The Journal of toxicological sciences
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Epidemiological investigations have indicated that aluminum (Al), as an important environmental neurotoxicant, could cause damage to the cognitive function which was closely related with neurodegenerative diseases. Long-term potentiation (LTP) is one form of synaptic plasticity in association with cognitive function. Previous studies have demonstrated that Al impaired early phase long-term potentiation (E-LTP) in vivo and in vitro. ⋯ Al could impair spatial memory ability of rats. Neuronal and synaptic ultrastructure from Al-exposed rats presented pathological changes; the incidence of L-LTP has a decrease trend while population spike (PS) amplitude was much smaller significantly stimulated by high-frequency stimulation (HFS) in Al-exposed rats. Our findings showed that Al exposure caused spatial memory damage, under which the neuronal and synaptic ultrastructure changes maybe were their morphological basis and the impaired L-LTP of hippocampus could be their electrophysiological basis.
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Letter Comparative Study
Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, a sensitive urinary biomarker of acute kidney injury in dogs receiving gentamicin.
A sensitive urinary biomarker for acute kidney injury (AKI) was investigated in beagle dogs with nephrotoxicity induced by gentamicin. Gentamicin sulphate at 25 or 50 mg/kg was injected (s.c.) for 9 days, and conventional urinalysis, ELISA assay of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocal (NGAL) in urine, blood chemistry, and pathological examinations were performed. ⋯ In the dog receiving gentamicin at 50 mg/kg, increases in urinary NGAL were observed on Days 3 and 5, and absence of urination, marked increases in serum urea nitrogen and creatinine, enlargement and discoloration of the kidneys with marked necrosis, and swelling of proximal epithelium were observed. In conclusion, urinary NGAL is considered to be a candidate as a sensitive predictable biomarker of AKI in the gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity model in dogs.