Progress Report on Target Development

The present document is the D08 deliverable report of work package 1 (Target Development) from the MEGAPIE TEST project of the 5th European Framework Program. Deliverable D08 is the progress report on the activities performed within WP 1. The due date of this deliverable was the 5th month after the start of the EU project. This coincided with a technical status meeting of the MEGAPIE Initiative, that was held in March 2002 in Bologna (Italy). The content of the present document reflects the status of the MEGAPIE target development at that stage. It gives an overview of the Target Design, the related Design Support activities and the progress of the work done for the safety assessment and licensing of the target

Fluoxetine during Development Reverses the Effects of Prenatal Stress on Depressive-Like Behavior and Hippocampal Neurogenesis in Adolescence

Depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period is a growing health problem, which affects up to 20% of women. Currently, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs) medications are commonly used for treatment of maternal depression. Unfortunately, there is very little research on the long-term effect of maternal depression and perinatal SSRI exposure on offspring development. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the role of exposure to fluoxetine during development on affective-like behaviors and hippocampal neurogenesis in adolescent offspring in a rodent model of maternal depression. To do this, gestationally stressed and non-stressed Sprague-Dawley rat dams were treated with either fluoxetine (5 mg/kg/day) or vehicle beginning on postnatal day 1 (P1). Adolescent male and female offspring were divided into 4 groups: 1) prenatal stress+fluoxetine exposure, 2) prenatal stress+vehicle, 3) fluoxetine exposure alone, and 4) vehicle alone. Adolescent offspring were assessed for anxiety-like behavior using the Open Field Test and depressive-like behavior using the Forced Swim Test. Brains were analyzed for endogenous markers of hippocampal neurogenesis via immunohistochemistry. Results demonstrate that maternal fluoxetine exposure reverses the reduction in immobility evident in prenatally stressed adolescent offspring. In addition, maternal fluoxetine exposure reverses the decrease in hippocampal cell proliferation and neurogenesis in maternally stressed adolescent offspring. This research provides important evidence on the long-term effect of fluoxetine exposure during development in a model of maternal adversity

Epigenetics and developmental programming of welfare and production traits in farm animals

The concept that postnatal health and development can be influenced by events that occur in utero originated from epidemiological studies in humans supported by numerous mechanistic (including epigenetic) studies in a variety of model species. Referred to as the ‘developmental origins of health and disease’ or ‘DOHaD’ hypothesis, the primary focus of large-animal studies until quite recently had been biomedical. Attention has since turned towards traits of commercial importance in farm animals. Herein we review the evidence that prenatal risk factors, including suboptimal parental nutrition, gestational stress, exposure to environmental chemicals and advanced breeding technologies, can determine traits such as postnatal growth, feed efficiency, milk yield, carcass composition, animal welfare and reproductive potential. We consider the role of epigenetic and cytoplasmic mechanisms of inheritance, and discuss implications for livestock production and future research endeavours. We conclude that although the concept is proven for several traits, issues relating to effect size, and hence commercial importance, remain. Studies have also invariably been conducted under controlled experimental conditions, frequently assessing single risk factors, thereby limiting their translational value for livestock production. We propose concerted international research efforts that consider multiple, concurrent stressors to better represent effects of contemporary animal production systems

Landing on the moon 50 years later: A multi-analytical investigation on Superficie Lunare (1969) by Giulio Turcato

Giulio Turcato (Mantova 1912–Rome 1995) was an Italian artist, belonging to the figurative and abstract expressionist currents. At the end of the 1960s, fascinated by the US space program, Turcato produced a series of artworks, differing in colour and shape, titled Superficie Lunare (Moon Surface). To reproduce a realistic moon surface, Turcato used polyurethane foam as support for the painting. The combination of this unconventional material and the pictorial ones makes Superficie Lunare an interesting case of study to understand the alteration phenomena in contemporary art. In this study, a blue painted Superficie Lunare (1969) was analysed by means of non-invasive (ER-FTIR, Raman and X-ray spectroscopy) and micro-invasive techniques (µ-ATR, μ-FTIR, μ-Raman, Py-GC/MS, EGA-MS and SEM-EDS). The results point out the use of a polyurethane foam as support and of a poly(vinyl acetate) based Prussian blue paint tube as main constituent of the paint layer. The analyses highlight also the complexity of the paint layer, showing the presence of lampblack and Al foil mixed to the blue paint, lithopone inside the white crater and possibly ferric oxide in the red one. The results confirm the use of a polyurethane foam for the support. The painted layers present a binder composed of poly(vinylacetate), with polystyrene, possibly present as additive. Concerning the nature of the blue pigment, Prussian blue was identified on the whole surface. In some points, also lampblack was detected. Furthermore, small foils of Al were found inside the paint layer, probably to give sparkling effect. Inside the moon craters, lithopone was identified for the white pigment and possibly iron oxide for the red one. The multi-technique approach allowed also to obtain information about the manufacturing of the used Prussian blue and the occurrence of alteration process for the polyurethane foam

Chemistry of modern paint media: The strained and collapsed painting by Alexis Harding

The paint media used by contemporary artists include a wide range of formulation of industrially produced paints based on synthetic resins and natural oils. We investigated the paint media used by the British artist Alexis Harding (born in 1973) in the painting “Quartet” (2003). The artwork exemplifies the artist's technique of mixing different paint media to obtain a sliding movement of the paint over the support, raising severe conservation issues and causing long-term instability of the paint. As a basis to develop a conservation strategy for the artwork, we investigated the composition of the paint by in situ non-invasive contactless external reflection infrared spectroscopy (ER-FTIR). The combination with laboratory analytical techniques applied on micro-samples allowed the identification of the pigments and the binders. The multi-analytical approach involved micro infrared spectroscopy (µFTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and mass spectrometric techniques coupled to chromatography (GC/MS and HPLC-ESI-Q-ToF) and analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS and EGA-MS). The results of these micro-destructive investigations showed that the causes of the gliding of the paint are due the incompatibility between different materials superimposed by the artist: a fast drying alkyd paint and a mixture of siccative and non-siccative drying oils