Petr N Menshanov

Novosibirsk State University · Head Office

In the developing brain, mature brain derived neurotrophic factor (mBDNF) and its precursor (proBDNF) exhibit prosurvival and proapoptotic functions, respectively. However, it is still unknown whether mBDNF or proBDNF is a major form of neurotrophin expressed in the immature brain, as well as if the level of active caspase-3 correlates with the lev...

Purpose The dopamine receptor 4 gene variable number of tandem repeats (DRD4 VNTR) polymorphism is associated either with an increased risk of ADHD, or with a higher incidence rate of violent criminal behavior and aggression in the human populations. However, it cannot be excluded that the risk variants of the DRD4 VNTR polymorphism, the 7-repeat a...

Aging is one of the global challenges of our time. The search for new anti-aging interventions is also an issue of great actuality. We report on the success of Drosophila melanogaster lifespan extension under the combined influence of dietary restriction, co-administration of berberine, fucoxanthin, and rapamycin, photodeprivation, and low-temperat...

In mammals, a persistent increase in anxiety affects animal’s behavioral activities in adulthood consistently and might be “programmed” by early-life adverse events permanently. The “programming” of anxiety in adult subjects by severe neonatal events like cerebral hypoxia-ischemia or prolonged maternal separation is well established. By contrast, t...

Regardless of shifts in levels of individual transcripts, it remains elusive whether natural variability in cell-specific transcriptomes within the cerebral cortex is limited in aggregate. It is also unclear whether cortical cell-specific transcriptomes might change dynamically in absence of cell number changes. Total variation in neuron- and glia-...

Understanding how repeated stress affects metabolic and physiological functions in the long run is of crucial importance for evaluating anthropogenic pressure on the environment. We investigated fertility, longevity and metabolism in D. melanogaster females exposed to short-term heat stress (38 °C, 1 h) repeated daily or weekly. Daily stress was sh...

Standardization of conditions under which insects are kept is of great importance when studying their physiology and researchers do their best to maintain it. Nevertheless, sometimes an obvious side effect of some unaccounted factor affecting insects' reproduction can be revealed even under thoroughly controlled laboratory conditions. We faced such...

The insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) pathway is one of the key elements in an organism’s response to unfavourable conditions. The deep homology of this pathway and its evolutionary conservative role in controlling the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism make it possible to use Drosophila melanogaster for studying its functioning. To...

The insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) pathway is one of the key elements in an organism's response to unfavourable conditions. The deep homology of this pathway and its evolutionary conservative role in controlling the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism make it possible to use Drosophila melanogaster for studying its functioning. To...

Maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia infects Drosophila melanogaster populations worldwide. Its genetic diversity includes several closely related genotypes, which can be attributed to two main genotype groups: wMel and wMelCS. Here, we studied eight D. melanogaster lines carrying the nuclear background of wild type interbred Bi90...

In natural populations, insects regularly face an adverse impact of different natures: harsh weather swings, lack of food resources, the insecticidal treatment. We studied the effect of repeated episodes of mild heat stress of different frequencies on stress resistance of Drosophila melanogaster females. We found out that the mild heat stress (38°С...

Maternally inherited intracellular bacteria Wolbachia cause both parasitic and mutualistic effects on their numerous insect hosts that include manipulating the host reproductive system in order to increase the bacteria spreading in a host population, and increasing the host fitness. Here we demonstrate that the type of Wolbachia infection determine...

Naturally occurring caspase-3-dependent cell death is a widespread event in the immature nervous system. Prolonged exposure to anesthetics promotes activation of caspase-3 in the developing hippocampus. In addition, anesthetics can upregulate the levels of metabolite lactate in the adult brain. The long-lasting increase in lactate levels may affect...

Background: One of the most widespread prokaryotic symbionts of invertebrates is the intracellular bacteria of Wolbachia genus which can be found in about 50% of insect species. Wolbachia causes both parasitic and mutualistic effects on its host that include manipulating the host reproductive systems in order to increase their transmission through...

Some problems in the design of the high-throughput sequencing experiments utilizing RNA-Seq or Ribo-Seq technologies are reviewed. The ENCODE guidelines (2011) and the recommendations of other experts on the experimental design for studying animal and plant transcriptomes are briefed also. The optimal limit of the sequencing depth does exist for th...

