Recently, our research team has reported that Tualang honey was able to improve immediate memory in postmenopausal women comparable with that of estrogen progestin therapy. Therefore the aim of the present study was to examine the effects of Tualang honey supplement on hippocampal morphology and memory performance in ovariectomized (OVX) rats exposed to social instability stress. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into six groups: (i) sham-operated controls, (ii) stressed sham-operated controls, (iii) OVX rats, (iv) stressed OVX rats, (v) stressed OVX rats treated with 17β-estradiol (E2), and (vi) stressed OVX rats treated with Tualang honey. These rats were subjected to social instability stress procedure followed by novel object recognition (NOR) test. Right brain hemispheres were subjected to Nissl staining. The number and arrangement of pyramidal neurons in regions of CA1, CA2, CA3 and the dentate gyrus (DG) were recorded. Two-way ANOVA analyses showed significant interactions between stress and OVX in both STM and LTM test as well as number of Nissl-positive cells in all hippocampal regions. Both E2 and Tualang honey treatments improved both short-term and long-term memory and enhanced the neuronal proliferation of hippocampal CA2, CA3 and DG regions compared to that of untreated stressed OVX rats.
The aim of the present study was to analyze the immunolocalization of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 and IGF-2 and their receptors in the oviduct and uterus of control and diabetic mice. Sexually mature female ICR mice aged 6-8 weeks were rendered diabetic by streptozotocin (200 mg/kg, administered intraperitoneally). Oviductal and uterine tissues were obtained from the superovulated control and diabetic mice at 48, 72 and 96 h post-human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) treatment. Localization of IGF-1, IGF-2, IGF-1R and IGF-2R was determined by immunohistochemistry and a semi-quantitative scoring of immunolabelling was performed using a standardized 5-point system. The immunohistochemical scorings for both IGF-1 and IGF-1R were significantly decreased in the oviducts of diabetic mice at 96 h post-hCG treatment. The scores for IGF-2 were significantly increased in the oviducts of diabetic mice at 48 and 72 h post-hCG treatment, and for IGF-2R at 72 h post-hCG treatment. However, there was no significant difference in the scores of IGFs and their receptors in the uterus of control and diabetic mice. In conclusion, the oviductal immunolabelling for IGFs and their receptors was significantly altered by maternal diabetes, which may be of importance in the pathogenesis of preimplantation diabetic embryopathy.
Neuronal NOS (nNOS) accounts for most of the NO production in the nervous system that modulates synaptic transmission and neuroplasticity. Although previous studies have selectively described the localisation of nNOS in specific brain regions, a comprehensive distribution profile of nNOS in the brain is lacking. Here we provided a detailed morphological characterization on the rostro-caudal distribution of neurons and fibres exhibiting positive nNOS-immunoreactivity in adult Sprague-Dawley rat brain. Our results demonstrated that neurons and fibres in the brain regions that exhibited high nNOS immunoreactivity include the olfactory-related areas, intermediate endopiriform nucleus, Islands of Calleja, subfornical organ, ventral lateral geniculate nucleus, parafascicular thalamic nucleus, superior colliculus, lateral terminal nucleus, pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus, periaqueductal gray, dorsal raphe nucleus, supragenual nucleus, nucleus of the trapezoid body, and the cerebellum. Moderate nNOS immunoreactivity was detected in the cerebral cortex, caudate putamen, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, and the spinal cord. Finally, low NOS immunoreactivity were found in the corpus callosum, fornix, globus pallidus, anterior commissure, and the dorsal hippocampal commissure. In conclusion, this study provides a comprehensive view of the morphology and localisation of nNOS immunoreactivity in the brain that would contribute to a better understanding of the role played by nNOS in the brain.
The central role of kisspeptin (kiss) in mammalian reproduction is well established; however, its intra-gonadal role is poorly addressed. Moreover, studies investigating intra-gonadal role of kiss in fish reproduction are scanty, contradictory and inconclusive. The expression of kiss1 mRNA has been detected in the fish brain, and functionally attributed to the regulation of reproduction, feeding and behavior. The kiss1 mRNA has also been demonstrated in tissues other than the brain in some studies, but its cellular distribution and role at the tissue level have not been adequately addressed in fish. Therefore, an attempt was made in the present study to localize kiss1 in gonadal cells of the freshwater catfish, Clarias batrachus. This study reports the presence of kiss1 in the theca cells and granulosa cells of the ovarian oocytes and interstitial cells in the testis of the catfish. The role of kiss1 in the ovary and testis of the catfish was also investigated using kiss1 receptor (kiss1r) antagonist (p234). The p234 treatment decreased the production of 17β-estradiol in ovary and testosterone in the testis by lowering the activities of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase under both, in vivo as well as in vitro conditions. The p234 treatment also arrested the progression of oogenesis, as evident from the low number of advancing/advanced oocytes in the treated ovary in comparison to the control ovary. It also reduced the area and perimeter of the seminiferous tubules in the treated catfish testis. Thus, our findings suggest that kiss is involved in the regulation of gonadal steroidogenesis, independent of known endocrine/ autocrine/ paracine regulators, and thereby it accelerates gametogenic processes in the freshwater catfish.
We demonstrate herein a refined method to evaluate the migration capacity of monolayer cells using the CellProfiler pipeline. We used MDA-MB-231 cells, a triple-negative breast cancer cell line, as a model to perform the wound healing assay and proceeded with the pipeline analysis. In order to see a contrast in our analysis of cell migration, we treated the cells with 10 µM kartogenin for 48 h and compared the result to the control cells treated with 0.1 % dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The migration rate of MDA-MB-231 cells could be measured precisely using this method whereby in the presence of 10 µM kartogenin, the cells migrated at 6.3 ± 1.7µmh-1 whilst the vehicle control migrated at 9.1 ± 3.2 µmh-1 (p