Investigation of robust visual reaction and functional connectivity in the rat brain induced by rocuronium bromide with functional MRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used extensively to understand the brain function of a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. When applied to animal studies, anesthesia is always used to reduce the movement of the animal and also reduce the impacts on the results of fMRI. Several awake models have been proposed by applying physical animal movement restrictions. However, restraining devices were designed for individual subject which limits the promotion of fMRI in awake animals. Here, a clinical muscle relaxant rocuronium bromide (RB) was introduced to restrain the animal in fMRI scanning time. The fMRI reactions of the animal induced with RB and the other two commonly used anesthesia protocols were investigated. The results of the fMRI showed that there were increased functional connectivity and well-round visual responses in the RB induced state. Furthermore, significant BOLD signal changes were found in the cortex and thalamus regions when the animal revived from isoflurane, which should be essential to further understand the effects of anesthesia on the brain.

[Experimental modeling of acute pyelonephritis]

Acute pyelonephritis (AP) predominates among inflammatory infection kidney affections. In accordance to international classifications, AP is an upper urinary tract infection, subdivided into non-complicated (non-obstructive) and complicated (obstructive) forms. The clinical significance of AP presently is defined by the conditions frequent occurrence and its progression into chronic kidney disease. For a limited number of pathogens the involvement in AP is considered proven: representatives of the Enterobacteriaceae family (E.coli, Klebsiella spp., Proteus spp., etc.), Pseudomonas spp., a number of gram-positive microorganisms (S.aureus, Enterococcus spp.). Beside that, over the last 3 decades there have been rare publications in the world literature describing clinical cases of AP caused by microorganisms not readily cultivated on standard mediums (mostly anaerobic). This was accompanied by an idea that AP might develop in case of kidney invasion not only by aerobic, but also by anaerobic microorganisms, which is practically not taken into account in current clinical practice. In this regard it was deemed feasible to perform an analysis of experimental disease models to refine the discussion points of the disease etiology, to do so an attempt of all-encompassing study in the Russian and English literature databases (linical Key, MEDLINE, PubMed, HighWire Press, The Cochrane Library, BioMed Central, Central scientific medical library of the I.M. Sechenov Moscow medical academy, Russian State Library). A total of 356 literature sources have been studied, of which 41 were selected for the current review.