Effective use of microelectrode recording for the implantation of deep brain electrodes into the nucleus subthalamicus in advanced Parkinson's disease [Abstract]

Objective: For electrode implantation into the STN in Parkin-son’s disease most DBS centers use microelectrode recording (MER)with multiple trajectories. The aim of the study is to identify MERpatterns to predict optimal electrode position and to keep clinicaltesting as short as possible in order to reduce operation time andadverse events. Background: There is an ongoing debate whether MER is associ-ated with higher operation risks and time-consuming or leading to asignificant better clinical outcome. Here, we focus on correlationsbetween background activity and firing rate to predict optimal elec-trode placement. Methods: 10 patients with advanced PD underwent bilateral STNDBS operation. Recording was done simultaneously for 3–5 micro-electrodes using a ben-gun for multiple trajectories. MER data wererecorded and analyzed postoperatively using spike2VRand wave_clusVRfor segmentation and spike sorting. The overall mean amplitude wasdetermined for each patient separately for firing rate and backgroundactivity to define an individual threshold and the needles with the fir-ing rate and background activity above this threshold was selected. Results: In 8 out of 10 patients the permanent electrode wasimplanted in the trajectory of the microelectrode with the highestbackground activity compared to all other microelectrodes, in the other 2 patients a neighbouring trajectory was chosen because of lowthresholds for side effects. The postoperatively chosen active contactof the permanent electrode was in 70% in the place of the highestfiring rate. Conclusions: MER in implantation of electrodes into the STN isvery helpful to predict the optimum stimulation place analysingbackground activity and firing rate. Finding a good ratio of effectand threshold for side effects at that place further clinical testingmight be useless and the permanent electrode could be implanteddirectly. This helps to save operation time and might reduce adverseevents, e.g. haemorrhage und infections

Movement-related beta and gamma synchronization of the supplementary and primary motor cortex measured in epilepsy patients during longterm video EEG monitoring with subdural electrodes [Abstract]

Introduction: Exploration of sensorimotor integration processes during movement regulation is crucial to understand the pathophysiology of movement disorders and the effect of neuromodulation therapy. In Parkinson’s disease, dysfunction of supplementary motor cortex (SMA) has a primary role in evoking typical symptoms. In this study we detected post-movement beta (PMBS) and gamma synchronization of the SMA and primary motor cortex with electrocorticography (ECoG) in patients with epilepsy. PMBS is an electrophysiological indicator of sensorimotor integration, its parameters alter differently in several movement disorders. Methods: ECoG in 3 patients with epilepsy was recorded during invasive preoperative long-term video EEG monitoring through subdural strip and grid electrodes placed on the SMA and lobulus paracentralis and the representation field of the hand area in the primary motor cortex. Patients were requested in the interictal period to repeat short flexions of each thumb thirty times voluntarily; the trials were averaged with respect to the offset of the brisk movements. Time-frequency analysis of power was performed with multitaper method. Results: Post-movement synchronization could be detected mainly in the gamma frequency band above SMA and in the beta band above primary motor cortex. Latencies of post-movement synchronization varied in the SMA and primary motor cortex. Conclusions: Activity of the SMA in the two hemispheres cannot be detected with electroencephalography or magnetoencephalography. In our study we showed the first time that post-movement synchronization appears mainly in the gamma band in the SMA. Evaluation of the latencies supports the hypothesis that post-movement synchronization indicates a motor network activity

Antitumor and antioxidant potential of Tragia Plukenetii R.Smith on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma in mice

This investigation aims to evaluate the antitumour and antioxidant potential of the ethanol extract of Tragia Plukenetii R.Smith (ETP) on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) tumor model. Tumor was inducedin mice by intraperitoneal injection of EAC cells (2x106 cells/mouse). Ethanol extract of T. Plukenetii (ETP) was administered to the experimental animals at the dose levels of 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg/day after 24 h of tumour inoculation. The antitumour effect of ETP was evaluated by assessing in vitro cytotoxicity, survival time, hematological and antioxidant parameters. Oral administration of ETPincreased the survival time of the EAC bearing mice. The ETP brought back the altered levels of the hematological and antioxidant parameters in a dose dependent manner in EAC bearing mice. The results were comparable to that of the result obtained from the animals treated with the standard drug 5-flurouracil (20 mg/kg.bw). Thus present study revealed that ETP possessed significant antitumor and antioxidant activity

Acute effect of gibberellic acid on serum enzymes and blood markers in male albino rats

This study was designed to evaluate the influence of a phytohormone, gibberellic acid (GA3) on marker enzymes and biomarkers of serum, and blood hemoglobin and its blood cells counts of rat. In order to evaluate the positive/negative effects, the rats were administered 75μg, 150μg and 300μg of GA3/kg body weight as a single dose. GA3 treatments produced differential effects on the different parameters at dose dependent manner after 4 hours.The down regulation in specific activities of ALT, ALP, GGT and amylase were noted against the control with significant up regulation of AST activity. GA3 also produced dose dependent effect on biomarkers. There is a substantial reduction in the quantity of glucose, urea, creatinine, calcium, phosphorus, sodium and potassium was recorded against the control. On the other hand, the insignificant increase in content of total protein, albumin and uric acid was observed at all dose of GA3 treatment against the control. GA3 increased the RBC, WBC and neutrophil by decreasing the lymphocyte total numbers. Platelets, monocytes and oesinophils count were not altered by any dose of GA3.In conclusion, GA3 produced dose dependent effect on different parameters of rat blood serum.Keywords: phytohormone; gibberellic acid; creatinine; neutrophi

