Thesis (Ph. D.)--McMaster University (Canada), 2004. / Advisor: Shepard Siegel. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-71). Also available online.

The main purpose of this research was to investigate the phenomenon of tolerance to cocaine. Tolerance is operationally defined as a decreased drug effect due to prior history of drug administration. The animal model that was chosen to investigate tolerance to cocaine was the drug discrimination model, which is an animal analogue of human subjective drug effects. In the drug discrimination procedure, animals are trained to emit one behavior when injected with saline. In the present experiments, rats were trained to press one lever when injected with cocaine, 10 mg/kg, and a different lever when injected with saline for food reinforcement. Once rats are trained, they can accurately detect the cocaine stimulus greater than 95% of the time.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-59).

Not available

The effect of caffeine consumption on blood pressure has been widely studied. Robertson et al. (J Clin Invest 67: 1111-1117, 1981) cited findings of tolerance to humoral and hemodynamic effects from caffeine within four days when caffeine is consumed with each meal. These findings of tolerance have not been verified. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of caffeine intake pattern on the development of tolerance to hemodynamic effects of caffeine. Fourteen volunteers were randomly assigned to two groups of seven. One group received 250 mg of caffeine in the morning only (MO), the other group received 250 mg of caffeine in the morning, afternoon, and evening (All Day-AD). Subjects underwent a seven day trial during which blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were assessed; morning beverage (250 mg of caffeine) was ingested and BP and HR assessments were obtained every 10 minutes for 50 minutes at rest, and after 10 minutes of cycling at 100 Watts. Afternoon and evening beverages were consumed which contained 250 mg caffeine each or placebo. No significant change in SBP, DBP, or HR from rest to 40 minutes post-caffeine absorption or between caffeine dosing pattern across trial days was found. A main effect was found for SBP post caffeine consumption (MO=5.4 vs. AD= 1.3). Mean values for DBP were stable across days 3-7 (M0=3.14-4.7 mmHg) but decreased from (3.86-.14 mmHg) from days 3 to 7 (AD). SBP revealed a significant interaction during exercise and across trial days. SBP and HR for the morning only group was higher than the all day caffeine consumption group across days. However DBP was lower across days for the morning only vs. the all day intake pattern. Therefore, caffeine dosing pattern does not appear to have an effect on tolerance to the hemodynamic effects of caffeine at rest or during exercise. / School of Physical Education

Thesis (M.Sc. (Pharmacology))--Mahidol University, 1984.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010. / Prepared for: Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 109-123.

No description available.

