Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “rabbits”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2

Damage to the photoreceptor cells of the rabbit retina from 56Fe ions: effect of age at exposure, 1

Optic and proximate tissues of New Zealand white (NZW) rabbits at ages (approximately 3.5 years) near the middle of their median lifespan (5-7 years) were given 0.5-3.5 Gy of 465 MeV u-1 56Fe ions in the Bragg plateau region of energy deposition at a linear energy transfer (LET infinity) of 220 +/- 31 keV micrometer-1. Dose-dependent losses of retinal photoreceptor cells (rods) occurred until 1-2 years after irradiation, the period of this interim report. Similar cumulative losses of photoreceptor cells were seen during the period 1-2 years post-irradiation for rabbits given comparable exposures when young (6-9 weeks old). Since losses of photoreceptor cells at early times had not been determined previously, the current experiment, which was designed to simulate the responses of mature astronauts, redressed that deficiency.

NASA Program NSCORT↗

The effect of nonablative laser energy on joint capsular properties. An in vitro histologic and biochemical study using a rabbit model

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of laser energy at nonablative levels on joint capsular histologic and biochemical properties in an in vitro rabbit model. The medial and lateral portions of the femoropatellar joint capsule from both stifles of 12 mature New Zealand White rabbits were used. Specimens were divided into three treatment groups (5 watts, 10 watts, and 15 watt) and one control group using a randomized block design. Specimens were placed in a 37 degrees bath of lactated Ringer's solution and laser energy was applied using a holmium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser in four transverse passes across the tissue at a velocity of 2 mm/sec with the handpiece set 1.5 mm from the synovial surface. Histologic analysis revealed thermal alteration of collagen (fusion) and fibroblasts (pyknosis) at all energy densities, with higher laser energy causing significantly greater morphologic changes over a larger area (P < 0.05). Application of laser energy did not significantly alter the biochemical parameters evaluated, including type I collagen content and nonreducible crosslinks (P > 0.05). This study demonstrated that nonablative laser energy caused significant thermal damage to the joint capsular tissue in an energy-dependent fashion, but type I collagen content and nonreducible crosslinks (P > 0.05). This study demonstrated that nonablative laser energy caused significant thermal damage to the joint capsular tissue in an energy-dependent fashion, but type I Collagen content and nonreducible corsslinks were not significantly altered.

NASA Discipline Musculoskeletal↗

Some growth factors stimulate cultured adult rabbit ventricular myocyte hypertrophy in the absence of mechanical loading

Cultured adult rabbit cardiac myocytes treated with recombinant growth factors display enhanced rates of protein accumulation (ie, growth) in response to insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), but epidermal growth factor, acidic or basic fibroblast growth factor, and platelet-derived growth factor failed to increase contractile protein synthesis or growth of the heart cells. Insulin and IGF-1 increased growth rates by stimulating anabolic while simultaneously inhibiting catabolic pathways, whereas IGF-2 elevated growth modestly by apparently inhibiting lysosomal proteolysis. Neutralizing antibodies directed against either IGF-1 or IGF-2 or IGF binding protein 3 blocked protein accumulation. A monoclonal antibody directed against the IGF-1 receptor also inhibited changes in protein turnover provoked by recombinant human IGF-1 but not IGF-2. Of the other growth factors tested, only transforming growth factor-beta 1 increased the fractional rate of myosin heavy chain (MHC) synthesis, with beta-MHC synthesis being elevated and alpha-MHC synthesis being suppressed. However, the other growth factors were able to modestly stimulate the rate of DNA synthesis in this preparation. Bromodeoxyuridine labeling revealed that these growth factors increased DNA synthesis in myocytes and nonmyocytes alike, but the heart cells displayed neither karyokinesis or cytokinesis. In contrast, cocultures of cardiac myocytes and nonmyocytes and nonmyocyte-conditioned culture medium failed to enhance the rate of cardiac MHC synthesis or its accumulation, implying that quiescent heart cells do not respond to "conditioning" by cardiac nonmyocytes. These findings demonstrated that insulin and the IGFs promote passively loaded cultured adult rabbit heart cells to hypertrophy but suggest that other growth factors tested may be limited in this regard.

NASA Discipline Cell Biology↗

Age dependency of base modification in rabbit liver DNA

Age-related modifications of DNA bases have been observed in the liver of the New Zealand white (NZW) rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), a lagomorph with a median life span in captivity of 5-7 yr. The ages of the animals studied ranged from 6 wk to 9 yr. After the DNA had been extracted from the liver cell nuclei and hydrolyzed with acid, the bases were analyzed by column chromatography with Cellulofine gels (GC-15-m). Two peaks in the chromatogram, which eluted before the four DNA bases, contained modified bases. Those materials, which were obtained in relatively large amounts from old animals, were highly fluorescent, and were shown to be crosslinked base products by mass spectrometry. The yield of crosslinked products versus rabbit age (greater than 0.5 yr) can be fitted by an exponential function (correlation coefficient: 0.76 +/- 0.09).

