No abstract

No abstract

Chronic stress produces long‐term metabolic changes throughout the superfamily of nuclear receptors, potentially causing various pathologies. Sex hormones modulate the stress response and generate a sex‐specific age‐dependent metabolic imprint, especially distinct in the reproductive senescence of females. We monitored chronic stress recovery in two age groups of female Sprague Dawley rats to determine whether stress and/or aging structurally changed the glycolipid microenvironment, a milieu playing an important role in cognitive functions. Old females experienced memory impairment even at basal conditions, which was additionally amplified by stress. On the other hand, the memory of young females was not disrupted. Stress recovery was followed by a microglial decrease and an increase in astrocyte count in the hippocampal immune system. Since dysfunction of the brain immune system could contribute to disturbed synaptogenesis, we analyzed neuroplastin expression and the lipid environment. Neuroplastin microenvironments were explored by analyzing immunofluorescent stainings using a newly developed Python script method. Stress reorganized glycolipid microenvironment in the Cornu Ammonis 1 (CA1) and dentate gyrus (DG) hippocampal regions of old females but in a very different fashion, thus affecting neuroplasticity. The postulation of four possible neuroplastin environments pointed to the GD1a ganglioside enrichment during reproductive senescence of stressed females, as well as its high dispersion in both regions and to GD1a and GM1 loss in the CA1 region. A specific lipid environment might influence neuroplastin functionality and underlie synaptic dysfunction triggered by a combination of aging and chronic stress.

AimTo develop an electromyography method for pregnant rat uterus in vivo and to separate myometrial signals from the gastrointestinal tract signals.MethodsPregnant Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 8) were anaesthetized and their stomach, small intestine, and large intestine were removed from the abdomen. A pair of thread electrodes was inserted into the uterus, while a pair of disk electrodes was placed subcutaneously above the myometrium. Additionally, a strain gauge sensor was fixed on the surface of the myometrium and cecum for the parallel detection of mechanical contractions in rats (n = 18) with intact gastrointestinal tract. The filtered electric signals were amplified and recorded by an online computer system and analyzed by fast Fourier transformation. The frequency of the electric activity was characterized by cycle per minute (cpm), the magnitude of the activity was described as power spectrum density maximum (PsDmax).ResultsThe frequency of the pregnant uterine activity was 1-3 cpm, which falls within the same range as that of cecum. Measuring by both electrodes, oxytocin (1 µg/kg) increased and terbutaline (50 µg/kg) decreased the PsDmax by 25%-50% (P < 0.001) and 25%-40% (P < 0.01), respectively. We found a strong positive correlation between the alterations of PsDmax values and the strain gauge sensor-detected mechanical contractions (area under curve). The GI specific compounds (neostigmine, atropine) mainly affected the cecal activity, while myometrium specific drugs (oxytocin, terbutaline) influenced the myometrial signals only.ConclusionOur method proved to be able to detect the myoelectric activity that reflects the mechanical contraction. The overlapping myometrial and cecal signals are not separable, but they can be distinguished based on the much higher activity and different pharmacological reactivity of the pregnant uterus. Thus, the early signs of contractions can be detected and labor may be predicted in a fast and sensitive way.

No abstract