BACKGROUND The present study has evaluated the Emodin efficacy on the Akt, MAPK, ERK and DNMT expression pattern during 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced oral carcinoma in golden Syrian hamsters, in order to explore its antitumor potential. MATERIALS AND METHODS Oral tumors were developed in the buccal pouches of golden Syrian hamsters using the carcinogen, DMBA. RESULTS While t...

Stimulation with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine has been reported to enhance resistance of mice against Leishmania donovani infection. Such infection is usually lethal in hamsters, thus providing a more stringent animal model to assess the effect of BCG upon visceral leishmaniasis. Animals receive two IP injections (2-8 X 10(7) BCG) pre or post IC challenge with 4 X 10(6) amastigotes. C...

Previous studies showed that the histopathological changes found in the brains of scrapie-infected animals included amyloid plaque formation, vacuolation, gliosis and neuronal and neurite degeneration. There were differences in the histopathological findings as a function of the scrapie strain-host combination. NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d) has been shown to be a selective histochemical marker for...

The oncogenicity of chicken embryo lethal orphan virus for newborn hamsters has been confirmed. Tumor incidence was found to be a function of the titer of the virus inoculum. Fifty-four % (7/13) of the hamsters given i0@ 50% lethal dose developed tumors, while only 8% (8/99) of the hamsters given i0@ @ 50% lethal dose developed tumors. With a single exception, lower virus doses were nononco gen...

INTRODUCTION Avian influenza viruses of the H9N2 subtype have been reported to cause human infections. This study demonstrates the impact of nasal viral passaging of avian H9N2 in hamsters on its cross species-pathogenic adaptability and variability of amino acid sequences of the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) stalk. METHODOLOGY Three intranasal passagings of avian H9N2 in hamsters...

Several previous studies have indicated that chronic ingestion of ethanol exerts harmful effects on bones. However, few data are available concerning the effects of ethanol on the ultrastructure of bone. To further elucidate the effects of ethanol on bone, we studied the morphology of femur in golden hamsters after long-term treatment with ethanol. Six-week-old male hamsters were divided into 4...

The role of cell-mediated immunity against infection with Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue in humans or experimental animals is unclear. Hamsters injected subcutaneously in the hind paws with 4 x 10(6) unfractionated lymph node cells or enriched lymph node T cells (immunoglobulin negative, Ia negative) from T. pallidum subsp. pertenue-immune hamsters were resistant to challenge with T. pallid...

Syrian hamsters, like many humans, increase food intake and body adiposity in response to stress. We hypothesized that glucocorticoids (cortisol and corticosterone) mediate these stress-induced effects on energy homeostasis. Because Syrian hamsters are dual secretors of cortisol and corticosterone, differential effects of each glucocorticoid on energy homeostasis were investigated. First, adren...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether activation of prostaglandin H(2)-thromboxane A(2) (PGH(2)-TxA(2)) receptors impedes vasodilation in the in situ peripheral microcirculation of spontaneously hypertensive hamsters, a new rodent model of high-renin genetic hypertension. Using intravital microscopy, we found that vasodilation elicited by suffusion of acetylcholine and vasoactive i...

Mounting an immune response requires substantial energy, and it is well known that marked reductions in energy availability (e.g. starvation) can suppress immune function, thus increasing disease susceptibility and compromising survival. We tested the hypothesis that moderate reductions in energy availability impair humoral immunity. Specifically, we examined the effects of partial lipectomy (L...