Vasopressin location and relative quantification within the vampire bat (Desmodus rotundas) brain

Essential Quality Attributes of Tangible Bio-Oils from Catalytic Pyrolysis of Lignocellulosic Biomass

This review covers the characteristics of pyrolysis and catalytic pyrolysis bio-oils by focusing on the fundamental factors that determine bio-oil upgradability. The abundant works on the subject of bio-oil production from lignocellulosic biomass were studied to establish the essential attributes of the bio-oils for assessment of the oil stability and upgradability. Bio-oils from catalytic pyrolysis processes relating to catalysts of different compositions and structures are discussed. A general relationship between the higher heating value and the oxygen content in the catalytic pyrolysis oils exists, but this relationship does not apply to the thermal pyrolysis oil. Reporting bio-oil yield is meaningful only when the oxygen content of the oil is measured because the pyrolytic oil stability is mainly determined by the oxygen content. Isoenergy plot that associates bio-oil yield with oxygen content is presented and discussed.

Oxytocin and vasopressin immunoreactivity within the forebrain and limbic-related areas in the mustached bat, Pteronotus parnellii

The nonapeptides, oxytocin and arginine vasopressin, play an important role in mammalian social and reproductive behavior. Using immunocytochemical procedures, we identified oxytocin-immunoreactive neurons in the frontal and auditory cortices, limbic areas such as the medial septal nucleus, horizontal limb of the diagonal band and the amygdala. Only arginine vasopressin neurons were present in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. In limbic-related areas, the hypothalamic paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei and the nucleus centralis contained both oxytocin and arginine vasopressin neurons. The medial preoptic area showed a positive reaction for several arginine vasopressin fibers, but not oxytocin fibers, except in one female bat sacrificed during the breeding season. Arginine vasopressin fibers were observed in another limbic-related area, the periaqueductal gray. Furthermore, oxytocin was predominantly localized within sensory (e.g., auditory) and frontal cortex and limbic areas, whereas arginine vasopressin was restricted largely to known audiovocal regions of the periaqueductal gray. Classical neurosecretory nuclei in the hypothalamus contain both peptides. Oxytocin-immunoreactive neurons were also found in other structures such as the olfactory bulb, olfactory tubercle, primary and secondary motor cortex, fronto-parietal cortex, piriform cortex and the nucleus of the internal capsule. Both oxytocin and arginine vasopressin immunoreactivity was present in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, median eminence, neural lobe of the hypophysis and the pineal gland. Together with previous studies, the presence of these peptides within auditory areas of the cortex (sensory and frontal), and limbic as well as limbic-related regions provides anatomical evidence supporting their proposed role in social vocal behaviors and probably in auditory processing.