No abstract

The neurotoxic 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP), a freckled milk vetch-derived inhibitor of mitochondrial enzymatic processes that is capable of mimicking the typical pathological features of neurodegenerative disorders, behaved in a differentiated manner in a hibernating rodent (hamster) with respect to a nonhibernating rodent (rat). Treatment of the two rodents with both an acute and chronic 3-NP dose supplied deleterious neuronal effects due to distinct histamine receptor (H n R) transcriptional activities, especially in the case of the rat. In hamsters, these treatment modalities accounted for overall reduced global activity in a freely moving environment and overt motor symptoms such as hindlimb dystonia and clasping with respect to the greater abnormal motor behaviors in rats. This behavioral difference appeared to be strongly related to qualitative fewer neuronal alterations and, namely, lesser crenated cell membranes, swollen mitochondria, and darkened nuclei in hamster brain areas. Moreover, a mixed H 1,3 R mRNA expression pattern was reported for both rodents treated with a chronic 3-NP dose as demonstrated by predominantly low H 1 R mRNA levels (Ͼ50%) in rat striatum and cortex, whereas extremely high H 3 R levels (Ͼ80%) characterized the lateral and central amygdala nuclei plus the striatum of hamsters. Interestingly, the H 3 R antagonist (thioperamide) blocked 3-NP-dependent behaviors plus induced an up-regulation of H 1 R levels in mainly the above-reported hamster amygdalar nuclei. Overall, these results show, for the first time, that a major protective role against neurodegenerative events appears to be strongly related to the expression activity of H 1,3 R subtypes of amygdalar neurons in this hibernating model.

No abstract

Common environmental contaminants such as heavy metals and pesticides pose serious risks to behavioral and neuroendocrine functions of many aquatic organisms. In the present study, we show that the heavy metal cadmium and the pesticide endosulfan produce such effects through an interaction of specific cerebral histamine receptor subtypes in the teleost ornate wrasse (Thalassoma pavo). Treatment of this teleost with toxic cadmium levels for 1 week was sufficient to induce abnormal swimming movements, whereas reduced feeding behaviors were provoked predominantly by elevated endosulfan concentrations. In the brain, these environmental contaminants caused neuronal degeneration in cerebral targets such as the mesencephalon and hypothalamus, damage that appeared to correlate with altered binding levels of the three major histamine receptors (subtypes 1, 2, and 3). Although cadmium accounted for reduced binding activity of all three subtypes in most brain regions, it was subtype 2 that seemed to be its main target, as shown by a very great (p < 0.001) down-regulation in mesencephalic areas such as the stratum griseum central layer. Conversely, endosulfan provided very great and great (p < 0.01) up-regulating effects of subtype 3 and 1 levels, respectively, in preoptic-hypothalamic areas such as the medial part of the lateral tuberal nucleus, and in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. These results suggest that the neurotoxicant-dependent abnormal motor and feeding behaviors may well be tightly linked to binding activities of distinct histamine subtypes in localized brain regions of the Thalassoma pavo.

ResumoSendo a memória objeto de estudo de várias áreas e possuindo vários atributos, a categoria "preservação" é a mais utilizada pela ciência da informação no tocante à compreensão desse objeto. Entretanto, no ciberespaço, a preservação parece não estar muito fortemente ligada à inteligibilidade da memória, em função da desterritorialização do signo e do saber em fluxo. Assim, foram elencadas algumas categorias filosóficas de estudo que pudessem explicar a mudança de natureza da memória no ciberespaço, privilegiando, neste artigo, a "representação", por considerar a memória sempre uma escrita, seja interna ou externa, portanto, uma construção simbólica e virtual. De acordo com discussões preliminares, a memória virtual no ciberespaço, de uma maneira geral, estaria mais ligada ao pensamento (memória biológica), à produção sígnica de múltiplas semióticas e aos esquecimentos do que às possibilidades físicas de conservação da produção humana, como nos registros impressos, embora seja um novo tipo de memória em constituição, dada a sua espacialidade e a natureza de sua representação. Palavras-chaveCiberespaço. Memória. Representação. Semiótica. Tecnologias da informação e comunicação. Representation and memory in the cyberespace Abstract