SummaryHuman and animal laboratory studies show that adolescents and adults respond differently to drugs and that drug administration during adolescence leads to different behavioral effects than during adulthood. Although there are a number of studies on the effects of cocaine, little is known about the effects of methamphetamine in adolescent vs adult rats. In the present study, sensitivity to the conditioned reward of multiple doses of methamphetamine or cocaine was evaluated in male adolescent (PND 34) and adult (PND 66) rats using a conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. In addition, the locomotor-activating effects of methamphetamine were determined across a five-day period of administration. After three days of training with cocaine, both adolescent and adult male rats developed CPP to cocaine, however, the dose-effect curve for cocaine CPP was shifted to the left in adolescent compared to adult rats. In contrast to the development of CPP to cocaine in both groups after three days of conditioning, methamphetamine CPP occurred only in adolescent, and not in adult rats. After five days of training, however, both adolescent and adult rats exhibited identical responses to multiple doses of methamphetamine and a significant CPP was observed in both groups. Daily administration of methamphetamine increased locomotor activity in both adolescent and adult rats, with a greater effect seen in the adults. In neither group, was there evidence of a significant sensitization to the locomotor-activating effects of methamphetamine. These data show that adolescents are more sensitive to psychostimulant reward and thus to the conditioned rewarding properties of cocaine or methamphetamine than adults. A better understanding of this difference may lead to age-specific preventions and treatments for psychostimulant abuse.

SUMMARYIt has been suggested that the opioid-like neuropeptide nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) and its receptor (NOPr) may contribute to Parkinson's disease. Based on this idea, the aim of our study was to investigate the involvement of the N/OFQ-NOPr system in an animal model of Parkinson's disease and to evaluate if this neuropeptidergic system is acting through mechanisms involving glutamate and/or GABA. We injected the neurotoxins MPP + or 6-OHDA into the cerebral ventricles and 10 days later measured N/OFQ and NOPr gene expression in caudate putamen (CP) and substantia nigra (SN), by RT-PCR. A large reduction in N/OFQ and NOPr mRNAs was observed in the CP of rat treated with either MPP + or 6-OHDA, MPP + being more effective than 6-OHDA. Both the neurotoxins induced an increase in N/OFQ gene expression in the SN, but only MPP + evoked a significant down-regulation of NOPr in this area, showing a slight trend of reduction in 6-OHDA treated rats. Moreover, a reduction in the levels of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD 65/67 ), an enzyme that converts the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate to the inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), was also observed in the SN following 6-OHDA. These data suggest that DA modulates N/OFQ-NOPr system gene expression in SN and CP, strengthening the hypothesis that this neuropeptidergic system could be implicated in the mechanisms underlying Parkinson's disease. Our data might also suggest that the GABAergic system plays a role in the regulation of nigral function, although further studies are necessary to confirm this hypothesis. In agreement with previous studies, we also support the hypothesis of a potential value for NOP receptor antagonists to attenuate symptoms related to the degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway.

Rome's contemporary city-structure in municipalities incorporated into the modern suburbs those boundary areas that in ancient times spread from the city walls (i.e. the urbanised city) towards the territory, forming a transit zone between city and country. The present paper intends to highlight the significance of these areas, main indicators not only from a historic-archaeological point of view, with respect to the knowledge of the ancient settlement's distribution and evolution within the territory, but especially with regards to the modern landscape's transformation, becoming pivotal areas that urbanists and town planners should take into consideration for conservation and usage.Our study analyses the territory of Rome's Municipio XIII EST. This area shows a landscape that underwent a radical transformation throughout centuries, due to the changed requirements of the different social realities that followed each other from ancient Roman times until today. This casestudy shows clearly how the strong urbanistic expansion that started strongly in the 1960s extended like wild fire from the city centre towards the outside, becoming a rural landscape characterised by small properties and vast rural estates, on a surface with high housing industry. This caused the obliteration of the ancient landscape order, directly absorbed into the city and covered under many cement layers, without even verifying the historical value in previous forms of rural settlement. The widespread use of new technologies and territorial informative systems, like SITAR, Sistema Informativo Territoriale Archeologico di Roma of the Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l'Area Centrale di Roma, allows us to put together in a more rapid and complete way all the information from the various sources (historical cartographies, archives and bibliographic research, archaeological exploration of material data) and enables the knowledge and reconstruction of historical contexts.Keywords: Archaeology, Ancient Topography, Landscape Archaeology, Landscape Planning, Archaeological Protection Testo L'area presa in esame in questo contributo è compresa tra le mura Aureliane ad est e il Raccordo Anulare ad ovest, tra via di Boccea a nord e via La trasformazione storico-topografica delle aree di confine: un esempio dal suburbio ovest di Roma

No abstract