Dopamine and octopamine in whole body extracts of the bulb mite

Using high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection, whole body extracts of the bulb mite, Rhizoglyphus echinopus (Fumouze and Robin), were found to contain the biogenic amines dopamine and octopamine at concentrations of 4.3 +/- 0.6 and 2.3 +/- 1.4 ng g-1 wet weight, respectively. Adrenaline, noradrenaline, tyramine, N-methyldopamine, N-acetyldopamine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine, if present, were below the limits of detectability. This is the initial demonstration of the presence of octopamine in a mite species.     

Neuromodulation by serotonin and octopamine in the honeybee: behaviour,neuroanatomy and electrophysiology

The biogenic amines serotonin (5HT) and octopamine (OA) exist in the bee and can modulate neuronal activity and behaviour. 5HT-like and OA-like immunoreactivities can be found in most neuropils of the brain. Binding sites for the two amines are also present in most brain neuropils. The highest density of binding sites for [³H]serotonin and [³H]octopamine was found in the mushroom bodies. In some brain areas, especially the mushroom bodies, mismatches exist between binding sites and immunoreactivities, suggesting that the two amines also bind to neuropils which are not directly innervated by 5HT-like or OA-like immunoreactive neurons. The action of the two amines on behaviour in the bee is antagonistic. In the antennal pathway, proboscis and antennal responses to olfactory and gustatory stimuli are enhanced by OA and reduced by 5HT. In olfactory conditioning experiments, storage and retrieval of the learned signal can be enhanced by OA and reduced by 5HT. The specificity of these effects depends on the site of amine application in the neuropil. In the visual system the direction specificity of the visual antennal response is enhanced by OA and reduced by 5HT after topical application or injection into the lobula, the third optic ganglion. Correlates for the behavioural modulation can be found in higher-order visual interneurons. While OA application can mimic the stimulation of the bee with sugar water, the behavioural conditions leading to the release of 5HT are not yet known.     

Dopamine synthesis in rat striatum: Mobilization of tyrosine from non-dopaminergic cells

Summary Unilateral nigrostriatal lesions in rats that almost totally depleted striatal dopamine had no effect on striatal levels of dopamine's precursor, tyrosine, nor on those of leucine. Since prolonged electrical stimulation of the slices markedly depletes them of tyrosine (1, 2) we conclude that tyrosine can be mobilized from non-dopaminergic striatal cells to augment dopamine release.     

Role of cell cycle regulators in adipose tissue and whole body energy homeostasis

In the course of the last decades, metabolism research has demonstrated that adipose tissue is not an inactive tissue. Rather, adipocytes are key actors of whole body energy homeostasis. Numerous novel regulators of adipose tissue differentiation and function have been identified. With the constant increase of obesity and associated disorders, the interest in adipose tissue function alterations in the XXIst century has become of paramount importance. Recent data suggest that adipocyte differentiation, adipose tissue browning and mitochondrial function, lipogenesis and lipolysis are strongly modulated by the cell division machinery. This review will focus on the function of cell cycle regulators in adipocyte differentiation, adipose tissue function and whole body energy homeostasis; with particular attention in mouse studies.     

Blood volume and extracellular space (ECS) of the whole body and some organs of the rat

Summary Methods are described for estimation of blood volume and extracellular space (ECS) in the whole body and in some organs with⁵¹Cr,¹⁴C-thiocyanate and³H-inulin. A mean blood volume of 47 ml/kg, a thiocyanate space of 350 ml/kg and a inulin space of 288 ml/kg were determined in the rat. The corresponding values of organs are shown in figures 1–3.     

Time-course of changes in lipofuscin-like pigments in rat liver homogenate and mitochondria after whole body gamma irradiation

Summary An increased level of lipofuscin-like pigments in rat liver homogenate was observed 18 days after whole body gamma irradiation, while in mitochondria they decreased below the control value.     

Accumulation of taurine in the nasal mucosa and the olfactory bulb

Using whole-body autoradiography of 14C-taurine in mice we have observed a high concentration in the nasal mucosa followed by accumulation in the olfactory bulb at longer survival times. When 14C-taurine was administered in the nasal cavity unilaterally, a high accumulation was observed in the ipsilateral olfactory bulb.     

