No Arabic abstract
The hearts, kidneys, livers, spleens and brains of ${}^57$Fe enriched wild-type and heterozygous $beta$-thalassaemic mice at 1, 3, 6 and 9 months of age were studied by means of Mossbauer Spectroscopy at 80K. Ferritin-like iron depositions in the heart and the brain of the thalassaemic mice were found to be slightly increased while significant amounts of Ferritin-like iron were found in the kidneys, liver and spleen. The ferritin-like iron doublet, found in the organs, could be further separated into two sub-doublets representing the inner and surface structures of ferritin mineral core. Surface iron sites were found to be predominant in the hearts and brains of all mice and in the kidneys of the wild-type animals. Ferritin rich in inner iron sites was predominant in the kidneys of the thalassaemic mice, as well as in the livers and in the spleens. The inner-to-surface iron sites ratio was elevated in all thalassaemic samples indicating that besides ferritin amount, the disease can also affect ferritin mineral core structure.
Neurons transmit active potentials through axons, which are essential for the brain to function. In this study, the axonal networks of the murine brain were visualized with X-ray tomographic microscopy, also known as X-ray microtomography or micro-CT. Murine brain samples were freeze-dried to reconstitute the intrinsic contrast of tissue constituents and subjected to X-ray visualization. A whole brain hemisphere visualized by absorption contrast illustrated three-dimensional structures including those of the striatum, corpus callosum, and anterior commissure. Axonal tracts observed in the striatum start from the basal surface of the cerebral cortex and end at various positions in the basal ganglia. The distribution of X-ray attenuation coefficients indicated that differences in water and phospholipid content between the myelin sheath and surrounding tissue constituents account for the observed contrast. A rod-shaped cutout of brain tissue was also analyzed with a phase retrieval method, wherein tissue microstructures could be resolved with up to 2.7 {mu}m resolution. Structures of axonal networks of the striatum were reconstructed by tracing axonal tracts. Such an analysis should be able to delineate the functional relationships of the brain regions involved in the observed network.
Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disorder in which the myelin sheaths of axons are damaged by the immune response. We report here a three-dimensional structural analysis of brain and spinal cord tissues of a mouse model of multiple sclerosis, known as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). EAE-induced mice were raised with or without administration of fingolimod, which is used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Brains and spinal cords dissected from the EAE mice were lyophilized so as to reconstitute the intrinsic contrast of tissue elements, such as axons, in X-ray images. Three-dimensional structures of the brain hemispheres and spinal cords of the EAE mice were visualized with synchrotron radiation microtomography. Microtomographic cross sections reconstructed from the X-ray images revealed dilation of capillary vessels and vacuolation in the spinal cord of the EAE mice. Vacuolation was also observed in the cerebellum, suggesting that the neuroinflammatory response progressed in the brain. The vessel networks and vacuolation lesions in the spinal cords were modelled by automatically tracing the three-dimensional image in order to analyze the tissue structures quantitatively. The results of the analysis indicated that the distribution of vacuolations was not uniform but three-dimensionally localized. The mean vessel diameter showed a linear correlation with the clinical score, indicating that vasodilation is relevant to paralysis severity in the disease model. We suggest that vasodilation and vacuolation are related with neurological symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
Blood system functions are very diverse and important for most processes in human organism. One of its primary functions is matter transport among different parts of the organism including tissue supplying with oxygen, carbon dioxide excretion, drug propagation etc. Forecasting of these processes under normal conditions and in the presence of different pathologies like atherosclerosis, loss of blood, anatomical abnormalities, pathological changing in chemical transformations and others is significant issue for many physiologists. In this connection should be pointed out that global processes are of special interest as they include feedbacks and interdependences among different regions of the organism. Thus the main goal of this work is to develop the model allowing to describe effectively blood flow in the whole organism. As we interested in global processes the models of the four vascular trees (arterial and venous parts of systemic and pulmonary circulation) must be closed with heart and peripheral circulation models. As one of the model applications the processes of the blood loss is considered in the end of the paper.
We have performed detailed $^{57}$Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy measurements on Ba$_{0.78}$K$_{0.22}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ and BaFe$_{2-x}$Ni$_x$As$_2$ single crystal mosaics showing antiferromagnetic ordering below $T_N$ with superconductivity below $T_C$. Analysis of the Mossbauer spectra shows a decrease in the magnetic hyperfine (hf) field but no change in the magnetic volume fraction below $T_C$. This clearly indicates the coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity in these compounds. The decrease in the magnetic hf field below $T_C$ depends on the difference between $T_N$ and $T_C$, being the largest for $T_N$ close to $T_C$. Two different explanations for this observation are given. We also find that the non-magnetic volume fraction below $T_N$ correlates with the Ni doping $x$, being large for high $T_C$ and small for high $T_N$.
The fundamentals of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) are reviewed. This technique allows to measure the oxygenation of the brain tissue. The particular problems involved in detecting regional brain oxygenation (rSO2) are discussed. The dominant chromophore (light absorber) in tissue is water. Only in the NIR light region of 650-1000 nm, the overall absorption is sufficiently low, and the NIR light can be detected across a thick layer of tissues, among them the skin, the scull and the brain. In this region, there are many absorbing light chromophores, but only three are important as far as the oxygenation is concerned. They are the hemoglobin (HbO2), the deoxy-hemoglobin (Hb) and cytochrome oxidase (CtOx). In the last 20 years there was an enormous growth in the instrumentation and applications of NIRS. . The devices that were used in our experiments were : Somaneticss INVOS Brain Oximeter (IBO) and Toomims HEG spectrophotometer. The performances of both devices were compared including their merits and drawbacks. The IBO is based on extensive efforts of an R&D group to develop a reliable device, which measures well the rSO2. It is now used efficiently in operating rooms, saving human lives and expenses. Its use for research however has two drawbacks: the sampling rate is too small and the readings are limited to only two significant digits. The HEG device does not have these drawbacks, but is not developed sufficiently at this time to measure rSO2. We have measured the HEG readings and compared them with the rSO2 readings of the IBO. Our findings show that the HEG can be used to measure relative changes of rSO2.