Using the emerging technique of peripheral nerve ultrasonography, multiple focal nerve swellings corresponding to sites of existing conduction blocks have been described in demyelinating polyneuropathies. We report two cases of multifocal acquired demyelinating sensory and motor neuropathy (MADSAM). In the first, multiple focal nerve enlargements were detected by ultrasound at ...

As a fundamental component of the electrodiagnostic evaluation, nerve conduction studies provide valuable quantitative and qualitative insights into neuromuscular function. Nerve conduction studies are useful in the identification and characterization of several neuromuscular disorders, particularly disorders of peripheral nerve. Abnormalities of nerve conduction studies may anticipate specific pathologic processes, such ...

Aims of study. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether an ethanol extract of Scutellaria baicalensis (ESB) relaxes penile corpus cavernosum muscle in organ bath experiments. Materials and methods. Changes in tension of cavernous smooth muscle strips were determined by penile strip chamber model and in penile ...

Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH; E.C.1.1.1.8) was purified from liver and skeletal muscle of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludivicianus), a hibernating species. Native and subunit molecular masses of the dimeric enzyme were 77 and 40 kD, respectively, and both tissues contained a single isozyme with a pI of 6.4. Kinetic parameters of purified ...

Muscles of the rotator cuff undergo retraction, atrophy, and fatty infiltration after a chronic tear, and a rabbit model has been used to investigate these changes. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the administration of anabolic steroids can diminish these muscular changes following experimental supraspinatus ...

Isometric tetanic muscle force has been described in a rat model to evaluate motor recovery in a segmental sciatic nerve defect reconstructions. However, to test longer nerve defects, an alternative and larger animal model is necessary. The purpose of this study is to describe and validate a technique for isometric ...

: We recently found that the anal canal function and external anal sphincter contraction can be enhanced by surgically adjusting the EAS muscle sarcomere length in rabbits. A 20% length plication of the external anal sphincter muscle results in significant increase in the anal canal pressure and EAS muscle stress ...

Objective  To develop a technique that allows simultaneous percutaneous implantation of both a microdialysis probe and injection catheter in order to monitor the perineural pharmacokinetics of local anaesthetics (LA) after a femoral block. Study design  Prospective experimental study. Animals  Five anaesthetized male New Zealand rabbits with a mean ± SD weight of ...

BACKGROUND: Most automated hematology analyzers cannot detect canine or feline basophils. However, many veterinary laboratories continue to report basophils as part of the automated 5-part differential leukocyte count for dogs and cats. OBJECTIVES: The study objectives were to evaluate the performance of the Sysmex XT-2000iV, Advia 2120, and CELL-DYN 3500 ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Surgical treatment of neuromas involves excision of neuromas proximally to the level of grossly "normal" fascicles; however, proximal changes at the axonal level may have both functional and therapeutic implications with regard to amputated nerves. In order to better understand the retrograde "zone of injury" that occurs after ...

Current literature contains extensive research on peripheral nerve interfaces, including both extra-neural and intrafascicular electrodes. Interfascicular electrodes, which are in-between these two with respect to nerve fiber proximity have, however, received little interest. In this proof-of-of concept study an interfascicular electrode was designed to be implanted in the sciatic nerve ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess function of regenerated corneal nerves in correlation with epithelial wound healing after experimental nerve damage in rabbits treated with pigment epithelial-derived factor (PEDF) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). METHODS: An 8-mm stromal dissection was performed in the right eyes of adult New Zealand rabbits. Treatment with PEDF+DHA was ...

We used high definition radial, strain rate and intensity spatiotemporal mapping to quantify contractile movements of the body and associated structures of the rabbit caecum when the terminal ileum was being perfused with saline at a constant rate. This perfusion caused gradual distension of the caecum as a result of ...

The exact homologies of tetrapod jaw muscles remain unresolved, and this provides a barrier for phylogenetic analysis and tracing character evolution. Here, lepidosaur jaw muscles are surveyed using direct examination of species from 23 families and published descriptions of species from 10 families. A revised nomenclature is applied according to ...

Oxytocin (OT) has been reported to have a potential protective effect on stress-induced functional gastrointestinal disorders. This study determined whether colonic contraction in adults was affected by antenatal maternal hypoxia, and whether OT is involved in antenatal maternal hypoxia induced colonic contraction disorder. Isometric spontaneous contractions were recorded in colonic ...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of direct administration of nerve growth factor (NGF) into an epineural conduit across a short nerve gap (10 mm) in a rabbit sciatic nerve model. The animals were divided into two groups. In group 1, n = 6, a 10-mm ...

Our aim was to find out if nerve growth factor (NGF) injected systemically could improve the recovery of the inferior alveolar nerve in a rabbit model of mandibular distraction osteogenesis. We used 48 New Zealand white rabbits that were treated with bilateral distraction osteogenesis at a rate of 0.5mm/12h for ...

