AIM: To review recent advances in the procedures and techniques that have made possible to evaluate the anatomy and function of the central nervous system (CNS) in the fetus. DEVELOPMENT: The neurological evaluation of the fetus can be performed at different levels: clinical, anatomical and functional. At a clinical level the analysis of body, ocular or respiratory fetal movements, as well as fetal heart rate, defines 4 behavioural states: 1F and 2F correspond to the quiet and active sleep, respectively. States 3F and 4F occur during wakefulness in the newborn, but there is no scientific evidence that the fetus is awake. Behavioral states probably play an important role in the process of CNS maturation and development. Anatomic evaluation of the CNS to rule out brain malformations can be performed with ultrasound since week 7-8 of gestational age and with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) since week 18-20. Both techniques are also useful in the diagnosis of acquired fetal neurological diseases. Both modalities are concordant in the majority of cases, but in others each of them provides additional, different information. Computed tomography should only be used in selected cases that involve bone structures. Functional evaluation of fetal CNS can be performed with proton MR spectroscopy, which determines the cerebral content of inositol, choline, creatine and N-acetylaspartate. Other techniques to functionally study the fetal brain are functional MRI (fMRI), near infrared spectroscopy, and magnetoencephalography. CONCLUSIONS: Fetal neurology is a discipline that will continue to develop fast in the immediate future. Technological advances will facilitate the possibility of a more rapid and reliable diagnosis of anatomic or functional abnormalities of the fetal CNS.

Behavior↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Functional components in fish and algae oils].

An important area of the development of new functional foods is facussed on finding or applying food components which favour achieving a healthier lipid profile in the organism. The objective of this work was to carry out the characterisation of the lipid fraction of two oils, fish oil and algae oil, to evaluate their potential use as functional ingredients, in relation to the high molecular weight fatty acid content and the presence of sterols and other components of the unsaponificable fraction. Both oils showed a lipid fraction rich in high molecular weight polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, containing a 33.75% in the fish oil and a 43.97% in the algae oil. Eicosapentaenoic acid was the major fatty acid in fish oil, whereas docosahexaenoic was the most abundant fatty acid in algae oil. The omega-6/omega-3 ratio was lower than 0.4 in both oils. In the unsaponificable fraction, algae oil had a Mold lower cholesterol content and a higher proportion of squalene than fish oil. The phytosterol content was significantly higher in the algae oil.

Eukaryota↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[An analysis of the antihypertensive properties of 3-nitropropionic acid, a compound from plants in the genus Astragalus].

3-Nitropropionic acid (NPA), a compound obtained from Astragalus species, elicited a dose-dependent relaxation of precontracted rabbit aortic rings. The remotion of endothelium or the presence of atropine, propranolol or brompheniramine did not modify the vasodilator effect of NPA but methylene blue clearly inhibited it. On the other hand the acute i.v. administration of NPA in normotensive rats or the chronic oral administration of NPA in renal hypertensive dogs, provoked both a decrease in blood pressure and bradycardia. Finally, NPA elicited negative inotropic and chronotropic effects in guinea pig isolated auricles, which were not blocked by atropine and it inhibited the increase in contractile force and heart rate elicited by isoproterenol. The present results indicate that NPA has vasodilator and antihypertensive properties. The arterial relaxation elicited by NPA was inhibited with methylene blue suggesting that it is a consequence of guanylate cyclase stimulation. The hypotensive effect was independent of the animal species or route of administration used. The bradycardia seen in rats and dogs and the negative chronotropic and inotropic effects observed in isolated auricles suggest that the hypotensive effect of NPA is a mixture of vasodilator and cardiodepressor actions. NPA cardiac effects may be related with inhibition of beta-adrenergic mediated responses.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Droperidol interacts with vascular serotonin receptors and alpha-adrenoceptors.

This investigation was performed to determine whether droperidol interacts with 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) receptors in the rat aorta. Droperidol caused concentration-dependent vasorelaxation in endothelium-intact and endothelium-denuded aortic rings precontracted with noradrenaline or 5-hydroxytryptamine. Conversely, the contractile effect of prostaglandin F2 alpha was not affected by droperidol. Pretreatment with propranolol, brompheniramine and atropine (10(-6) M each) did not alter the relaxant effects of droperidol. In addition, droperidol shifted the 5-hydroxytryptamine and noradrenaline concentration-response curves to the right in an apparently competitive manner. However, prazosin did not modify the concentration-response curve to 5-hydroxytryptamine, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the latter has an intrinsic efficacy for non-alpha 1-adrenoceptors. These results strongly suggest that a direct arterial endothelium-independent relaxant action of droperidol can be attributed to a 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor-blocking property and support its vascular alpha-adrenoceptor-blocking effect.

Animals↗