Zooplankton composition of ten reservoirs in southern Brazil

The zooplankton of ten reservoirs of Sao Paulo State was analyzed as part of a larger project, Typology of Reservoirs of São Paulo State.Twenty-four genera of Rotifera, six species of Copepoda and at least nine species of Cladocera were found in samples collected on four occasions in 1979. In general, Rotifera dominated in most reservoirs, although fluctuations occurred during the year.The reservoirs were arranged in four groups, according to zooplankton density, whose range was 10 to 500 i 1^–1.The average composition of Crustacea, in number of species at any one time is comparable to those of other water bodies, being a little higher than that of Colorado lakes.The number of species of limnetic Cladocera in Brazil is between those of Holarctic Region and Tropical Asia. Ceriodaphnia cornuta and Bosminopsis deitersi, and a few species of Daphnia are typical of Brazilian zooplankton. Thermocyclops crassus is common in the southern reservoirs but T. minutus seems to be more widely distributed in Brazil. Calanoida occurred in relatively few reservoirs in São Paulo and usually one species at one time. Brachionus and Keratella were more abundant closer to the Equator then to the Tropics, where other genera seem to be more abundant.The range in size of the planktonic Crustacea is relatively small when compared to temperate lakes, being similar to that of other tropical lakes.     

Thin-layer separation and quantification of bile acids

A method has been developed for quantification of total free and conjugated bile acids separated on silica gel HR coated thin-layer chromatography plates. Aliquots of bile acid solutions are applied to channeled plates which are developed with either ethyl acetate: isooctane: glacial acetic acid 10:10:2 v/v for free bile acid separation, or chloroform:methanol:glacial acetic acid:water 130:50:4:8 v/v for conjugated bile acid separation. Bile acids are determined directly in serial areas of silica gel by treating gel areas suspended in tris buffer with resazurin reagent. The method is quantitative and as little as 0.1 μg of bile acid is readily determined. Application of the method to determinations of bile acids in crude fecal extracts is described.     

Stimulation of Bovicin HC5 Production and Selection of Improved Bacteriocin-Producing Streptococcus equinus HC5 Variants

Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins - Bovicin HC5 is a peptide that has inhibitory activity against various pathogenic microorganisms and food spoilage bacteria. Aiming to improve the...     

Juvenile Cell-Mediated Immune Response is Negatively Correlated with Subsequent Adult Ornament Size in Quail

Studies of the relationship between sexual traits and immune function have been at the forefront of sexual selection during the last decade. Whereas evidence is accumulating that there is a trade-off between sexual ornamentation and immunocompetence, the reasons for this trade-off are still unknown. Importantly, most studies have addressed this issue only at the adult stage, when sexual ornamentation and immune function may be fully developed. We show here that juvenile cell-mediated immune response is negatively correlated with subsequent size of an adult sexual ornament in the Chinese quail, Coturnix chinensis. This suggests that the cost of development of a functional immune system is traded off against secondary sexual traits, and that costs of high immunocompetence in juveniles may not be manifested until sexual maturity. Ontogenetic studies of the development of the immune function and associated costs and trade-offs are likely to provide a more complete picture of the links between sexual selection and immunobiology.     

Species-Rich Scandinavian Grasslands are Inherently Open to Invasion

Invasion of native habitats by alien or generalist species is recognized worldwide as one of the major causes behind species decline and extinction. One mechanism determining community invasibility, i.e. the susceptibility of a community to invasion, which has been supported by recent experimental studies, is species richness and functional diversity acting as barriers to invasion. We used Scandinavian semi-natural grasslands, exceptionally species-rich at small spatial scales, to examine this mechanism, using three grassland generalists and one alien species as experimental invaders. Removal of two putative functional groups, legumes and dominant non-legume forbs, had no effect on invasibility except a marginally insignificant effect of non-legume forb removal. The amount of removed biomass and original plot species richness had no effect on invasibility. Actually, invasibility was high already in the unmanipulated community, leading us to further examine the relationship between invasion and propagule pressure, i.e. the inflow of seeds into the community. Results from an additional experiment suggested that these species-rich grasslands are effectively open to invasion and that diversity may be immigration driven. Thus, species richness is no barrier to invasion. The high species diversity is probably in itself a result of the community being highly invasible, and species have accumulated at small scales during centuries of grassland management.     