A 1.5-year-old Quarter Horse gelding with a history of chronic nasal discharge and leukocytosis presented with signs of increased lethargy and muscular pain. The horse quickly became recumbent and unable to rise and was euthanized due to a poor prognosis. At necropsy, severe bilateral guttural pouch empyema was observed, as ...

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Blood perfusion of peripheral nerves plays an important role in regeneration after nerve injury. Functional recovery after a peripheral nerve injury depends not only on the survival of the affected neurons but also on the recovered blood perfusion. Previous studies have shown that it is possible to ...

Extraocular muscle (EOM) myofibers do not fit the traditional fiber typing classifications normally used in non-cranial skeletal muscle, in part, due to the complexity of their individual myofibers. Using single skinned myofibers isolated from rectus muscles of normal adult rabbits, force and shortening velocity were determined for 220 fibers. Each ...

The duty ratio, or the part of the working cycle in which a myosin molecule is strongly attached to actin, determines motor processivity and is required to evaluate the force generated by each molecule. In muscle, it is equal to the fraction of myosin heads that are strongly, or stereospecifically, ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential use of the bladder acellular matrix graft (BAMG), two different bladder defects in the rabbit model were reconstructed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two groups of rabbits underwent partial bladder wall cystectomy (group A, 30-40%; group B, 70-60%) and reconstruction of the defects with an equally sized BAMG. After ...

Muscle wasting in catabolic patients is in part mediated by glucocorticoids and is associated with increased expression and activity of the transcription factor C/EBPβ. It is not known, however, if C/EBPβ is causally linked to glucocorticoid-induced muscle atrophy. We used dexamethasone-treated L6 myoblasts and myotubes to test the role of ...

Temporal and coordinated activation of pelvic- (pubococcygeous) and perineal- (bulbospongiosus and ischiocavernosus) striated muscles occurs during micturition in female rabbits. We have hypothesized that the coordinated activation of pelvic and perineal muscles is modified during the micturition of young multiparous rabbits. Young virgin and multiparous female chinchilla rabbits were used ...

PURPOSE: Adenosine triphosphate is capable of relaxing and contracting urethral smooth muscle. The mechanisms responsible for the relaxing effects of adenosine triphosphate have been well studied but those involved in the contractile response are still unclear. We investigated the contributions of interstitial cells of Cajal and smooth muscle cells to ...

Stretch-induced damage to skeletal muscles results in loss of isometric tension. Although there is no direct evidence, loss of tension has been implicitly assumed to be the consequence of permanent loss of myofilament overlap in some sarcomeres ('sarcomere overextension'). Using isolated myofibrils of rabbit psoas muscle (n=38; 6 control and ...

The aim of this study is to investigate excitability changes in the human motor cortex induced by variable therapeutic electrical stimulations (TESs) with or without voluntary drive. We recorded motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) from extensor and flexor carpi radialis (FCR) muscles at rest and during FCR muscle contraction after the application ...

Transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGF-β1) participates in the synthesis and deposition of collagen. It has been implicated in fibrosis of tendons in wound-healing models but has never been studied in muscles with respect to distraction osteogenesis. Using a rabbit model of distraction osteogenesis, we distracted the left tibias of 36 ...

It is of great importance to investigate an effective and reliable medication against chronic renal failure (CRF)-related erectile dysfunction (ED), which aims to improve patients' life qualities. The concentrations of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) in the corpus cavernosal smooth muscle of both CRF and control rabbits were measured. The effects ...

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of L: -lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from rabbit muscle as a regenerative catalyst of the biologically important cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), the kinetics over broad concentrations were studied to develop a suitable kinetic rate expression. Despite robust literature describing the intricate complexations, the mammalian ...

BACKGROUND: Previous reports have suggested that the extent of wound contraction, epithelisation and total healing time were influenced by denervation of tissues. In this article, we studied for the first time the effect of sensory denervation on prevention of excessive dermal scarring. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixteen New Zealand white rabbits ...

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to determine the effects of methylprednisolone and N-acetylcystein on nerve healing in facial nerve anastomosis. METHODS: Thirty rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups: Group I: control group received no medication; Group II: 50mg/kg/day N-acetylcystein administered group; Group III, 1mg/kg/day Methylprednisolone administered group. All rabbits ...

Tropomyosin (Tm) purified from skeletal and cardiac muscle often contains disulfide bonds due to oxidation of cysteine groups that are in close proximity in the coiled-coil structure. Are these disulfide crosslinks present in the muscle or produced by oxidation during preparation? To answer this question we reacted one part of ...

There are currently no effective therapies for treating pressure-induced deep tissue injury. Aim: This study tested the efficacy of pharmacological inhibition of caspase in preventing muscle damage following sustained moderate compression. Methods: Adult Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to prolonged moderate compression. Static pressure of 100 mmHg compression was applied to ...

