49 research outputs found

    Low-power density of 950 MHz radiation does not affect long-term potentiation in rat dentate gyrus

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    Introduction: Over the last decade, exposure to non-ionizing electromagnetic waves due to base station antenna has increased. This in vivo study was planned for evaluating the effects of whole-body exposure to 950 MHz field of GSM mobile phone system on rat dentate gyrus long-term potentiation. Materials and methods: 24 naive male Wistar rats (3 month old, 225±25 g) were randomly divided in the three groups (sham-exposed, GSM and continuous field exposed). The exposure program was planned for 10 sessions at 3 days. Animals were exposed to electromagnetic field for 45 minutes in a circular plastic chamber (mean power density=0.835 mW/cm2). Immediately after end exposure, anesthesia was induced for long term potentiation (LTP) induction. Field potentials were recorded and analyzed using the population spike amplitude and EPSP slope for 60-min. Results; There were no significant differences in population spike amplitude, EPSP slope and EPSP slope maintenance among the three groups. Conclusion: This study provides no evidence indicating that long-term potentiation can be affected by the whole-body exposure to low-power density of 950 MHz field of GSM mobile phone System

    Hippocampal asymmetry: differences in the left and right hippocampus proteome in the rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy

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    © 2016 Elsevier B.V.The hippocampus is a complex brain structure and undergoes severe sclerosis and gliosis in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) as the most common type of epilepsy. The key features of the TLE may be reported in chronic animal models of epilepsy, such as pilocarpine model. Therefore, the current study was conducted in a rat pilocarpine model of acquired epilepsy. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis based proteomic technique was used to compare the proteome map of the left and right hippocampus in both control and epileptic rats. Generally, 95 differentially expressed spots out of 1300 spots were identified in the hippocampus proteome using MALDI-TOF-TOF/MS. Within identified proteins, some showed asymmetric expression related to the mechanisms underlying TLE imposed by pilocarpine. Assessment of lateralization at the molecular level demonstrated that expression of proteins involved in dopamine synthesis was significantly more in the right hippocampus than the left one. In the epileptic model, reduction in dopamine pathway proteins was accompanied by an increase in the expression of proteins involved in polyamine synthesis, referring to a new regulating mechanism. Our results revealed changes in the laterality of protein expression due to pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus that could present some new proteins as potential candidates for antiepileptic drug design. Biological significance In the current study, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) based proteomic technique was used to profile changes in the left and right hippocampus proteome after pilocarpine induced status epilepticus. Spots of proteome maps for two hemispheres were excised and identified with MALDI-TOF-TOF/MS. Analysis of proteome map of the left and right hippocampus revealed a lateralization at the molecular level, in which the expression of proteins involved in dopamine synthesis and release were significantly more in right hippocampi than the left ones in the normal rats. Also, the expression of proteins involved in polyamine synthesis significantly increased in epileptic hippocampus (considerably higher in right hippocampi), whilst the proteins which included in dopamine pathways were decreased. Our results revealed changes in the laterality of protein expression due to pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus that could present some new proteins as potential candidates for antiepileptic drug design

    APPLICATION OF SENSOR FUSION TO IMPROVE UAV IMAGE CLASSIFICATION

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    Image classification is one of the most important tasks of remote sensing projects including the ones that are based on using UAV images. Improving the quality of UAV images directly affects the classification results and can save a huge amount of time and effort in this area. In this study, we show that sensor fusion can improve image quality which results in increasing the accuracy of image classification. Here, we tested two sensor fusion configurations by using a Panchromatic (Pan) camera along with either a colour camera or a four-band multi-spectral (MS) camera. We use the Pan camera to benefit from its higher sensitivity and the colour or MS camera to benefit from its spectral properties. The resulting images are then compared to the ones acquired by a high resolution single Bayer-pattern colour camera (here referred to as HRC). We assessed the quality of the output images by performing image classification tests. The outputs prove that the proposed sensor fusion configurations can achieve higher accuracies compared to the images of the single Bayer-pattern colour camera. Therefore, incorporating a Pan camera on-board in the UAV missions and performing image fusion can help achieving higher quality images and accordingly higher accuracy classification results

    Association of contextual cues with morphine reward increases neural and synaptic plasticity in the ventral hippocampus of rats

