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Biomedical subjects

G Prat

Publications and source records attributed to G Prat.

43 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Pharmacokinetics of arginine and aspartic acid administered simultaneously in the rat: II. Tissue distribution.

The distribution of arginine and aspartic acid in brain, testes and liver was studied in rats after the simultaneous oral and intravenous administration of 0.1 mmol of these two amino acids. Exogenous fractions were determined by incorporation of [U-14C]-arginine and [3H]-aspartic acid. A significant increase in the free forms of the two amino acids was observed in all the organs except the liver where aspartic acid decreased after intravenous administration. The oral route induced higher concentrations of arginine in the testes and the brain and of aspartic acid in the liver. The concentrations of aspartic acid were higher in the brain and the testes after intravenous administration. Up to 15% of the dose of arginine administered was found in the liver, most of it bound to protein. Free aspartic acid concentrations underwent two successive increases with return to baseline values between the two phases. The first phase seemed to be due to an accumulation of the amino acid in the organ, followed by binding of the amino acid to the proteins. The second increase seemed to be due to a displacement of the protein bound form towards the free form. The steep rise in cerebral arginine levels, peaking at 30 minutes, may be one of the determining factors governing GH secretion induced by the simultaneous oral administration of aspartic acid and arginine.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Immediate and delayed voluntary ethanol effects on motor performance, learning and inhibition in rats.

The effects of prolonged voluntary ethanol consumption on psychomotor performance, operant conditioning and inhibition were examined in adult male Wistar rats. Animals were food deprived and alcohol or control solution was available 1 h/day during 15 days, with free water for the rest of the day. Then, rats were tested in a two-bottle paradigm (solution and water available) for 1 h/day during 19 days, and subjects were tested daily for psychomotor performance and operant conditioning immediately or 6 h after (delayed) the solution access. Psychomotor performance was tested in an 80 degrees -inclined screen. Successive conditioning phases were: free shaping (FS), continuous reinforcement (CRF), operant extinction (EXT), successive discrimination (DIS) and two-stimuli test (TST). Alcohol consumption deteriorated psychomotor performance and improved the animal's ability to learn simple associations between stimuli and responses (free shaping and extinction), in immediate and delayed groups. Finally, alcohol deteriorated behavioral inhibition (DIS and TST) tested immediately after drinking. Taken together, results suggest that prolonged voluntary ethanol intake could induce permanent psychomotor impairment and associative learning facilitation, and also an impairment of the inhibition related to the intoxication state.

Alcohol Drinking↗