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The behavioral effects of NMDA receptor antagonists
Chvojková, Markéta ; Valeš, Karel (advisor) ; Horák, Martin (referee)
NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors are glutamate-gated ion channels, which are located in the central nervous system. They permit excitatory neurotransmission and are crucial for synaptic plasticity and other functions, but on the other hand for excitotoxicity. By the administration of NMDA receptor antagonists it would be possible to restrict the consequences of excessive glutamate exposure. However, the use of many of these drugs is made impossible by their serious behavioral side effects. NMDA receptor antagonists can influence cognitive and motor functions in laboratory animals and also in humans, and can cause temporary psychosis. These negative behavioral effects are most pronounced in the case of non-competitive antagonists. Conversely, the behavioral side effects of uncompetitive antagonists, antagonists selective for NMDA receptors containing a NR2B subunit or NMDA receptor glycine binding site antagonists are milder. From a clinical point of view, some other behavioral effects of NMDA receptor antagonists are beneficial. These effects include anxiolytic and antidepressant effects and also an alleviation of cognitive deficit and behavioral aberration in Alzheimer's disease through the administration of memantine. The aim of this thesis is to summarize the main behavioral effects known to us of...
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Optical Signals of Brain
Konopková, Renata ; Otáhal, Jakub (advisor) ; Kittnar, Otomar (referee) ; Valeš, Karel (referee)
Intrinsic optical signals are the signals reflecting changes in transmittance or reflectance of the light illumitating the tissue. Registration of such changes can be applied for the detection of physiological condition in the slices of biological tissues (in vitro) or in the whole animal (in vivo). The aim of this project is to introduce this topic and show different possibilities for the detection of changing optical properties of nervous tissue both in vitro and in vivo. The detection system of both light source and attachment of the optical fibre to the skull of the animal for in vivo experimets have been designed. The proper experimental part of the study have been done in hippocampal tissue slices and shows the correlation of the tissue activity and the optical signal at level of ion channels, glutamatergic synaptic activity, glial component of the signal and mitochondrial signal. We are dealing with the source of the noice that we record while detecting rather subtle changes of optical properties. We are indroducing the software VisionBrain for synchronous detection of both electrical and optical changes. Keywords: Intrinsic optical signals, hippocampus, imaging, biomechanics
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The effect of social factors on reproduction and stress in spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus)
Fraňková, Marcela ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Pavelková Ricanková, Věra (referee) ; Valeš, Karel (referee)
1 Summary This thesis deals with relationships among social factors, behaviour, physiology and reproduction in spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus). Spiny mice are social rodents with that should be kept in families consisting of an adult male, multiple females and their descendants which mimic their wild social system. In contrast to many other muroid rodents, spiny mice produce after an extended gestation period only small litters consisting of relatively large and well developed (precocoial) newborns. The first part of the thesis is focused on effects of selected social parameters on glucocorticoid levels, which are widely used as a marker of stress. We focused on non-invasive monitoring of glucocorticoid metabolites (GCM) in faeces via enzyme immunoassay. For this purpose two specific antibodies were validated via an ACTH challenge test. Further, we constructed a special experimental apparatus which allowed us routine repeated collection of faecal samples in socially living rodents without noticeable disturbance to studied animals. Next, we monitored baseline concentrations of faecal GCM levels of individuals in family groups of commensal and non-commensal population. We found no effect of age (i.e., social dominance) and only a small effect of sex (in the commensal population only, with males exhibiting...
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Economic analysis of VEBA company
Valeš, Karel ; Doláková, Helena (advisor) ; Krause, Josef (referee)
This master thesis is focused on economic analysis of VEBA company in period 2003 -- 2008. The master thesis is divided into two main parts. The first one is describing the process of economic analysis in general, its users and used methods. The second part is practical. In this part there are used methods and models from the first part with concrete numbers in each year. After that there are comments of the results. At the end of the master thesis there are stated the possible causes of declining financial results in the coming period.
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Finanční analýza společnosti VEBA textilní závody a. s.
Valeš, Karel ; Kopalová, Helena (advisor) ; Metzlová, Hana (referee)
Práce se zabývá finanční analýzou textilních závodů VEBA a. s. v letech 2001 až 2005. Pomocí vybraných ekonomických ukazatelů posuzuje finanční situaci společnosti. Zjistilo se, že podnik není v ideální situaci(většina ukazatelů je u spodní hranice doporučených hodnot), ale přesto podle ukazatele EVA vytváří hodnotu pro investory. Ve sledovaném období podnik investoval značné sumy do modernizace tkalcovny a také ekologických zařízení. V souvislosti s vývojem ekonomického prostředí, ve kterém se evropský a český textil pohybuje, lze do budoucna počítat spíše s nepříznivými faktory.
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