Apart from the nutrition factor, a threshold cell density of 10 8 cells per ml was established as an independent mediator which could elicit phenotypic tolerance under nutrient-rich conditions, producing phenotypes which were markedly different from those observable under starvation in terms of drug specificity. Such cell density effects could be attributed to (i) impeded diffusion of drug and nutrient molecules, which simultaneously suppressed the deleterious effects of antibiotics and elicited cellular protection responses, and (ii) a hitherto undefined quorum sensing-like induction signal which was detectable in spent media of nutrient-supplemented but not starving populations. This finding indicates that bacteria can initiate active defense through cell density sensing even in the absence of starvation stress. / Bacteria respond swiftly to environmental perturbations, often becoming insensitive to bactericidal antibiotics. The underlying basis of this tolerance phenomenon, which presumably involves physiological adaptation mechanisms that counteract antibiotic-induced lethality in bacteria, remains poorly-defined. In this study, the fundamental issues of antibiotic tolerance development were addressed, with a focus on elucidating the environmental cues and genetic determinants that regulate this phenotypic switching process. / By examining the relationship between exogenous nutrition status and antibiotic susceptibility in bacteria, amino acids deprivation was identified as a prerequisite condition for tolerance development, during which a repertoire of drug-sepcific phenotypes evolved according to the relative abundances of other key essential nutrients. Sustainability of tolerance was highly dependent on a lack of carbon source and the duration of nutrition stress. Importantly, organisms which experienced prolonged starvation (over 24 h) were found to harbor subpopulations which remained drug-tolerant in nutrient-rich medium, suggesting that antibiotic persisters originated from starvation-induced precursor organisms. / Comparative transcriptomic analysis showed that transient tolerance elicited by amino acids starvation was characterized by global metabolic down-regulation, whereas emergence of sustainable phenotypes was tightly coupled to a metabolically active state. Gene knockout analysis on established tolerance determinants, such as hipA, phoU and glpD, revealed that their roles in tolerance development were condition and drug specific, suggesting that the cellular network governing starvation-mediated tolerance was highly complex. Studies on selected determinants further revealed the functional roles of multiple stress signaling and protection systems, including the stringent and SOS responses, heat shock proteins, oxidative defense enzymes, and several novel determinants. Among them, the SOS response was specifically required for development of tolerance to fluoroquinolones, whereas products of two novel genes, yhfZ and yqgB, were predominantly involved in protection against both fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides. Taken together, results of gene expression and deletion studies depict the involvement of multiple protection systems in sustaining antibiotic stress for a prolonged period. This idea was supported by results of functional studies, which suggested that growth inhibition by bacteriostatic agents, impedance of antibiotic entry and neutralization of hydroxyl radicals were in each case not sufficient to produce significant phenotypic tolerance. / In conclusion, starvation and high cell density-mediated responses were identified as complementary tolerance induction factors in bacteria. Further elucidation of the core components of bacterial "multidrug tolerance regulon" should enable development of more effective strategies for combating resilient microbial infections. / Fung, Ka Chun. / Advisers: Raphael Chan; Edward Chan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-02, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-152). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

