|
|
Paternal methamphetamine exposure - effect on the development of offspring
Mihalčíková, Lýdia ; Šlamberová, Romana (advisor) ; Cendelín, Jan (referee) ; Riljak, Vladimír (referee)
Introduction: Drug addiction and its effect on the behavior and development of children has become a serious problem in our society. Methamphetamine (MA) is one of the most abused psychostimulants in the Czech Republic, and its abuse is rising worldwide. Previous studies have demonstrated the adverse long-term effects of maternal drug abuse on rat offspring. However, the father's contribution as a parent and donor of half the genetic information is unclear. Aim: First, the present study aimed to examine the effect of MA administration on male sexual behavior, locomotor activity, spermatogenesis, and testosterone level. Second, the impact of paternal MA exposure on behavioral development, locomotor activity, and social interaction in rat offspring was examined. Methods: MA was administrated for 30 days at a dose of 5 mg/kg s.c. to adult male rats (PD 90). The control group was exposed to saline (SA). During the experiments, 6-8 individuals from each group were tested. The sensorimotor development of rat pups was examined during PD 1-23. The Social play experiment was conducted with juvenile rats (PD 30). The sexual behavior, spermatogenesis, and locomotor activity of fathers and offspring were tested in adulthood. Prior to testing, adult offspring were exposed to an acute challenge dose of MA (1...
|
|
|
Vliv personality proaktivní vs reaktivní u okouna říčního na náchylnost k infekci Aeromonas sp.
ČERNÝ, Jan
The existence of intra-specific differences in the life strategies of animals is described by the so-called proactive and reactive personality, where proactive individuals are characterized by a higher willingness to take risks and explore new environments compared to reactive individuals who choose a passive and inactive approach to new challenges in the environment. This concept is often defined in fish as the shy-bold continuum, with the bold individual (BI) exhibiting proactive behaviour and the shy individual (SI) typically exhibiting a reactive approach. Several studies have already been written confirming the influence of personality on fish performance traits, such as growth in three spined-sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) or stress tolerance in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) or rainbow trout (Onchorhyncus mykkis). The aim of our experiment was to describe the existence of a link between personality and immunological resistance to Aeromonas sp. infection and stress tolerance in European perch. In our experiment, 1000 European perch were subjected to two behavioral tests for personality (open field, number of cm swum in 30 min; novel object, exploring zones of proximity to an unknown object). The top 20 BI fish (highest values in both tests) and the top 20 SI fish (zero values in both tests) were selected. Representatives of both behavioral groups BI and SI were then subjected to an induction stress challenge (lowering the tank level to 5 cm above the dorsal fin) and then metabolic activity values (ALT, AST, ALP, LDH, glucose, osmolytes, and cortisol) were measured, with the only significant difference shown by cortisol concentration (2.5-fold higher in SI compared to BI 30 min after stimulation and 5-fold higher in SI compared to BI in control). In immunological resistance testing, phagocytic capacity (natural immunity) was assessed first, and no significant differences were observed between SI and BI groups. Next, head kidney and peritoneal cells from representatives of the BI and SI groups were stimulated in vivo with A. salmonicida infection and then RNA was extracted to analyze gene expression of 46 immune genes 1, 3 and 7 days after stimulation to assess the adaptive immune system response. A 1.2-1.3-fold increase in the level of the ighm gene was observed in the head kidney of BI versus SI 1 day after stimulation, while the level of the identical gene showed a 2.2-fold increase in BI versus SI peritoneal cells. Furthermore, an increase in gene levels was observed in BI compared with SI for cc125 (1.2-fold in the head kidney) and Cd74 (1.3-1.5-fold in both peritoneum and head kidney). The results of this work suggest that personality has a significant effect on stress tolerance, does not affect natural immunity, but does affect the level of the adaptive immune system in European perch, with BI individuals appearing to be more resistant to both stress and infection by Aeromonas hydrophila.
|
|
|
Use of animal models in the study of the mechanisms of subjective tinnitus.