Aging bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells have altered membrane glycerophospholipid composition and functionality

Human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (hMSC) are increasingly used in advanced cellular therapies. The clinical use of hMSCs demands sequential cell expansions. As it is well established that membrane glycerophospholipids (GPL) provide precursors for signaling lipids that modulate cellular functions, we studied the effect of the donor''s age and cell doublings on the GPL profile of human bone marrow MSC (hBMSC). The hBMSCs, which were harvested from five young and five old adults, showed clear compositional changes during expansion seen at the level of lipid classes, lipid species, and acyl chains. The ratio of phosphatidylinositol to phosphatidylserine increased toward the late-passage samples. Furthermore, 20:4n-6-containing species of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine accumulated while the species containing monounsaturated fatty acids (FA) decreased during passaging. Additionally, in the total FA pool of the cells, 20:4n-6 increased, which happened at the expense of n-3 polyunsaturated FAs, especially 22:6n-3. The GPL and FA correlated with the decreased immunosuppressive capacity of hBMSCs during expansion. Our observations were further supported by alterations in the gene expression levels of several enzymes involved in lipid metabolism and immunomodulation. The results show that extensive expansion of hBMSCs harmfully modulates membrane GPLs, affecting lipid signaling and eventually impairing functionality.     

Activity of grape extracts from Greek varieties of Vitis vinifera against mutagenicity induced by bleomycin and hydrogen peroxide in Salmonella typhimurium strain TA102

Several in vivo and in vitro studies have shown that grape extracts could prevent certain steps in carcinogenesis and a few mechanisms have been proposed for this activity. In this study, the potential antimutagenic activity of methanolic and aqueous extracts from two Greek grape varieties of Vitis vinifera against DNA damage induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) was assessed as a potential novel chemopreventive mechanism, using Salmonella typhimurium strain TA102. The two grape varieties were Assyrtiko (white grapes) and Mandilaria (red grapes), while the oxidant mutagens used were bleomycin (BLM) and hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). Since it has been considered that polyphenols present in grapes are their most potent biologically active compounds, we also tested the effects of polyphenol-rich fractions as well as some of the more common grape polyphenols on the activity of the two test mutagens. These polyphenols were quercetin, (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin, trans-resveratrol, gallic acid and protocatechuic acid. Almost all extracts showed inhibitory activity against both mutagens. On the other hand, polyphenol-rich fractions as well as individual polyphenols at concentrations found in the extracts either did not diminish or did enhance the activity of the mutagens. These results suggest that the protection of DNA from mutations induced by ROS may be one of the mechanisms accounting for the chemopreventive activity of grape extracts. However, it seems that this protective activity may not be attributed to polyphenols but rather to a synergism of many compounds in the grapes.     

Mutant huntingtin causes metabolic imbalance by disruption of hypothalamic neurocircuits

In Huntington's disease (HD), the mutant huntingtin protein is ubiquitously expressed. The disease was considered to be limited to the basal ganglia, but recent studies have suggested a more widespread pathology involving hypothalamic dysfunction. Here we tested the hypothesis that expression of mutant huntingtin in the hypothalamus causes metabolic abnormalities. First, we showed that bacterial artificial chromosome-mediated transgenic HD (BACHD) mice developed impaired glucose metabolism and pronounced insulin and leptin resistance. Selective hypothalamic expression of a short fragment of mutant huntingtin using adeno-associated viral vectors was sufficient to recapitulate these metabolic disturbances. Finally, selective hypothalamic inactivation of the mutant gene prevented the development of the metabolic phenotype in BACHD mice. Our findings establish a causal link between mutant huntingtin expression in the hypothalamus and metabolic dysfunction, and indicate that metabolic parameters are powerful readouts to assess therapies aimed at correcting dysfunction in HD by silencing huntingtin expression in the brain.