Chronopharmacological effects on nicotine repeated administration on heart rate, body temperature and locomotor activity circadian rhythms in rats

Nicotine and Kainic Acid Effects on Cortical Epileptic Afterdischarges in Immature Rats

Aim of the study was to test the effect of nicotine (NIC) and kainic acid (KA) co-treatment in immature rats. Male Wistar albino rats (two different age groups) were chosen for the study. Experiments started on postnatal day (PD) 8 or 21 and animals were treated twice a day for three days with nicotine, fourth day KA was administered. Animals at PD12 (PD25 respectively) were examined electrophysiologically for cortical epileptic afterdischarges (ADs). First cortical ADs in PD12 animals were longer, when compared to PD25 rats (group treated with both substances). Nor NIC or KA treatment affected the length of discharges in PD12 rats. Older experimental group exhibited the shortening of the first ADs (group treated with NIC and KA, compared with groups exposed to single treatment). Few changes were found in KA treated group – 2nd and 4th ADs were shorter when compared with first ADs. These results demonstrate that NIC treatment played minor role in seizure susceptibility of PD12 rats, sensitivity to NIC differs during ontogenesis and subconvulsive dose of KA influenced the length of discharges only in PD25 animals.

Diurnal variation in thermoregulatory response to chlorpyrifos and carbaryl in the rat

Time of day of exposure is rarely considered in the study of insecticide toxicology. It would be expected that the circadian temperature rhythm (CTR) as well as the circadian rhythms of other physiological processes would affect the efficacy of anticholinesterase (antiChE) insecticides. The ability of antiChE insecticides to alter core temperature (T(c)) could be affected by time of exposure in relation to the CTR. To this end, we assessed time of exposure on the efficacy of the antiChE insecticides chlorpyrifos (CHP) and carbaryl (CAR) to alter T(c) in the rat. T(c) and motor activity (MA) were monitored by radiotelemetry. Rats were dosed orally with 0, 30, and 50 mg/kg CHP or 0, 25 and 75 mg/kg CAR at 09:00 and 15:00 h. Both insecticides caused an acute decrease followed by a delayed increase in T(c) by 24-48 h post-exposure. The temperature index (TI) (area under curve of DeltaT(c) with time) was significantly greater when CHP was given at 15:00 h as compared with 09:00 h. The maximum decrease in T(c) was similar for morning and afternoon CHP. The TI following CAR was similar for morning and afternoon exposure. CHP suppressed the 24 h MA equally when given in the morning and afternoon. CAR was more effective in reducing MA when given in the morning as compared with the afternoon. The T(c) increase measured 24 h after dosing was greater when CHP was given in the morning. Overall, time of day affected the thermoregulatory toxicity of CHP but not CAR. Another experiment showed that the hypothermic efficacy of oxotremorine, a muscarinic agonist, was greater when injected at 09:00 h as compared with 15:00 h. Hence, cholinergic stimulation is probably not the only mechanism to explain the effects of the chronotoxicogical effects of some antiChE insecticides.

Nicotine attenuates stress-induced changes in plasma amino acid concentrations and locomotor activity in rats

It is known that stressor stimuli (both systemic and processive) and nicotine activate central nervous system. Surprisingly, numerous studies have demonstrated an increase in nicotine self-administration among smokers when exposed to stress in order to reduce the stress-related tension. Therefore, in the present study, we decided to investigate the influence of nicotine on both behavioral (i.e., on locomotor activity) and metabolic (i.e., on the level of amino acids in the plasma) changes following water immersion restraint stress in rats. As expected, the stress produced evident decline in locomotor activity of the rats (p < 0.001) and in the levels of all plasma amino acids studied (p < 0.05). Nicotine alone also significantly reduced locomotor activity (p < 0.05) and the levels of some plasma amino acids. However, when administered to rats subjected to water immersion and restraint, nicotine attenuated both stress-induced decrease in locomotor activity (p < 0.05) and in some plasma amino acids. Thus, this study demonstrated that the mode of action of nicotine is strongly dependent on the level of initial brain activity, which provide new evidence for arousal-modulation model of nicotine action.