Dittrichová, Jana ; Tureček, Rostislav (advisor) ; Kašík, Petr (referee)
Tinnitus, phantom hearing sensation, is one of the major audiological disorders affecting a significant proportion of the human population. However, the mechanisms underlying this condition remain unclear. Animal models represent an important tool in the investigation of the pathogenesis of hearing diseases. The present bachelor thesis reviews the most important findings on the possibilities of detecting tinnitus in laboratory animals, especially rats and mice, its neural correlates in the mammalian auditory system, as well as the risk factors that lead to its development and maintenance. It was found that the most common causes of tinnitus are sensorineural hearing loss induced by exposure of animals to excessive noise or ototoxic agents, as well as their genetic predisposition. These factors cause maladaptive changes in the central auditory pathway that are likely responsible for the chronic course of the disease. The changes found include, in particular, hyperactivity of neurons of the auditory nuclei of the brainstem and increased synchrony in the area of the primary auditory cortex. Using animal models, it was also found that a significant proportion of the observed pathophysiological changes result from attenuated GABAergic inhibition in the auditory pathway. This suggested a direction for...
|
|
|
Application of new methods and technologies in mice models of autism research
Nováková, Rozálie ; Kubik-Zahorodna, Agnieszka (advisor) ; Telenský, Petr (referee)
Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting around 2 % of the world's population. The underlying pathology is still unknown, but it seems that this disorder might be caused by a complex combination of genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors. ASD individuals suffer not only from repetitive behavior, abnormal social behavior and impaired communication but also from many comorbid disorders. ASD mouse models offer a deeper insight into the pathology of ASD, possibly leading to the development of treatments, or even a cure. Since there are over a thousand risk-genes for ASD, and therefore many ASD mouse models, there is an increased pressure to develop new, effective, and more automatized behavioral assays. Two examples of this would be Intellicage and Digitally Ventilated Cage (DVC), where an explicit advantage to these systems is that they can both function as a home cage. Intellicage is a fully-automized home cage designed for the high-throughput and long-term investigation of spontaneous behavior and cognitive abilities of mice, and DVC, a standard IVC cage continuously measuring a mouse's activity. These may become useful tools not only for animal models of Autism Spectrum Disorder, but all studies involving behavioral assays.
|
|
|
Inter-individual differences in behaviour of laboratory rats
Rudolfová, Veronika ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Number of studies report that even when experimental animals are subjected to the exact same conditions, they differ in their behaviour. If these differences were stable in time and across several experimental procedures, we could talk about personality. This diploma thesis studies inter-individual differences in behaviour of laboratory rats (Long Evans strain) in a series of experiments conducted in early ontogeny and in adult age. Apart from analysing inter-individual differences in behaviour and personality of experimental animals, this thesis has two main aims. The first aim is assessing stability of inter-individual differences in behaviour throughout ontogeny. The second aim is to explore possible link between inter-individual differences in behaviour and performance in cognitive tests. We confirmed the existence of inter-individual difference in behaviour in laboratory rats. In this thesis we were, however, not able to assess personality of experimental animals. The differences in behaviour were best described by behaviour in Open field test and Elevated plus maze test. Our results also show marked differences between successive trials of these experiments. We also report that performance in Active allothetic place avoidance is not linked to performance in Morris water maze, even though both...
|
|
|
Curcumin in the treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury
Kloudová, Anna ; Machová Urdzíková, Lucia (advisor) ; Martončíková, Marcela (referee)
Spinal cord injury is a very significant clinical as well as social problem with extensive consequences, affecting the patient and also his/her family. Great efforts have been devoted to searching for an effective treatment, which would improve their situation. This thesis evaluated the effects of the natural compound curcumin on spinal cord injury using an experimental balloon compression model. Male Wistar rats were randomized into two groups following the lesion induction, namely vehicle- or curcumin-treated. The behavioral recovery was evaluated using a set of locomotor and sensory tests and a histological and imunohistochemical analysis was performed. The qPCR method was used to observe the expression of some genes related to regeneration and immune response. It was demonstrated that curcumin improved locomotor recovery after the spinal cord injury, particularly in the early stages. Morphometric analysis of the gray and white matter sparing didn't confirm any differences between the two groups. Nevertheless, the glial scar formation was significantly reduced around the central part of the lesion in the curcumin treated group and also the NF-κB activity was substantially inhibited. The gene expression analysis demontrated downregulation of Gfap and Rantes genes and upregulation of the Irf5 gene...