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

A sensitivity analysis to predict the neutronics behavior of samples irradiated in the VTR rabbit system

We report a low-order neutronics model is developed to carry out hundreds of simulations efficiently and investigate the neutronics behavior of samples being irradiated in a test reactor setting under different geometrical constraints. The low-order model allowed for simulations that yield the expected neutronics behavior of any irradiated sample in any environment and allows for the calculation of highly accurate spatially averaged statistics and idealized spatial distributions in the neutron flux. Several benchmarks are performed to evaluate the performance and limitations of the low-order model revealing many important findings. The low-order model predicted the LHGR in the EBR-II driver fuel to within 2.34% by only simulating the fuel rod by itself, which served as a validation for the model. Sensitivity studies investigated 3% enriched UO 2 and U-10Zr being irradiated in the Versatile Test Reactor rabbit system. The analyses investigated a range of combinations of 15 radii and 5 heights for each sample in the rabbit system. Similar data sets are also provided for irradiations in the Advanced Test Reactor’s B-10 irradiation position, which is a thermal neutron spectrum environment. Generalized fits and fit coefficients are obtained for sample heating, reaction rate densities, and local multiplication rate characteristics, allowing the predictions of the neutronics behavior of the samples based on their geometrical constraints. The analyses and fits laid the groundwork for developing a user-end Multiphysics analysis framework to assist and accelerate irradiation experiment design and optimization.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

White-Rabbit-Disciplined FPGA Readout for Fermilab Timing Events

Fermilab's accelerator timing links broadcast short event codes to thousands of devices at once, but the links themselves carry no absolute notion of time; that comes separately from a White Rabbit reference. This work builds the piece that ties the two together on a single board. On a Xilinx Kria KR260 (Zynq UltraScale+), the programmable logic decodes a real Fermilab TCLK link, stamps every event with an absolute White-Rabbit \{sec, ns\} UTC time, and reads the timestamped stream out over AXI4-Lite; a thin Linux process on the same die publishes each event into a Redis stream on the control network. To exercise the full chain on one board, the decoded events are re-encoded as gigabit ACLK, transmitted out an SFP+ optical port, looped back over a short fiber jumper, and decoded again on the same timeline, and are additionally mirrored as an ACLK-Lite Manchester waveform for benchtop probing. Across sustained, multi-day testing against real Fermilab TCLK, the pipeline has decoded, timestamped, and published hundreds of millions of events with practically zero loss, and folding the timestamped stream on the 60-second accelerator supercycle recovers the machine's periodic structure directly from the published data.

Rossel, Jacob [Fermilab; UC, Berkeley (main)] (ORC↗

The human, primate and rabbit ultraviolet action spectra

A 5000 watt xenon-mercury high pressure lamp was used to produce a continuous ultraviolet spectrum. Human and animal exposures were made to establish the photokeratitis threshold and abiotic action spectrum. The lower limit of the abiotic action spectrum was 220 nm while the upper limit was 310 nm. The radiant exposure threshold at 270 nm was 0.005 watts/sq cm for the rabbit, 0.004 watts/sq cm for the primate, and 0.004 watts/ sq cm for the human. The rabbit curve was bi-peaked with minimums at 220 nm, 240 nm and 270 nm. The primate curve was tri-peaked with minimums at 220 nm, 240 nm and 270 nm. The human data showed a rather shallow curve with a minimum at 270 nm. Formulas and calculations are given to predict minimum exposure times for ocular damage to man in outer space, to establish valid safety criteria, and to establish protective design criteria.

Pitts, D. G.↗

Behavioral fever in newborn rabbits

New Zealand white rabbit pups aged 12 to 72 hr were divided into three groups and given an intraperitoneal injection of Pseudomonas polysaccharide, a saline vehicle alone, and no treatment, respectively. The animals injected with pyrogen and maintained at an ambient temperature of 32 C for 2 hr did not develop fever. When placed in a thermally graded alleyway, the animals injected with pyrogen selected gradient positions that represented significantly higher temperatures than controls injected with saline. Further stay at selected positions for 5 min caused a considerable increase in the rectal temperature of the pyrogen-injected pups but not that of controls. The results support the hypothesis that newborn rabbits will develop a fever by behavioral means after a single injection of an exogenous pyrogen if the opportunity for thermoregulatory behavior is present. No fever develops if the pups must rely solely on internal thermoregulatory mechanisms. The behavioral system for producing a fever is mature at birth, but an adequate system of internal reflexes does not appear to develop for some days.

Satinoff, E.↗

Effectiveness of using thyrocalcitonin for the prevention of a calcium metabolic disorder in the mineralized tissues of rabbits with 30 days hypokinesia

A 30 day hypokinesia in rabbits led to a considerable lag in weight gain for the skeletal bones, reduction in Ca45 uptake, and an increase in isotope resorption rate in the rapidly metabolized fraction of extremity bones. On the other hand, Ca45 content in the teeth and maxillae increased, which may be explained by redistribution of isotope among the various mineralized tissues. Injection of thyrocalcitonin (50 IU/day) produced a distinct normalizing effect on Ca45 uptake and resorption in the mineralized tissues of rabbits kept hypokinetic.