The presence of octopamine in the brain ofHelix aspersa and its action on specific snail neurones

Résumé L'octopamine est présente dans le tissue nerveus l'escargot,Helix aspersa. Elle a un effet fortement inhibitoire sur certains neurones. Ces neurones sont aussi sensibles à la dopamine et à la noradrénaline. Le mécanisme possible de l'action de l'octopamine est discuté.     

Dopamine and adenosinetriphosphatase changes in the corpus striatum of the rat

Zusammenfassung Nachweis, dass im Ratten-Striatum die Reserpin-induzierte Dopamin-Depletion mit einer Erhöhung der ATPase-Aktivität verbunden ist.     

The effect on the onset of puberty of whole body irradiation of infant female rats with and without hypothalamic lesions

Résumé Les résultats obtenus suggèrent que la lésion de l'hypothalame provoquée par la microcoagulation accélère l'apparition de la puberté des rats totalement irradiés aux rayons X, ce qui est le cas aussi chez des rats normaux. Mais l'apparition de la puberté est retardée proportionnellement aux doses de rayons X appliquées, indépendamment de la microcoagulation.     

Hypothalamo-hypophyseal-gonadal function in the rat following administration of the novel and selective D-1 agonist CY 208-243

Summary The effects of the novel and selective dopamine D-1 agonist CY 208-243 on the rat hypothalamo-hypophyseal-gonadal (HHG) axis were studied. CY 208-243 did not modify the concentration of luteinizing hormone (LH) in serum from female or male rats, and had no effect upon opiate antagonist-induced stimulation of LH secretion in male rats. CY 208-243 did not inhibit ovulation in cycling female rats. Thus, D-1 receptor activation by systemic drug administration does not alter HHG function in rats.     

Carnosine-like immunoreactivity in the primary olfactory neuron of the rat

Summary Using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistochemical technique, carnosine-like immunoreactivity was demonstrated to localize specifically within the primary olfactory neuron.This study was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan (No. 61218016). Reprint requests to I. N., Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Fujita-Gakuen Health University, Toyoake, Aichi 470-11, Japan.     

Odor maps in the brain: Spatial aspects of odor representation in sensory surface and olfactory bulb

The olfactory sense detects and distinguishes a multitude of different odors. Recent progress in molecular as well as physiological approaches has elucidated basic principles of neuronal encoding of odorants, common to insects and vertebrates. The construction of neuronal representations for odors begins with the task of mapping the multidimensional odor space onto the two-dimensional sensory surface, and subsequently onto the olfactory bulb or antennal lobe. A distributed expression of odorant receptors, albeit restricted to subregions of the sensory surface (large, intermediate or small for zebrafish, mouse or drosophila, respectively), ensures a robust representation, insensitive to mechanical insult. Olfactory receptor neurons expressing the same odorant receptors converge to form a receptotopic map in the olfactory bulb or antennal lobe. The emerging coding principle is a chemotopic representation of odorants at the first brain level, realized either as combinatorial or as monospecific representation, depending on the odorant.     

The influence of general body size on the body proportions in man and other primates

Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit dem Einfluss der Sitzhöhe auf die relative Grösse der Kopfdurchmesser, der Gesichtshöhe, Nasenhöhe, Länge der Gliedmassen und deren Teile sowie der transversalen Durchmesser des Rumpfes. Sie stützt sich auf Massc, die an etwa 68 000 Individuen (Menschen und Affen) gemessen wurden. Bei Zunahme der Sitzhöhe weisen die nach der Rumpfhöhe berechneten Indizes in 95–98 % der Fälle eine progressive Abnahme auf. Zwischen beiden extremen Klassen der nach Sitzhöhe geordneten Bevölkerungen beträgt diese Abnahme ungefähr 5 % des durchschnittlichen Indexes; sie wurde aber mehr im einzelnen, den verschiedenen Körperteilen und Primatenbevölkerungen nach sowie in Beziehung mit eventuellem Geschlechtseinfluss berechnet. Auch in den durch Alter, Verpflegungsverhältnisse, Wanderzüge und Kreuzung verursachten Änderungen der Sitzhöhe kommt die negative Allometrie zum Ausdruck.

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This work has been executed in the Anthropological Institute of the University of Zürich.