Insulin-like peptide DILP6 is a component of the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway of Drosophila. Juvenile hormone (JH) and dopamine (DA) are involved in the stress response and in the control of reproduction. In this study, we investigate whether DILP6 regulates the JH and DA levels by studying the effect of a strong hypomorphi...

Predisposition to antisocial behavior can be related to the presence of certain polymorphic variants of genes encoding dopaminergic system proteins. We studied the frequencies of allele variants and genotypes of variable number tandem repeat polymorphism in 3’ untranslated region (3’ VTNR) of the dopaminergic transporter SLC6A3 gene in Caucasian me...

Glucocorticoids and hypoxia are two essential factors affecting the brain development during labor and delivery. In addition to the neurobehavioral alterations induced separately by these factors, glucocorticoids can attenuate the deleterious consequences of severe hypoxia-ischemia on the brain development, acting as a neuroprotective agent in comb...

Octopamine, one of the main insect biogenic amines, plays an important role in the control of fitness in Drosophila melanogaster Meigen. The present study examines the effects of a null mutation of the gene of the insulin-like receptor substrate (chico), in the heterozygous state, on octopamine metabolism, heat stress resistance and fecundity of D....

The common questions in the design of the high-throughoutput sequencing experiments using RNA-Seq or Ribo-Seq methods are reviewed. The ENCODE guidelines (2011) as well as the recently published advances in the design of the studies of mammalian, animal and plant transcriptomes are also summarized in this review. The optimal limit of the sequencing...

Lithium chloride (85, 255, or 255+127 mg/kg) or dexamethasone (0.2 or 2 mg/kg) were subcutaneously injected to 3-day-old rat pups, whose excretory system did not yet attain functional maturity. Both agents retarded the growth of rat pups and delayed the appearance of negative geotaxis. LD50 and therapeutic index of lithium chloride were 255 mg/kg a...

Hydrocortisone, which activates both mineralo- and glucocorticoid receptors, decreased the levels of the proform of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (proBDNF), which induces apoptosis, and mature BDNF (mBDNF), which promotes the survival of brain cells, in the hippocampus of 8-day-old rats 6 h after drug administration. A shift in the mBDNF/pr...

Identification of all transcripts expressed in the sample and quantification of transcript levels are two major objectives of each transcriptome research study. These objectives are particularly challenging in the case of CNS transcriptomes, since the alternative splicing is widespread in the brain. This paper defines and analyzes several problems...

study of cerebral metabolism in neonatal animals by high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is an important tool for deciphering the developmental origins of adult diseases. Up to date, all in vivo spectrum acquisition procedures have been performed in neonatal rodents under anesthesia. However, it is still unknown if the inhaled anes...

Hemolymph filtration in insects is performed by nephrocytes, additional cells of the circulatory system that are not connected to Malpighian vessels. Drosophila has two types of nephrocytes: the ventral ("garland"), which are situated around the connection site of the esophagus and proventriculus, and the pericardial, which are localized around the...

Synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone decreased locomotor activity of neonatal rats 120 h after administration. Behavioral changes were associated with an increase in the content of active caspase-3 in the cerebellum. We found that expression of this apoptotic protease was similar to the control value when dexamethasone action was combined to hypo...

Juvenile hormone (JH) and dopamine are involved in the stress response in insects. The insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway has also recently been found to be involved in the regulation of various processes, including stress tolerance. However, the relationships among the JH, dopamine and insulin signalling pathways remain unclear....

Locomotion of animals in the novel environment is determined by two main factors-the intrinsic motor activity and the specific locomotor response to novelty. Glucocorticoids alter neurobehavioral development of mammals and its locomotor manifestations. However, it remains unclear whether the intrinsic and/or the novelty-induced activity are affecte...

We report here our studies of spontaneous motor activity in rat pups in the first two weeks of life. Increased levels of activity followed by decreases during testing could be seen by day 6 of life in rat pups, persisting to more adult animals. These behavioral changes resulted from simultaneous increases in the mobility not only of the forelimbs,...

Dynamics of spontaneous locomotor activity was investigated in neonatal rats. The increased level of activity and its subsequent decrease in testing were observed already on postnatal day 6 and persisted during the second week of development. These behavioral features were due to simultaneous changes in motility of both front and hind limbs. The an...