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    Drug addiction is associated with aberrant memory and permanent functional changes in neural circuits. It is known that exposure to drugs like morphine is associated with positive emotional states and reward-related memory. However, the underlying mechanisms in terms of neural plasticity in the ventral hippocampus, a region involved in associative memory and emotional behaviors, are not fully understood. Therefore, we measured adult neurogenesis, dendritic spine density and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and TrkB mRNA expression as parameters for synaptic plasticity in the ventral hippocampus. Male Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to the CPP (conditioned place preference) paradigm and received 10 mg/kg morphine. Half of the rats were used to evaluate neurogenesis by immunohistochemical markers Ki67 and doublecortin (DCX). The other half was used for Golgi staining to measure spine density and real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to assess BDNF/TrkB expression levels. We found that morphine-treated rats exhibited more place conditioning as compared with saline-treated rats and animals that were exposed to the CPP without any injections. Locomotor activity did not change significantly. Morphine-induced CPP significantly increased the number of Ki67 and DCX-labeled cells in the ventral dentate gyrus. Additionally, we found increased dendritic spine density in both CA1 and dentate gyrus and an enhancement of BDNF/TrkB mRNA levels in the whole ventral hippocampus. Ki67, DCX and spine density were significantly correlated with CPP scores. In conclusion, we show that morphine-induced reward-related memory is associated with neural and synaptic plasticity changes in the ventral hippocampus. Such neural changes could underlie context-induced drug relapse

    Enhancement of Purkinje Neuronal Excitability by the Inhibition of Fast Voltage Gated K+ Channel Function in Ataxic Rats

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    Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of fast inactivating (IA) voltage dependent potassium channels in shaping the discharge activity of cerebellarPurkinje cells (PCs) in ataxic rats.Materials and Methods: Male Sprauge-Dawley rats (40-60 g) were used in this study. Ataxia was induced via single i.p. injection of 3-acethylpyridine (65 mg/kg). Four days following induction of ataxia, the rats were decapitated after being anesthetizedusing ether. 300 μm thick parasagittal slices were prepared from the vermis of the cerebellum. Sharp intracellular recording was achieved from Purkinje cells under continuous superfusion of ACSF containing synaptic blockers.Results: Intracellular recording of 21 Purkinje neurons in cerebellar slice preparationshowed that Purkinje cells of ataxic rats fire in three modes of tonic (23.81%), burst (19.05%) and silence (57.14%). Following the application of 4-AP, 83.33% of the silent PCs were spontaneously fired and the burst activity was robustly enhancedin bursting PCs. In addition, 4-AP significantly increased the duration of burst and active periods but decreased the duration of inactive period. It also increased the number of sodium spikes within each burst.Conclusion: 4-AP sensitive current in Purkinje cell of ataxic rat involves in three modes of firing pattern. In addition, the inhibition of fast inactivating potassium channels(IA) with 4-AP enhances the spontaneous discharge activity of Purkinje cells

    A Study on Flavonoid Compounds of Six Citrus Varieties during Maturity and Ripening Stages

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    In addition to physical and chemical properties of citrus fruit, its quality depends on antioxidant compounds such as ascorbic acid, phenols, flavonoids and antioxidant enzymes. Flavonoids group, especially flavonoid glycosides are dominant in citrus, which prevent chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In this experiment, the total flavonoids, naringin, hesperidin, neohesperidin, quercetin and catechin were measured in the mature and ripe fruits of six citrus varieties (Thomson, Siavaraz, Moro, Sanguinello, Tarocco and Page) by HPLC analysis. The results showed that all cultivars had high level of total flavonoid at the ripening stage. The amount of naringin was highest in 'Thomson' and 'Tarocco' (with 452.8 and 824.8 μgg-1 respectively) at maturity phase. Hesperidin accumulation was higher in blood oranges than blond varieties. The Sanguinello and Siavaraz had the highest value of neohesperidin especially in ripe fruits. The pulp of Tarocco had the highest level of catechin with 24.36 μgg-1 followed by Siavaraz with 10.6 μgg-1 at ripening stage. The Quercetin levels were higher in immature fruits selected from Thomson, Siavaraz and Tarocco varieties. Among the studied varieties, 'Tarocco' variety showed higher levels of flavonoid compounds at the ripened or mature stage
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