Zebrafish has emerged as a potential animal model of acute convulsion for early screening of antiepileptic agents. There is a need for alternative chronic zebrafish models of epilepsy with more correlation to the clinical condition.

Adult zebrafish were repeatedly exposed to subeffective concentrations of pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), until appearance to tonic-clonic seizures, considered as kindled. Valproic acid (VPA) exposure was given during kindling and in kindled fish in 2 different groups. The neurotransmitters level and expression of the genes associated with kindling were studied in the fish brain.

There was an increase in seizure severity score at 1.25 mM concentration of PTZ, and 66.66 % of fish achieved kindling after 22 days’ exposure. A marked increase in c-fos, crebbpa and crebbpbexpression, and glutamate/GABA level was observed in the brain of kindled fish. VPA inhibited the induction of PTZ-mediated kindling and reduced seizure severity in kindled fish.

In contrast to an existing adult zebrafish kindling method, the present protocol is of longer duration, with more similarity to clinical epilepsy. Moreover, the induction of kindling involves a simple non-invasive technique without the use of anesthesia. The protocol can be used for evaluation of both antiepileptic and antiepileptogenic agents.

Repeated exposure of 1.25 mM PTZ induced kindling in zebrafish, altering the brain neurotransmitter levels and gene expression. Inhibition of kindling induction and decrease in seizures in normal and kindled fish, respectively by VPA validated application of the model for preclinical testing of agents against epilepsy.

Repeated exposure of 1.25 mM PTZ induced kindling in zebrafish, altering the brain neurotransmitter levels and gene expression. Inhibition of kindling induction and decrease in seizures in normal and kindled fish, respectively by VPA validated application of the model for preclinical testing of agents against epilepsy.This study aimed to investigate the effect of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) on the apoptosis, proliferation, damage repair, intercellular adhesion, and inflammatory cytokine release of cultured 16HBE 14o-bronchial ECs in vitro. Bronchial epithelial cells (ECs) from all subjects were obtained by bronchoscopic brushing. The expression levels of KGF and its receptor KGFR in collected cells were determined using RT-qPCR and Western blotting. The apoptosis and adhesion molecules expression by KGF administration were determined using flow cytometry and Western blotting. This occurred when 16HBE 14o-cell lines cultured and were exposed to interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in vitro. The role of KGF on proliferation and damage repair were analyzed using CCK-8, EdU and wound closure assays after 16HBE 14o-cells were scraped. The effect of KGF on the release of inflammation related cytokines by damaged ECs was measured using ELISA kits. Compared with healthy controls, the KGF and KGFR expression and apoptosis significantly increased in collected cells from asthma patients. In vitro, treatment of KGF may limit IFN-γ and TNF-α induced apoptosis by inhibiting apoptosis-associated markers in the TNF signaling pathway. Besides, KGF could limit the release of TSLP, IL-25 and IL-33 by damaged 16HBE 14o-cells. On the contrary, KGF could promote the intercellular adhesion and wound closure of cultured 16HBE 14o-cells via the increased expression level of intercellular junction proteins ICAM-1, β-catenin, E-cad, and Dsc3. In conclusion, KGF and KGFR may help bronchial ECs repair in asthma via the inhibition apoptosis of ECs while the promotion of proliferation and migration of ECs.Past research suggests that people’s beliefs about the malleability of their body weight influence their motivation to engage in healthful behaviors people who perceive their body weight as fixed (entity theorists) engage less in healthful behaviors than people who perceive their body weight as changeable (incremental theorists). Accordingly, current health interventions frequently aim at shifting entity theorists’ beliefs about the malleability of their body weight. Instead of trying to change these beliefs, we test whether the elicitation of pride from past achievements can serve as an intervention to promote healthful behaviors among entity theorists. In addition, we contrast the effect of pride recall among entity theorists with the effect among incremental theorists. Specifically, we find that entity theorists chose healthier behaviors upon the recall of pride related and unrelated to the health domain – the source of pride does not seem to matter. For incremental theorists, however, the source of pride does matter. Puromycin While health-related pride led them to persist in making healthy food choices, health-unrelated pride instilled reward-seeking behavior among incremental theorists. Prompting health-related pride might be a viable motivational tool to promote healthy food choices, as it is beneficial for entity theorists without thwarting the motivation of incremental theorists.The purpose of this study is to examine consumers’ reactions to the introduction of nutrition and ingredient labelling for wine, a product that is so far still exempt from mandatory nutrition and ingredient labelling. It also analyses the effect of positive and negative information about the use of ingredients in wine on consumers’ choice. Representative samples for wine consumers from three distinctly different countries representing old and new wine markets (Australia, n = 745; Germany, n = 716; Italy, n = 715) completed a discrete choice experiment (DCE) with graphically simulated wine back labels. For each country, respondents were randomly allocated to a reference group and two different treatment conditions where they received newspaper-like information (positive, negative) before making choices. Results for the reference condition show that consumers across all three countries have a significant positive utility for detailed nutrition information. Instead, ingredient information only receives a positive utility in Italy, whereas German and Australian respondents do not receive utility from ingredient labelling. When consumers in the treatment group are confronted with negative media information the attribute importance of ingredients significantly increases across all three countries, clean labelled products without ingredients are preferred, and a significantly higher share of consumers in Germany and Italy prefer not to buy any wine. The treatment effect of positive media information on consumers’ wine choice is lower than that of negative information. The results of the study have implications for the pending new regulation of wine labelling and for communication strategies of the wine industry that should actively inform consumers about the necessity of ingredients in wine production.