The life of microorganisms is characterized by two main tasks, rapid growth under conditions permitting growth and survival under stressful conditions. The environments, in which microorganisms dwell, vary in space and time. The microorganisms innovate diverse strategies to readily adapt to the regularly fluctuating environments. Phenotypic heterogeneity is one such strategy, where an isogenic population splits into subpopulations that respond differently under identical environments. Bacterial persistence is a prime example of such phenotypic heterogeneity, whereby a population survives under an antibiotic attack, by keeping a fraction of population in a drug tolerant state, the persister state. Specifically, persister cells grow more slowly than normal cells under growth conditions, but survive longer under stress conditions such as the antibiotic administrations. Bacterial persistence is identified experimentally by examining the population survival upon an antibiotic treatment and the population resuscitation in a growth medium. The underlying population dynamics is explained with a two state model for reversible phenotype switching in a cell within the population. We study this existing model with a new theoretical approach and present analytical expressions for the time scale observed in population growth and resuscitation, that can be easily used to extract underlying model parameters of bacterial persistence. In addition, we recapitulate previously known results on the evolution of such structured population under periodically fluctuating environment using our simple approximation method. Using our analysis, we determine model parameters for Staphylococcus aureus population under several antibiotics and interpret the outcome of cross-drug treatment. Next, we consider the expansion of a population exhibiting phenotype switching in a spatially structured environment consisting of two growth permitting patches separated by an antibiotic patch. The dynamic interplay of growth, death and migration of cells in different patches leads to distinct regimes in population propagation speed as a function of migration rate. We map out the region in parameter space of phenotype switching and migration rate to observe the condition under which persistence is beneficial. Furthermore, we present an extended model that allows mutation from the two phenotypic states to a resistant state. We find that the presence of persister cells may enhance the probability of resistant mutation in a population. Using this model, we explain the experimental results showing the emergence of antibiotic resistance in a Staphylococcus aureus population upon tobramycin treatment. In summary, we identify several roles of bacterial persistence, such as help in spatial expansion, development of multidrug tolerance and emergence of antibiotic resistance. Our study provides a theoretical perspective on the dynamics of bacterial persistence in different environmental conditions. These results can be utilized to design further experiments, and to develop novel strategies to eradicate persistent infections. / Das Leben von Mikroorganismen kann in zwei charakteristische Phasen unterteilt werde, schnelles Wachstum unter Wachstumsbedingungen und Überleben unter schwierigen Bedingungen. Die Bedingungen, in denen sich die Mikroorganismen aufhalten, verändern sich in Raum und Zeit. Um sich schnell an die ständig wechselnden Bedingungen anzupassen entwickeln die Mikroorganismen diverse Strategien. Phänotypische Heterogenität ist eine solche Strategie, bei der sich eine isogene Popolation in Untergruppen aufteilt, die unter identischen Bedingungen verschieden reagieren. Bakterielle Persistenz ist ein Paradebeispiel einer solchen phänotypischen Heterogenität. Hierbei überlebt eine Popolation die Behandlung mit einem Antibiotikum, indem sie einen Teil der Bevölkerung in einem, dem Antibiotikum gegenüber tolerant Zustand lässt, der sogenannte "persister Zustand". Persister-Zellen wachsen unter Wachstumsbedingungen langsamer als normale Zellen, jedoch überleben sie länger in Stress-Bedingungen, wie bei Antibiotikaapplikation. Bakterielle Persistenz wird experimentell erkannt indem man überprüft ob die Population eine Behandlung mit Antibiotika überlebt und sich in einem Wachstumsmedium reaktiviert. Die zugrunde liegende Popolationsdynamik kann mit einem Zwei-Zustands-Modell für reversibles Wechseln des Phänotyps einer Zelle in der Bevölkerung erklärt werden. Wir untersuchen das bestehende Modell mit einem neuen theoretischen Ansatz und präsentieren analytische Ausdrücke für die Zeitskalen die für das Bevölkerungswachstums und die Reaktivierung beobachtet werden. Diese können dann einfach benutzt werden um die Parameter des zugrunde liegenden bakteriellen Persistenz-Modells zu bestimmen. Darüber hinaus rekapitulieren wir bisher bekannten Ergebnisse über die Entwicklung solch strukturierter Bevölkerungen unter periodisch schwankenden Bedingungen mithilfe unseres einfachen Näherungsverfahrens. Mit unserer Analysemethode bestimmen wir Modellparameter für eine Staphylococcus aureus-Popolation unter dem Einfluss mehrerer Antibiotika und interpretieren die Ergebnisse der Behandlung mit zwei Antibiotika in Folge. Als nächstes betrachten wir die Ausbreitung einer Popolation mit Phänotypen-Wechsel in einer räumlich strukturierten Umgebung. Diese besteht aus zwei Bereichen, in denen Wachstum möglich ist und einem Bereich mit Antibiotikum der die beiden trennt. Das dynamische Zusammenspiel von Wachstum, Tod und Migration von Zellen in den verschiedenen Bereichen führt zu unterschiedlichen Regimen der Populationsausbreitungsgeschwindigkeit als Funktion der Migrationsrate. Wir bestimmen die Region im Parameterraum der Phänotyp Schalt-und Migrationsraten, in der die Bedingungen Persistenz begünstigen. Darüber hinaus präsentieren wir ein erweitertes Modell, das Mutation aus den beiden phänotypischen Zuständen zu einem resistenten Zustand erlaubt. Wir stellen fest, dass die Anwesenheit persistenter Zellen die Wahrscheinlichkeit von resistenten Mutationen in einer Population erhöht. Mit diesem Modell, erklären wir die experimentell beobachtete Entstehung von Antibiotika- Resistenz in einer Staphylococcus aureus Popolation infolge einer Tobramycin Behandlung. Wir finden also verschiedene Funktionen bakterieller Persistenz. Sie unterstützt die räumliche Ausbreitung der Bakterien, die Entwicklung von Toleranz gegenüber mehreren Medikamenten und Entwicklung von Resistenz gegenüber Antibiotika. Unsere Beschreibung liefert eine theoretische Betrachtungsweise der Dynamik bakterieller Persistenz bei verschiedenen Bedingungen. Die Resultate könnten als Grundlage neuer Experimente und der Entwicklung neuer Strategien zur Ausmerzung persistenter Infekte dienen.