Along with the storage time, in the egg content there occur changes based of which their quality and condition of egg freshness may be determined. The aim of the study was determination of the effect of 7-week storage period at a temperature of 4°C on the quality of Japanese quail eggs. The eggs were analyzed at one-week intervals to determine their morphological composition. No statistically significant differences were observed between particular dates of evaluation within the range of the egg weight and its proportional loss, which in the 7th week was 2.78%. No statistically significant differences were observed in the weight of yolk and albumen in total. The amount of albumen did not change, while the Haugh units ranged from 91.4 in the 1st week to 87.2 in the 7th week of storage. These results show that quail eggs are characterized by a long period of retaining freshness.
The present study was designed to examine the effect of 5-HT1B receptor ligands microinjected into the subregions of the nucleus accumbens (the shell and the core) on the locomotor hyperactivity induced by cocaine in rats. Male Wistar rats were implanted bilaterally with cannulae into the accumbens shell or core, and then were locally injected with GR 55562 (an antagonist of 5-HT1B receptors) or CP 93129 (an agonist of 5-HT1B receptors). Given alone to any accumbal subregion, GR 55562 (0.1-10 µg/side) or CP 93129 (0.1-10 µg/side) did not change basal locomotor activity. Systemic cocaine (10 mg/kg) significantly increased the locomotor activity of rats. GR 55562 (0.1-10 µg/side), administered intra-accumbens shell prior to cocaine, dose-dependently attenuated the psychostimulant-induced locomotor hyperactivity. Such attenuation was not found in animals which had been injected with GR 55562 into the accumbens core. When injected into the accumbens shell (but not the core) before cocaine, CP 93129 (0.1-10 µg/side) enhanced the locomotor response to cocaine; the maximum effect being observed after 10 µg/side of the agonist. The later enhancement was attenuated after intra-accumbens shell treatment with GR 55562 (1 µg/side). Our findings indicate that cocaine induced hyperlocomotion is modified by 5-HT1B receptor ligands microinjected into the accumbens shell, but not core, this modification consisting in inhibitory and facilitatory effects of the 5-HT1B receptor antagonist (GR 55562) and agonist (CP 93129), respectively. In other words, the present results suggest that the accumbal shell 5-HT1B receptors play a permissive role in the behavioural response to the psychostimulant.