with antimicrobial drugs, intravenous fluid therapy, flunixin meglumine, and anti-endotoxin hyperimmune serum. Three septicaemic CD foals survived. Four of 7 septicaemic CD foals died or were destroyed. Post-mortem lesions included bacterial embolic pneumonia, glomerulonephritis/nephritis, lymphoid depletion/atrophy, splenic and lymphoid necrosis, hepatitis, septic arthritis, and systemic bacterial embolism. None of the CF foals became septicaemic. One CF foal had foal heat diarrhoea and 1 CF foal had a serum IgG concentration of 160 mg/dl (i.e. failure of passive transfer), but both foals were otherwise normal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Successful treatment of heart transplant rejection with photopheresis.

Photopheresis is a potential therapy for rejection in which reinfusion of mononuclear cells exposed to ultraviolet-A light ex vivo, after treatment with 8-methoxypsoralen in vivo, initiates host immune responses that specifically inhibit the cytotoxicity of the photomodulated mononuclear cells. Between May 1990 and January 1991, 7 heart transplant (HT) patients (age 42.2 +/- 16.7 [mean +/- SD] years) on triple immunosuppression (cyclosporine, corticosteroids, and azathioprine) had 9 episodes of non-hemodynamically compromising moderate rejection that were treated with photopheresis. These episodes of rejection occurred at an average of 114.4 +/- 180.5 (range 8-575) days after HT. After oral administration the mean serum level of 8-methoxypsoralen achieved was 129.0 +/- 72.4 ng/ml. An average of 10.4 +/- 9.6 x 10(9) mononuclear cells were treated with each photopheresis procedure. Photopheresis was performed twice when less than 5 x 10(9) mononuclear cells had been treated with the first procedure. Of 9 rejection episodes treated with photopheresis, 5 required 1 procedure and 4 required 2 procedures. Photopheresis was used to treat a single episode of rejection in 5 pts. and 2 separate rejection episodes in 2 additional pts. Eight of 9 episodes of rejection were successfully reversed by photopheresis as assessed by endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) performed 7 days after treatment. Immunohistochemical analysis of EMB samples revealed that postphotopheresis cell counts for T cells, B cells, and macrophages were reduced compared to pretreatment values and correlated with the histopathologic resolution of rejection. Hemodynamics were normal prephotopheresis and remained unchanged at the time when the postphotopheresis EMB showed no evidence rejection No adverse effects have been observed with photopheresis. Over a follow-up period of 5.3 +/- 4.0 months, rejection and infection rates/pt./follow-up months were 0.3 +/- 0.4 and 0.04 +/- 0.07, respectively. The preliminary, short term results of this pilot study indicate that photopheresis may be efficacious in the treatment of moderate rejection in hemodynamically stable HT patients and thus may be an alternative to corticosteroid pulses.

Patients receiving quinolones and cyclosporine after heart transplantation.

Six patients required fluorinated quinolone therapy for a variety of infections after heart transplantation. In contrast to findings in a previous report, none of the patients showed any evidence of nephrotoxicity or required a significant change in cyclosporine dose during the treatment period.

Relaxation therapy and guided imagery in ESRD.

This article explores the efficacy of using relaxation techniques and guided imagery to enhance patient adjustment to end stage renal disease and dialysis. The theoretical bases of this intervention are examined briefly, related nursing research reviewed, a patient case study presented, and recommendations for nursing practice and research proposed.

The luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone pathways in rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and pigtailed (Macaca nemestrina) monkeys: new observations on thick, unembedded sections.

Immunocytochemical procedures on thick, unembedded tissue sections were used to study the localization of LHRH neurons and fibers in the diencephalon and mesencephalon of rhesus and pigtailed macaques. Cell bodies were visualized in large numbers. Much of their dendritic arborization was also filled with reaction product. Cell bodies were present in the preoptic area, the periventricular hypothalamic zone from the level of the anterior hypothalamus to the premammillary nuclei, the infundibular nucleus, supraoptic nucleus, several septal nuclei, the nervus terminalis, and the amygdala. The localization of LHRH cells in several of these areas represents new observations. LHRH axons were observed to innervate the portal vessels in the median eminence, the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, the median eminence, the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, the medial mammillary nuclei, the epithalamus, and the amygdala. These observations are discussed in relationship to the regulation of gonadotropin secretion in the primate.

The fetal development of the luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) neuronal systems of the guinea pig brain.

We have studied the distribution of LHRH-like immunoreactive material in fetal guinea pig brains beginning at day 25 of gestation. Cells and processes were first detected throughout the peripheral, intracranial and central course of the nervus terminalis at 28 (but not 25) days of gestation. The localization of LHRH in this structure preceded its appearance in the hypothalamus and coincided with the initial detection of immunoreactive LH in the pituitary gland. The possible role of the LHRH neuronal network within the nervus terminals in the development of reproductive function is discussed. Comparisons between the brains of littermates of both sexes were made at each age (days 28 through 60 of gestation) to determine possible differences between the sexes in the development of the LHRH neurosecretory systems. No sexually dimorphic features were evident in these systems throughout the prenatal period except at days 40 and 45. At these ages, differences in the number of LHRH neurons in the arcuate nucleus were found between the sexes in some but not all of the brains examined. These differences in LHRH concentrations may reflect the onset of testicular activity as indicated by an increase in serum testosterone levels. Increased serum testosterone concentrations were observed in the male fetuses beginning at 45 days of gestation. However, cell counts made within this nucleus from days 40 through 60 of gestation indicated no comparable sexual dimorphism in the total neuronal population which appeared to be relatively stable throughout this period of brain growth. The number of immunoreactive LHRH neurons visible throughout the brain increased from days 30 through 45 and fewer LHRH cells were seen on days 50 and 60 of gestation, particularly in the arcuate nucleus. The apparent decrease in visible LHRH neurons was concomitant with an increase in number and more extensive distribution of immunoreactive processes throughout the hypothalamus and in certain extrahypothalamic areas of the brain.

Neural uptake and metabolism of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the guinea pig.

Neural tissues from adult, castrated male guinea pigs were examined for their capability to concentrate and metabolize [1,2-3H]testosterone (T) and [1,2-3H]dihydrotestosterone (DHT), both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro uptake of DHT and T was greater in the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary than in the cerebral cortex. With DHT as the substrate, the 800 times g particulate concentration of this compound was highest in the hypothalamus, although in this tissue, particulate concentration was less than that of the cytoplasm. In the cerebral cortex 5alpha-androstane-3,17-dione was the most abundant metabolite, whereas 5alpha-androstane-3,17-dione, 5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol, and 5alpha-androstane-3beta,17beta-diol were all present in equivalent amounts in the hypothalamus and pituitary. Incubation with T resulted in the formation of DHT, 4-androstene-3,17-dione, and a compound with the mobility of 5alpha-(or 5beta-)androstane-3,17-dione. The radioactivity associated with DHT was the most prevalent in the pituitary (1.3%), and least prevalent in the cerebral cortex (0.6%), and in all cases cytoplasmic concentration of this compound exceeded the concentration in the particulate fraction. Recrystallization failed to confirm the presence of estradiol-17beta. Although there were no apparent tissue differences in the uptake of DHT or T 1 hour after their injection, intracellular distribution varied. In all tissues examined, that percentage of total radioactivity attributable to DHT was greatest in the 800 times g particulate preparations, particularly in the hypothalamus. Thus neural tissues in the guinea pig, as in other species, exhibit differential uptake and metabolism of androgen through which physiological and behavioral effects may be mediated.