|
|
|
The effect of sleep on consolidation of episodic-like memory in rats
Petránová, Erika ; Kelemen, Eduard (advisor) ; Svoboda, Jan (referee)
We can notice the positive effects of sleep on many functions of our organism. For a long time we have observed the interconnection between sleep and memory and today we already know, that different sleep phases correlate with an improvement of different memory types. One of the hypotheses, that explain the positive effect of sleep on strengthening of the memory representations, is its irreplaceable active role in the process of memory consolidation. The memory consolidation of episodic type in animals, which processes memories into events with time and space context, could according to this theory occur due to two phase sleep process, in which each phase has a specific role. The theoretical part of this thesis will familiarize the reader with the problematic of organization of time and space in our brain, and introduce him to the foundations of electroencephalography (EEG) and offer a detailed introduction into the discussed hypothesis of active sleep consolidation. The practical part is then focused on the confirmation of the already mentioned hypothesis through the combination of comparison of results from the behavioral task of 2 groups of animals with different sleep manipulation and of the analysis of EEG signal recorded during the experiment before and after the training. The behavioral task...
|
|
|
Application of new methods and technologies in mice models of autism research
Nováková, Rozálie ; Kubik-Zahorodna, Agnieszka (advisor) ; Telenský, Petr (referee)
Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting around 2 % of the world's population. The underlying pathology is still unknown, but it seems that this disorder might be caused by a complex combination of genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors. ASD individuals suffer not only from repetitive behavior, abnormal social behavior and impaired communication but also from many comorbid disorders. ASD mouse models offer a deeper insight into the pathology of ASD, possibly leading to the development of treatments, or even a cure. Since there are over a thousand risk-genes for ASD, and therefore many ASD mouse models, there is an increased pressure to develop new, effective, and more automatized behavioral assays. Two examples of this would be Intellicage and Digitally Ventilated Cage (DVC), where an explicit advantage to these systems is that they can both function as a home cage. Intellicage is a fully-automized home cage designed for the high-throughput and long-term investigation of spontaneous behavior and cognitive abilities of mice, and DVC, a standard IVC cage continuously measuring a mouse's activity. These may become useful tools not only for animal models of Autism Spectrum Disorder, but all studies involving behavioral assays.
|
|
|
Inter-individual differences in behaviour of laboratory rats
Rudolfová, Veronika ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Number of studies report that even when experimental animals are subjected to the exact same conditions, they differ in their behaviour. If these differences were stable in time and across several experimental procedures, we could talk about personality. This diploma thesis studies inter-individual differences in behaviour of laboratory rats (Long Evans strain) in a series of experiments conducted in early ontogeny and in adult age. Apart from analysing inter-individual differences in behaviour and personality of experimental animals, this thesis has two main aims. The first aim is assessing stability of inter-individual differences in behaviour throughout ontogeny. The second aim is to explore possible link between inter-individual differences in behaviour and performance in cognitive tests. We confirmed the existence of inter-individual difference in behaviour in laboratory rats. In this thesis we were, however, not able to assess personality of experimental animals. The differences in behaviour were best described by behaviour in Open field test and Elevated plus maze test. Our results also show marked differences between successive trials of these experiments. We also report that performance in Active allothetic place avoidance is not linked to performance in Morris water maze, even though both...
|
|
|
Curcumin in the treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury
Kloudová, Anna ; Machová Urdzíková, Lucia (advisor) ; Martončíková, Marcela (referee)
Spinal cord injury is a very significant clinical as well as social problem with extensive consequences, affecting the patient and also his/her family. Great efforts have been devoted to searching for an effective treatment, which would improve their situation. This thesis evaluated the effects of the natural compound curcumin on spinal cord injury using an experimental balloon compression model. Male Wistar rats were randomized into two groups following the lesion induction, namely vehicle- or curcumin-treated. The behavioral recovery was evaluated using a set of locomotor and sensory tests and a histological and imunohistochemical analysis was performed. The qPCR method was used to observe the expression of some genes related to regeneration and immune response. It was demonstrated that curcumin improved locomotor recovery after the spinal cord injury, particularly in the early stages. Morphometric analysis of the gray and white matter sparing didn't confirm any differences between the two groups. Nevertheless, the glial scar formation was significantly reduced around the central part of the lesion in the curcumin treated group and also the NF-κB activity was substantially inhibited. The gene expression analysis demontrated downregulation of Gfap and Rantes genes and upregulation of the Irf5 gene...
|
guest ::
