Animals ; Electromagnetic Fields ; adverse effects ; Male ; Mice ; Sexual Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Spermatogenesis ; radiation effects

Acrylamide is a common chemical material, extensively used in industry and scientific experiments. Recently, it has been reported that starchy food cooked at high temperature can produce acrylamide. Acrylamide monomer has several toxic effects and the extensive concern for its toxicity has arisen with the finding of acrylamide formation in some processed foods. Researches have shown that acrylamide monomer can cause reproductive toxicity, including toxic effects on male reproductive behavior, male reproductive endocrine function and spermatogenesis. The mechanisms may include the effects of acrylamide on Leydig cells, the formation of motor protein/ chromosomal/DNA alkylation and damage by oxidative stress.
Acrylamide ; toxicity ; Animals ; Genitalia, Male ; drug effects ; physiology ; Male ; Sexual Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; physiology ; Spermatogenesis ; drug effects

It is known that stimulation of the α(2A)-adrenoceptors (α(2A)-ARs) by the selective α(2A)-AR agonist guanfacine produces an important and beneficial influence on prefrontal cortical (PFC) cognitive functions such as spatial working memory and selective attention. However, it is unclear whether stimulation of the α(2A)-ARs has a similar effect on fear conditioning that involves the amygdala and hippocampus. Here, we show that systemically administered guanfacine significantly enhances spatial learning of rats in the Lashley maze: compared with controls, the rats treated with guanfacine required significantly fewer trials and made significantly fewer errors to reach learning criterion. However, guanfacine produced no effect on acquisition of contextual and auditory fear memories. The present study suggests that beneficial effect of α(2A)-AR stimulation is task-dependent: guanfacine improves spatial learning but not fear conditioning.
Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Agonists ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Conditioning (Psychology) ; drug effects ; Fear ; drug effects ; Guanfacine ; pharmacology ; Maze Learning ; drug effects ; Memory ; drug effects ; Rats ; Spatial Behavior ; drug effects

Acute Disease ; Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Female ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Nitriles ; poisoning ; Rabbits

Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Biogenic Monoamines ; metabolism ; Brain ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Formaldehyde ; toxicity ; Maze Learning ; drug effects ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C

Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) is the most widespread narcotics in the 21st century. The methamphetamine's intoxication mechanism, psychological dependence, drug resistance and therapeutic drug development are the hot spots in current research. Establishment of animal model with methamphetamine poisoning is the basic for the relative studies, the normalization and standardization of the animal model settles the foundation for methamphetamine's further research. This article reviews the animal model of methamphetamine poisoning in China and abroad, the brief history of the acute, subacute and chronic animal model of methamphetamine poisoning, as well as the principles and methods of the animal model establishment and its evaluation criteria. The necessity, significance and its scientific expansion of performing experimental research on the methamphetamine poisoning animal model are also discussed.
Amphetamine-Related Disorders/psychology* ; Animals ; Behavior, Animal/drug effects* ; Central Nervous System Stimulants/poisoning* ; Cerebral Cortex/drug effects* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Forensic Toxicology ; Humans ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Methamphetamine/poisoning* ; Stereotyped Behavior/drug effects*

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of alcohol intake on penile structure and function in rats.

METHODSThirty adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: control group and alcohol intake group. They were administered with 2 mL of normal saline and 40% alcohol solution respectively through gastric tubes every day. Three months later, the animal model of alcohol intake was evaluated by modified Nayagida's method, and the effects of alcohol on the rats were studied by sexual behavior, the number of apomorphine-induced penile erection, level of testosterone in the sera, and the content of penile smooth muscle.

RESULTSThe scores of animal model of alcohol intake evaluated by Nayagida's method were 0.66 +/- 2.05 in the control group and 9.26 +/- 5.50 in the alcohol intake group (P < 0.05), which indicated that an animal model of alcohol intake was successfully established. Sexual behavior, the number of apomorphine-induced penile erection, testosterone level in the sera, and the content of penile smooth muscle of the alcohol intake group were all statistically different as compared with the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAlcohol intake induces sexual dysfunction in rats, which may be due to the decline of testosterone level in the sera and decline of penile smooth muscle.

Animals ; Ethanol ; adverse effects ; Female ; Male ; Penis ; anatomy & histology ; drug effects ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Sexual Behavior, Animal ; Testosterone ; blood

The effects of ginsenosides on the actions of morphine are summarized. It mainly focuses on the antagonistic effects of ginsenosides on morphine-induced changes of animal behaviors, neural system functions and cell signaling transduction.
Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Body Weight ; drug effects ; Ginsenosides ; pharmacology ; Mice ; Morphine ; antagonists & inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Morphine Dependence ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; metabolism ; Rats ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects

AIMTo explore the effect of exposure to commercial Parathion (Pc) on the reproductive parameters (sperm and cocoon production and genotoxicity on male germ cells), the survival, the body weight and the gross anatomical changes in Eisenia foetida.

METHODSThree doses of Pc (1478, 739 and 444 mg/kg of soil) and three time intervals of exposure (5, 15 and 30 days) were used.

RESULTSAll treated animals were affected. An acute genotoxic effect, revealed by DNA fragmentation (comet assay), was seen by 5 days. Alterations in reproductive parameters were conspicuous in regard to the number of sperm, cocoons and worms born, and the histological observation of the gonads and seminal receptacles. In addition, the body weight and survival rate were decreased. Neuromuscular function was also affected.

CONCLUSIONEarthworms are suitable bioindicators of chemical contamination of the soil, their advantage being their easy and economical handling.

Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Insecticides ; toxicity ; Male ; Oligochaeta ; drug effects ; Parathion ; toxicity ; Reproduction ; drug effects ; Soil Pollutants ; toxicity ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of pentoxifylline on rats and mice with learning and memory dysfunctions.

METHODSMorris water maze test was used to observe the effects of pentoxifylline on learning and memory of naturally aging rats, and jumping stand test was performed to examine its effects in promoting the learning and memory functions in mice with scopolamine- and ethanol-induced memory dysfunctions.

RESULTSIn aging rats, pentoxifylline at high, moderate and low doses all significantly reduced the latency of platform finding in the place navigation test (P<0.01 or P<0.05 ), and increased the quadrant searching frequency in the spatial probe test (P<0.05). Pentoxifylline at the 3 doses significantly increased the latency of electrification (P<0.01 or P<0.05) and decreased the times of error (P<0.05) of the mice as compared with scopolamine- treated group. Pentoxifylline also improved ethanol-induced memory dysfunction in the mice, but the changes in the performance of the mice were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONPentoxifylline can improve the learning and memory abilities of rats and mice.

Aging ; Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Ethanol ; Maze Learning ; drug effects ; Memory ; drug effects ; Memory Disorders ; chemically induced ; Mice ; Pentoxifylline ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Scopolamine Hydrobromide