RESUMEN
A plethora of studies have indicated that enriched environment (EE) paradigm provokes plastic and morphological changes in astrocytes with accompanying increments of their density and positively affects the behavior of rodents. We also previously documented that EE could be employed to preclude several behavioral abnormalities, mainly cognitive deficits, attributed to postnatal N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist (MK-801) treatment, as a rodent model of schizophrenia (SCH) aspects. Given this, the current study quantitatively investigated the number of cells, presumed to be astrocytes, expressing two astroglia-associated proteins (S100B and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)) by immunohistochemistry in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), along with anxiety and passive avoidance (PA) learning behaviors by utilizing elevated plus maze (EPM) and shuttle-box tests, in MK-801-treated male wistar rats submitted to EE and non-EE rats. Following a treatment regime of sub-chronic MK-801 (1.0mg/kg i.p. daily for five consecutive days from postnatal day (P) 6), S-100B-positive cells and anxiety level were markedly increased, while the GFAP-positive cells and PA learning were notably attenuated. The trend of diminished GFAP-immunopositive cells and elevated S100B-immunostained cells in the PFC was reversed in the SCH-like rats by exposure of animals to EE, commencing from birth up to the time of experiments on P28-85. Additionally, EE exhibited an ameliorating effect on the behavioral abnormalities evoked by MK-801. Overall, present findings support that improper astrocyte functioning and behavioral changes, reminiscent of the many facets of SCH, occur consequential to repetitive administration of MK-801 and that raising rat pups in an EE mitigates these alterations.
Asunto(s)
Ansiedad/prevención & control , Astrocitos/metabolismo , Maleato de Dizocilpina/administración & dosificación , Ambiente , Antagonistas de Aminoácidos Excitadores/administración & dosificación , Trastornos de la Memoria/prevención & control , Corteza Prefrontal/metabolismo , Animales , Ansiedad/inducido químicamente , Astrocitos/efectos de los fármacos , Reacción de Prevención/efectos de los fármacos , Proteína Ácida Fibrilar de la Glía/metabolismo , Locomoción/efectos de los fármacos , Masculino , Trastornos de la Memoria/inducido químicamente , Corteza Prefrontal/efectos de los fármacos , Ratas , Ratas Wistar , Subunidad beta de la Proteína de Unión al Calcio S100/metabolismoRESUMEN
Age negatively affects reproductive success of broiler breeder flocks. One of the main hormones involved in the change of fertility with the age is testosterone (TT). The introduction of young males at later production stages of broiler flocks is known as spiking and is expected to reduce the fertility decline with age. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of injection of different levels of TT and the effect of spiking on reproductive fitness of broiler breeder flocks. Two experiments were conducted on Ross 308 breeder flocks for 10 weeks (41-50 weeks of age). The experiment 1 included a control and three treatments corresponding to three doses of TT (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 cc), while the experiment 2 included a control and one treatment corresponding to spiking. The lower dose of TT (0.1 cc) and the spiking clearly slowed down the decline in hatchability. Therefore, either the external administration of TT to the males when the natural concentration of TT starts to decline or spiking the breeder flock with young roosters could contribute to improve reproductive success in later stages of the production cycle in broiler breeder flocks.