Short term effect of 28-homobrassinolide on serum, liver and kidney marker enzymes and other biochemical parameters of male albino rats

Brassinosterols (BS) are ubiquitous pluripotent growth regulator present in plants. They exist in isoforms of epi and homobrassinolides (HB).  BS act as potent stimulators of root and shoot elongation, cell division, DNA and RNA polymerase activity, ethylene production and of stress tolerance to temperature, water scarcity and salinity in plants. It is also used to increase the yield of crop and to protect the plants against pesticides. Consumption of plant material as diet and used as growth regulator in animals, and application of BS in agriculture would increases its availability to the host tissues. In the present study, the effect of 28-HB, an isomer of brassinosterol on serum, liver and kidney marker enzymes, lipid peroxidation, tissue histology and the blood parameters of rat were investigated. The rats were given the compound by intradermal mode at the concentration of 75µg, 150µg and 300µg as single dose and the effects were observed after 4 hr to study the immediate response of the animal. The treatment of rats with 28-HB, caused different effects on the serum, liver and kidney parameters of this study. In conclusion, the present study showed that 28-HB affects the structure and function of rat tissues in a dose dependent manner.Keywords: Brassinosterols; homobrassinolides; 28-HB; lipid peroxidatio

Short term effect of 28-homobrassinolide on serum, liver and kidney marker enzymes and other biochemical parameters of male albino rats

Brassinosterols (BS) are ubiquitous pluripotent growth regulator present in plants. They exist in isoforms of epi and homobrassinolides (HB).  BS act as potent stimulators of root and shoot elongation, cell division, DNA and RNA polymerase activity, ethylene production and of stress tolerance to temperature, water scarcity and salinity in plants. It is also used to increase the yield of crop and to protect the plants against pesticides. Consumption of plant material as diet and used as growth regulator in animals, and application of BS in agriculture would increases its availability to the host tissues. In the present study, the effect of 28-HB, an isomer of brassinosterol on serum, liver and kidney marker enzymes, lipid peroxidation, tissue histology and the blood parameters of rat were investigated. The rats were given the compound by intradermal mode at the concentration of 75µg, 150µg and 300µg as single dose and the effects were observed after 4 hr to study the immediate response of the animal. The treatment of rats with 28-HB, caused different effects on the serum, liver and kidney parameters of this study. In conclusion, the present study showed that 28-HB affects the structure and function of rat tissues in a dose dependent manner.Keywords: Brassinosterols; homobrassinolides; 28-HB; lipid peroxidatio

Biochemical evaluation of low dose methyl 2-benzimidazole carbamate fungicide on male albino rats

Methyl 2-benzimidazole carbamate (carbendazim) is one of the synthetic fungicides that controlled organisms that caused plant diseases of different types. It is widely used as a preservative in leather, paint, textile, fruits and papermaking industry. It is also used as an anticancer drug in chemical medicine. In the present study low concentrations of carbendazim was administered at 5, 10, 25 and 50mM doses intradermally to male albino rats. At the end of 6 hr, 12hr and 24hr duration, blood samples were collected from the animal for the analysis of biochemical and haematological parameters. Carbendazim caused an increase of cholesterol, uric acid, glucose and creatinine while serum phosphorous content was decreased. However, mean hemoglobin, WBC, E, and platelet counts increased and total RBC, N and L counts decreased. These results indicated that low dose level carbendazim contributed to toxicological effects in the rat tissues.Keywords: Methyl 2-benzimidazole carbamate; Fungicide; Rat tissue

Distinct EEG‐EMG‐coherence patterns associated with sleep‐disordered breathing severity grade [Abstract]

Objectives/Instruction: We investigated whether using EEG‐EMG‐coherence (EEC) as a feature fed to a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm may allow staging of disease severity among sleep‐disordered‐breathing (SDB) patients. Methods: EEG‐EMG‐coherence data resulted by applying a multitaper processing for estimating the power spectrums separately and calculating the coherence on raw C3‐/C4‐EEG‐ and EMG‐ chin data of polysomnographic (PSG) recordings of 102 SDB patients (33 female; age: 53, ± 12,4 yrs) acquired on the second of two consecutive PSG nights in each patient. Four epochs (30 s each, classified manually by AASM 2012‐ criteria) of each sleep stage (N1, N2, N3, REM) were marked (in total 1632 epochs/night) and were included in the analysis. After multitaper processing, EEC values were fed to a SVM algorithm to classify SDB disease severity based on respiratory disturbance index (RDI). Twenty patients had a mild (RDI ≥ 10/h and < 15/h), 30 patients had a moderate (RDI ≥ 15/h and < 30/h) and 27 patients had a severe OSA (RDI ≥ 30/h). Twenty five patients had a RDI < 10/h. The AUC (area under the curve) value was calculated for each receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: EEG‐EMG coherence values could distinguish between SDB‐patients without OSA and OSA patients of the above three severity groups using an SVM algorithm. Using PSG data of the second night, in mild OSA the AUC was 0.616 (p = 0.024), in moderate OSA the AUC was 0.659 (p = 0.003), and in severe OSA the AUC was 0.823 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Grading disease severity in SDB patients can be performed using PSG‐based multitaper‐processed EEC values processedwith a SVM algorithm. Disclosure: Nothing to disclose