Do animals know at a physiological level how much they weigh, and, if so, do they make homeostatic adjustments in response to changes in body weight? Skeletal muscle is a likely tissue for such plasticity, as weight-bearing muscles receive mechanical feedback regarding body weight and consume ATP in order to ...

BACKGROUND: To diagnose malignant hyperthermia (MH) susceptibility, muscle bundles are exposed to halothane and caffeine. We investigated whether sevoflurane, which is more clinically relevant but less potent of an anesthetic, could replace halothane in diagnostic MH testing. METHODS: With prior written consent, muscle bundles from 6 malignant hyperthermia susceptible (MHS) ...

The sense of body ownership, knowledge that parts of our body 'belong' to us, is presumably developed using sensory information. Cutaneous signals seem ideal for this and can modify the sense of ownership. For example, an illusion of ownership over an artificial rubber hand can be induced by synchronously stroking ...

In genetically modified mice with abnormal skeletal muscle development, bones and joints are differentially affected by the lack of skeletal muscle. We hypothesise that unequal levels of biophysical stimuli in the developing humerus and femur can explain the differential effects on these rudiments when muscle is absent. We find that ...

Body mechanics in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans are central to both mechanosensation and locomotion. Previous work revealed that the mechanics of the outer shell, rather than internal hydrostatic pressure, dominates stiffness. This shell is comprised of the cuticle and the body wall muscles, either of which could contribute to the ...

Chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity is a significant problem associated with successful treatment of many cancers. Tubulin is a well-established target of antineoplastic therapy; however, tubulin-targeting agents, such as paclitaxel and the newer epothilones, induce significant neurotoxicity. Eribulin mesylate, a novel microtubule-targeting analogue of the marine natural product halichondrin B, has recently shown ...

Hepcidin, a hormone produced mainly by the liver, has been shown to inhibit both intestinal iron absorption and iron release from macrophages. Hemojuvelin, a glycophosphatidyl inositol-linked membrane protein, acts as a bone morphogenetic protein coreceptor to activate hepcidin expression through a SMAD signaling pathway in hepatocytes. In the present study, ...

An increase in the production of reactive oxygen species occurs with muscle disuse, ischemic cardiomyopathy and conditions that arise with senescence. The resulting oxidative stress is associated with apoptosis-related myopathies. Recent research has suggested that chronic exercise is protective against mitochondrially-mediated programmed cell death. To further investigate this, we compared ...

Background  Taraxacum officinale (TO) is a traditional herbal medicine that has been widely used for abdominal illnesses. However, the efficacy and the mechanism of TO on gastric emptying (GE) and smooth muscle motility are unknown. Methods  Ethyl acetate fraction (EA), n-butanol fraction (BF), and aqueous fraction (AF) were prepared in ...

High positive acceleration (+Gz) stress is known to cause cerebral hypoperfusion, resulting in brain insults. Muscular contraction is reported to induce a pressor response. The effects of teeth clenching on cerebral hypoperfusion were examined. The masseter muscle of anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats was electrically stimulated to cause maximum clenching of the ...

To determine if muscle biopsies can be repeated using a single skin incision without inducing MAPK activation or inflammation in the non-injured areas, the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, p38-MAPK and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinases (JNKs), IκBα, IKKα, and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was examined concurrent with IL-6 mRNA ...

Aim:  Skeletal muscle interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression is induced by continuous contraction, overload-induced hypertrophy and during muscle regeneration. The loss of IL-6 can alter skeletal muscle's growth and extracellular matrix remodeling response to overload-induced hypertrophy. IGF-1 gene expression and related signaling through Akt/mTOR is a critical regulator of muscle mass. The ...

Physical exercise is considered to exert a positive effect on health while strenuous or excessive exercise (Exe) causes fatigue and damage to muscle and immune functions. The underlying molecular mechanisms are still unclear We designed a protocol to mimic Exe and explore the ensuing cellular damage and involvement of mitochondrial ...

Objectives  Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been shown to alter intestinal contractility. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), K(+) channels and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) have been proposed to be involved in the mechanism of action of LPS. The aim of this study was to determine the role of TLR4, K(+) channels and MAPKs ...

The present study determined in vivo deformation of the entire Achilles tendon in the longitudinal and transverse directions during isometric plantar flexions. Twelve young women and men performed isometric plantar flexions at 0% (rest), 30% and 60% of the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) while a series of oblique longitudinal and ...

Aim: To develop a non-invasive neuromodulation method to regulate bladder activity. Methods: Neuromodulation of bladder activity was investigated in felines with an intact spinal cord under α-chloralose anesthesia using a transcutaneous stimulation method with surface electrodes attached to the skin area between the base of the tail and the sciatic ...