Search results for "rats"
showing 10 items of 3537 documents
Founder effects drive the genetic structure of passively dispersed aquatic invertebrates
2018
Populations of passively dispersed organisms in continental aquatic habitats typically show high levels of neutral genetic differentiation, despite their high dispersal capabilities. Several evolutionary factors, including founder events and local adaptation, and life cycle features such as high population growth rates and the presence of propagule banks, have been proposed to be responsible for this paradox. Here, we have modeled the colonization process in these organisms to assess the impact of migration rate, growth rate, population size, local adaptation and life-cycle features on their population genetic structure. Our simulation results show that the strongest effect on population st…
Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements
2018
Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T17:44:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-01-26 Robert Bosch Foundation Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-…
Inter- and intraspecific variability in invertebrate acute toxicity response to Arsenic and Fluoride exposure
2018
The adverse effects of arsenic and fluoride exposure on six groups of freshwater invertebrates were investigated. Acute toxicity tests (48-h) with arsenic trioxide (As2NO3) resulted in the following pattern of sensitivity: Daphnia magna 24-h-old = Brachionus patulus 72-h-old = Daphnia. cf. prolata, 21-d-old = D. magna 5-d-old > Heterocypris incongruens juvenile instars > Culex sp. Heterocypris juv. incongruens instars were the second group more tolerant to arsenic and the second group that bioconcentrates arsenic the least. In contrast, invertebrates exposed to sodium fluoride (NaF), showed a different pattern of sensitivity: H. incongruens instars > B. patulus = D. magna 24-h-old > D. cf. …
Exposure to a Highly Caloric Palatable Diet During Pregestational and Gestational Periods Affects Hypothalamic and Hippocampal Endocannabinoid Levels…
2016
Journal Article; Exposure to unbalanced diets during pre-gestational and gestational periods may result in long-term alterations in metabolism and behavior. The contribution of the endocannabinoid system to these long-term adaptive responses is unknown. In the present study, we investigated the impact of female rat exposure to a hypercaloric-hypoproteic palatable diet during pre-gestational, gestational and lactational periods on the development of male offspring. In addition, the hypothalamic and hippocampal endocannabinoid contents at birth and the behavioral performance in adulthood were investigated. Exposure to a palatable diet resulted in low weight offspring who exhibited low hypotha…
The JAK2 pathway is activated in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
2018
Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the most rapidly progressive and fatal fibrotic disorder, with no curative therapies. The signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) protein is activated in lung fibroblasts and alveolar type II cells (ATII), thereby contributing to lung fibrosis in IPF. Although activation of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) has been implicated in proliferative disorders, its role in IPF is unknown. The aim of this study was to analyze JAK2 activation in IPF, and to determine whether JAK2/STAT3 inhibition is a potential therapeutic strategy for this disease. Methods and results: JAK2/p-JAK2 and STAT3/pSTAT3 expression was evaluated using quantitative …
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with Huntington's Disease: increased NPY levels and differential degradation of the NPY1-30…
2016
Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited and fatal polyglutamine neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of the CAG triplet repeat coding region within the HD gene. Progressive dysfunction and loss of striatal GABAergic medium spiny neurons (MSNs) may account for some of the characteristic symptoms in HD patients. Interestingly, in HD, MSNs expressing neuropeptide Y (NPY) are spared and their numbers is even up-regulated in HD patients. Consistent with this, we report here on increased immuno-linked NPY (IL-NPY) levels in human cerebrospinal fluid (hCSF) from HD patients (Control n = 10; early HD n = 9; mid HD n = 11). As this antibody-based detection of NPY may provide false pos…
In Vivo Functional Evaluation of Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts Fabricated Using Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells from High Cardiovascular Risk Po…
2016
Many preclinical evaluations of autologous small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) utilize cells from healthy humans or animals. However, these models hold minimal relevance for clinical translation, as the main targeted demographic is patients at high cardiovascular risk such as individuals with diabetes mellitus or the elderly. Stem cells such as adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) represent a clinically ideal cell type for TEVGs, as these can be easily and plentifully harvested and offer regenerative potential. To understand whether AD-MSCs sourced from diabetic and elderly donors are as effective as those from young nondiabetics (i.e., healthy) in the conte…
Adult rat myelin enhances axonal outgrowth from neural stem cells.
2018
Axon regeneration after spinal cord injury (SCI) is attenuated by growth inhibitory molecules associated with myelin. We report that rat myelin stimulated the growth of axons emerging from rat neural progenitor cells (NPCs) transplanted into sites of SCI in adult rat recipients. When plated on a myelin substrate, neurite outgrowth from rat NPCs and from human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neural stem cells (NSCs) was enhanced threefold. In vivo, rat NPCs and human iPSC-derived NSCs extended greater numbers of axons through adult central nervous system white matter than through gray matter and preferentially associated with rat host myelin. Mechanistic investigations excluded …
Targeting the Endoplasmic Reticulum Unfolded Protein Response to Counteract the Oxidative Stress-Induced Endothelial Dysfunction
2017
In endothelial cells, the tight control of the redox environment is essential for the maintenance of vascular homeostasis. The imbalance between ROS production and antioxidant response can induce endothelial dysfunction, the initial event of many cardiovascular diseases. Recent studies have revealed that the endoplasmic reticulum could be a new player in the promotion of the pro- or antioxidative pathways and that in such a modulation, the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathways play an essential role. The UPR consists of a set of conserved signalling pathways evolved to restore the proteostasis during protein misfolding within the endoplasmic reticulum. Although the first outcome of the U…
Interactive effects of aging and aerobic capacity on energy metabolism-related metabolites of serum, skeletal muscle, and white adipose tissue
2021
ABSTRACTAerobic capacity is a strong predictor of longevity. With aging, aerobic capacity decreases concomitantly with changes in whole body metabolism leading to increased disease risk. To address the role of aerobic capacity, aging and their interaction on metabolism, we utilized rat models of low and high intrinsic aerobic capacity (LCRs/HCRs) and assessed the metabolomics of serum, muscle, and white adipose tissue (WAT). We compared LCRs and HCRs at two time points: Young rats were sacrificed at 9 months, and old rats were sacrificed at 21 months. Targeted and semi-quantitative metabolomics analysis was performed on ultra-pressure Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS)…