Plasticity of cortico-thalamic projections and functional recovery in the unilateral detelencephalized infant rat

Previous results have shown that the unilateral removal of the telencephalon in adult rats leads to the appearance of crossed connections from the remaining telencephalon to the thalamus one week after the ablation. This study extends this finding to infant rats. The telencephalon structures were unilaterally removed in 7-day-old animals. As in adult rats the ablation induced behavioral asymmetries, including active turning behavior which ceased within the first days after the lesion. Either immediately after the ablation or one week thereafter the animals were injected with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into the posterior part of the thalamus ipsilateral to the lesion. HRP-labeled cells appeared in the remaining contralateral cortex in animals that were injected one week after the lesion. Rapid functional recovery from the lesion-induced behavioral asymmetries, as indicated, for example, by the cessation of spontaneous turning behavior, may be related to the observed appearance of crossed projections between structures that are normally connected only ipsilaterally.

Enzymes of glucose and fatty acid metabolism in early and term human placenta

The activity of enzymes involved in glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and lipoenesis in early and term human placenta was determined. A high activity of pyruvate kinase was found, indicating high glycolytic potential. The activity of this enzyme tended to decrease with gestation. The presence of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity was detected, suggesting the possibility of gluconeogenesis in the placenta. Very low activity of enzymes involved in fatty acid synthesis was found, whereas the activity of the pentose shunt pathway enzymes, glucose-6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenases, was relatively high. This suggested a role of this pathway in the synthesis of lipids other than fatty acids in the placenta. The activities of enzymes in the human placenta and their changes during gestation where compared to previous observations on enzymes in rat placenta.

Influence of Saturation Phenomena on Laser-Excited Atomic Fluorescence Flame Spectrometry

Using a simple rate equation model, the laser power density Ic necessary to reach 50% of the saturation limited population of the excited atomic level under typical flame conditions is calculated. For Na atoms aspirated into the flame a saturating power density for irradiation with a narrow dye laser line (bandwidth 0.033 Å) of Ic ~ 0.4 kW/cm2 was determined. With the aid of a dye laser with an appropriate laser power density, analytical curves for Na were measured yielding a detection limit of 0.2 ng/ml. This sensitivity is comparable with the best results obtained by atomic emission flame spectrometry.