The hens were

divided into different groups with n = 3. These hens received protection against cholinergic effects by administration of 50 mg/kg, i.m. atropine sulfate 30 min before administration of the methamidophos isoforms. Additional atropine (50 mg/kg) was given 4 and 8 h after intoxication. Atropine was not needed to alleviate acute signs in the hens that received TOCP. (1) Control group: This group was composed of three hens that received no toxicant. In this group, activities of AChE, NTE and calpain in OP-treated hens were compared to activities in brains of these hens. Histopathological assessments also involved comparisons with tissues from hens from this group. After the administration of 50 mg/kg, i.v. of ketamine anesthesia, the hens were selleck chemical sacrificed by decapitation, being careful to avoid damage to tissues. For determination of AChE, NTE and calpain activity in the brain of the hens, a small amount Birinapant order (about 0.4 g per assay) of tissue was extracted from the frontal part of the brain. This amount of tissue was homogenized in the sodium phosphate buffer (0.1 M, pH 8.0, 25 °C) for the AChE assay, in the Tris buffer (50 mM Tris–HCl, 0.2 mM

EDTA, pH 8.0, 25 °C) for the NTE assay and in buffer A (20 mM Tris–HCl; 5 mM EDTA; 10 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, pH 7.5, 25 °C) for the calpain assay at a concentration of 1 g tissue to 40 ml of buffer for AChE, to 20 ml of buffer for NTE and to 10 ml of buffer for calpain. For histopathological assessment, the spinal cord at the cervical (C1–C4) and lumbar (near the glycogen body) portions was

gently dissected and immersion-fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin for 48 h. The tissues were then processed, embedded Amino acid in paraffin, sectioned at 5 μm, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). To assay NTE activity, brains were diluted in a buffer (50 mM Tris–HCl, 0.2 mM EDTA, pH 8.0, 25 °C) and their protein concentrations determined by the method of Bradford (1976) so that enzyme activities could be reported in terms of μmol/min/g of protein. NTE activity was assayed as described elsewhere (Correll and Ehrich, 1991) using phenyl valerate as substrate. The activity of cholinesterases was determined using the method described by Ellman et al. (1961). Four readings of each sample were recorded at intervals of 60 s at 37 °C and 450 nm with constant stirring at 600 rpm in an UV/visible HP 8453 spectrophotometer. The absorbance used to calculate the enzyme activity was the average per min of these 4 readings. The concentrations of protein samples were evaluated using the Bradford method to report activities in terms of μmol/min/g of protein. Calpain was purified from the brain as described by Ballard et al. (1988), but the tissues were homogenized with 10 volume ice-cold buffer A.