Volozhin, A. I.↗

Vehicle test report: South Coast Technology electric Volkswagen Rabbit with developmental low-power armature chopper

Dynamometer performance of a South Coast Technology electric conversion of a Volkswagen (VW) Rabbit designated SCT-8 was tested. The SCT-8 vehicle was fitted with a transistorized chopper in the motor armature circuit to supplement the standard motor speed control via field weakening. The armature chopper allowed speed control below the motor base speed. This low speed control was intended to reduce energy loss at idle during stop-and-go traffic; to eliminate the need for using the clutch below base motor speed; and to improve the drivability. Test results indicate an improvement of about 3.5% in battery energy economy for the SAE J227a-D driving cycle and 6% for the C-cycle with only a minor reduction in acceleration performance. A further reduction of about 6% would be possible if provision were made for shutting down field power during the idle phases of the driving cycles. Drivability of the vehicle equipped with the armature chopper was significantly improved compared with the standard SCT Electric Rabbit.

Marte, J. E.↗

Central effects of some peptide and non-peptide opioids and naloxone on thermoregulation in the rabbit

The effects of several peptide and non-peptide opiods and naloxone on induced hyperthermia is studied in rabbits. The effect of tyical mu, kappa, and sigma receptor antagonists (morphine, ketocyclazcine and SKF 10,0 10, 047) and some opioid peptides (Beta-endorphin /BE/, methionine-enkaphalin /ME/, and D-Ala2-methionine-enkaphalin-amide /DAME/ are determined. The role of prostaglandins (PG), cAMP, and norepinephrine (NE) in morphine, BE, and DAME induced hyperthermia is investigated. In addition, the effect of naloxone on pyrogen, arachidonic acid, PGE2, prostacyclin, dibutyryl cAMP, and NE induced hyperthermia is determined. Among other results, it is found that the three receptor antagonists induced hyperthermia in rabbits. BE, ME, and DAME were also found to cause hyperthermia, and it is suggested that they act on the same type of receptor. It is also determined that neither NE nor cAMP is involved in the hyperthermia due to morphine, BE, and DAME. It is suggested that an action of endogenous peptides on naloxone sensitive receptors plays little role in normal thermoregulation or in hyperthermia.

Kandasamy, S. B.↗

Late skin damage in rabbits and monkeys after exposure to particulate radiations

Preliminary results are reported of experiments on the late effects of exposure to particulate radiations on stem cell populations. Skin biopsies were taken from the ears of rabbits irradiated 2-5 years previously with 530 MeV/amu Ar ions (LET 90 keV/micron), or 365 MeV/amu Ne ions (LET 35 keV micron), and from the chests and inner thighs of rhesus monkeys irradiated 16-18 years previously with 32-MeV protons (LET about 1.2 keV/micron). Skin fibroblast cultures obtained from the biopsy samples in rabbits were observed to undergo dose-dependent decreases in in vitro life span, with estimated survival curves showing the effects of Ar-ion irradiation to be more severe than those of Ne-ion irradiation. In addition, the healing of the biopsy wound was observed to become slower as radiation dose increased. In the monkey, radiation reduced the average number of fibroblasts at the time of cessation of growth in culture. Results thus demonstrate the capacity of skin sampling to reveal stem cell destruction, and have important implications for astronauts and other persons at risk of particle exposure with regard to healing responses to trauma or surgery.

Bergtold, D. S.↗

Effects of 40Ar and 56Fe ions on retinal photoreceptor cells of the rabbit: implications for manned missions to Mars

Losses of photoreceptor cells (rods) from the retinas of New Zealand white (NZW) rabbits were detectable within 2 years after localized acute irradiation of optic and proximal tissues with > or = 7 Gy of 530 MeV u-1 40Ar ions or > or = 2 Gy of 465 MeV u-1 56Fe ions in the Bragg plateau region of energy deposition. Those limits were determined only from an analysis of variance of dose groups because the shapes of the dose response curves at early post-irradiation times are not known, a concern being addressed by experiments in progress. Losses of photoreceptor cells for the period 0.5-2.5 years post-irradiation, determined by provisional linear regression analysis, were approximately 1.7% Gy-1 and 2.5% Gy-1 for 40Ar and 56Fe ions, respectively.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

The effect of in situ freezing on rabbit patellar tendon. A histologic, biochemical, and biomechanical analysis

Cell necrosis has been well documented as one of the many changes that occur in autogenous tendon when it is used to reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligament. The purpose of this experiment was to isolate cell necrosis as a variable and study its effect on the patellar tendon. To accomplish this, both knees of 25 New Zealand White rabbits were operated on. In one knee, a 5-mm wide band of patellar tendon was subjected to two rapid freeze-thaw cycles, while the other knee underwent sham surgery. Histologic evaluation showed a zone of necrosis at 2 and 4 weeks with cellular repopulation complete at 8 weeks. patellar tendon cross-sectional area was 0.118 cm2 at 8 weeks for the frozen specimens compared to 0.102 cm2 for the sham-operated controls. This difference was significant at the P = 0.025 level. Mechanical testing at 4 and 8 weeks revealed no significant changes in tendon length, maximum load, or stiffness. The collagen content was also unchanged at both 4 and 8 weeks.

Non-NASA Center↗