Natural glucocorticoid hydrocortisone was suggested as a potent substitution for dexamethasone in the treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in neonates. The aim of this study was to investigate whether hydrocortisone is able to affect the expression of apoptotic genes and the intensity of naturally occurring cell death in the developing rat hippo...

Differences in the mosaic plants occurence frequency between the Nu5 and Nu6 lines of transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants remained irrespective of the nptII marker gene allelic state. nptII gene transition from the hemizygous state (T3) to the homozygous one (T4) was accompanied by an increase in the frequency of mosaics in both lines. Tr...

Dynamics of spontaneous locomotor activity was investigated in neonatal rats. The increased level of activity and its subsequent decrease in testing were observed already on postnatal day 6 and persisted during the second week of development. These behavioral features were due to simultaneous changes in motility of both front and hind limbs. The an...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (mat-BDNF) promotes neuronal survival, whereas its precursor protein (pro-BDNF) induces cell death, which indicates the opposite but potentially important roles of both forms of this neurotrophin in brain development. We studied the contents of mat- and pro-BDNF and active caspase-3 in the brain regions of 8-day-ol...

Dexamethasone increased the levels of active caspase-3 form in the brain cortex of neonatal rats 120 h after drug administration, but did not affect the expression of this key apoptotic protease in the brain 6 or 24 h postinjection. Increased expression of the active form of caspase-3 in the cerebral cortex was associated with earlier eye opening a...

Previous studies have shown that juvenile hormone (JH) regulates dopamine (DA) and octopamine (OA) content in Drosophila, and we have shown the influence of an increase in JH level on DA and OA metabolism in young females of Drosophila virilis and Drosophila melanogaster. Here we investigate the effects of genetic ablation of a subset of cells in t...

In Drosophila, juvenile hormone (JH) is synthesized de novo in the specialized endocrine gland, corpusallatum (CA). Dopamine (DA) controls JH levels by either stimulating or inhibiting its synthesis and degradation depending on the developmental stage. The present study focuses on the role of D2-like receptors in the regulation of JH synthesis by d...

20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and the juvenile hormone (JH) have an age-specific effect on total dopamine (DA) content in Drosophila (Gruntenko and Rauschenbach 2008). Earlier we studied the mechanism of influence of 20E and JH on DA metabolism in young females (Rauschenbach et al. in J Insect Physiol 53:587-591, 2007a: Arch Insect Biochem Physiol 65:95...

We studied the contents of the apoptotic proteins Bcl-XL, Bax, and intact and active forms of caspase-3 using the immunoblot method in the hippocampus and brainstem of 3-day-old rat pups. The expression of pro- and antiapoptotic proteins in the regions of the developing brain demonstrates individual variability with a variation coefficient ranging...

Automated registration of neonatal rat entries in the squares of a testing chamber is suggested for the animal locomotion assessment. This method allows detection of paddling and pivoting activities that are not accompanied by forward movement of the animal. The proposed technique is also relatively insensitive to nonlocomotor changes in a pup's bo...

Antisense oligonucleotide to alpha2A-adrenoceptors increased the levels of mRNA (reverse polymerase chain reaction) and protein for a key executioner protease of apoptosis caspase-3 (immunoblotting assay) in the cerebral cortex of newborn rats. The relationship between the observed effect and low expression of alpha2-adrenoceptors was confirmed by...

Antisense oligonucleotide to α2A-adrenoceptors increased the levels of mRNA (reverse polymerase chain reaction) and protein for a key executioner protease of apoptosis caspase-3 (immunoblotting assay) in the cerebral cortex of newborn rats. The relationship between the observed effect and low expression of α2-adrenoceptors was confirmed by the poss...

DNA fragmentation, mRNA and protein levels of Bcl-XL, Bax and caspase-3 were determined to characterize interrelations between expression of these apoptotic markers in the neonatal brain regions. High DNA fragmentation intensity in the cortex was in consonance with the lowest Bcl-XL/Bax expression ratio, the highest procaspase-3 and active caspase-...

Bax mRNA level in fetal rat brain stem increases by day 40 of life and then decreases, while level of Bcl-XL mRNA reaches the adult value over one month. Bax mRNA level in the cerebral cortex decreases from day 8 to day 90 of life, while Bcl-XL mRNA level does not change. Judging from Bcl-XL/Bax mRNA ratio, cortical cells exhibit higher readiness t...