Identifying Predictors of Activity Based Anorexia Susceptibility in Diverse Genetic Rodent Populations

Animal studies are very useful in detection of early disease indicators and in unravelling the pathophysiological processes underlying core psychiatric disorder phenotypes. Early indicators are critical for preventive and efficient treatment of progressive psychiatric disorders like anorexia nervosa. Comparable to physical hyperactivity observed in anorexia nervosa patients, in the activity-based anorexia rodent model, mice and rats express paradoxical high voluntary wheel running activity levels when food restricted. Eleven inbred mouse strains and outbred Wistar WU rats were exposed to the activity-based anorexia model in search of identifying susceptibility predictors. Body weight, food intake and wheel running activity levels of each individual mouse and rat were measured. Mouse strains and rats with high wheel running activity levels during food restriction exhibited accelerated body weight loss. Linear mixed models for repeated measures analysis showed that baseline wheel running activity levels preceding the scheduled food restriction phase strongly predicted activity-based anorexia susceptibility (mice: Beta  =  −0.0158 (±0.003 SE), P<0.0001; rats: Beta  =  −0.0242 (±0.004 SE), P<0.0001) compared to other baseline parameters. These results suggest that physical activity levels play an important role in activity-based anorexia susceptibility in different rodent species with genetically diverse background. These findings support previous retrospective studies on physical activity levels in anorexia nervosa patients and indicate that pre-morbid physical activity levels could reflect an early indicator for disease severity.     

Origin and potential ecological risk assessment of trace elements in the watershed topsoil and coastal sediment of the Oualidia lagoon,Morocco

The Oualidia lagoon provides important ecosystem services, such as fishing, aquaculture, tourism and high biological and ecological productivity. Many indices have been developed to evaluate environmental risks and to estimate the anthropogenic contribution of potentially toxic elements (PTE) in surficial sediments. The results show that the concentrations of the PTE found in surface sediments due to the anthropogenic activities in the area (urban effluents, aquaculture and agricultural areas) are significantly higher than those from the local background and sediment quality guidelines (SQGs). The potential ecological and biological risk index present satisfactory results. However, the sites near to the areas where anthropogenic activities are developed present 49% probability of toxicity, while the rest of the lagoon, present 9% to 21% probability of toxicity and low potential ecological risk, except for Hg where the risk was considered to be considerable. The PTE are mainly originated from the anthropogenic activities; nevertheless, anthropogenic contributions represent up to 69% of the total sediment of content, but it depends on the PTE: Cd (16%), Ni (38%), Zn (41%), Cr (43%), Cu (56%), Hg (68%), Pb (69%). Compared with the Sub-basin soils, the PTE are higher than 80%, hence the sub-basin feeds the lagoon by these elements (PTE).     

Size diversity and species diversity relationships in fish assemblages of Western Palearctic lakes

Body size, coupled with abundance and taxonomy, may help to understand the mechanisms shaping community structure. Since the body size of fish is closely related to their trophic niche, size diversity (based on individual body size) of fish communities may capture intraspecific variations in fish trophic niches that are not detected by species diversity. Thus, the relationship between size diversity and species diversity may help to integrate variation at both intraspecific and interspecific levels. We studied the relationship between species diversity and size diversity as a measure of the degree of overlap in size among species and thereby the potential overlap in niches in a community. We hypothesized that the relationship between size diversity and species would be different across the European continent due to different levels of size overlap in fish communities. The data were derived from samplings of fish communities using standardised benthic gill nets in 363 lakes. At the continental scale, size diversity increased with species diversity; at the ecoregion scale, the slope of the relation changed across the continent, with the greatest mismatch occurring in northern Europe where communities comprised only one or a few species, but each of which exhibited a great range in size. There was an increase in slope towards the south with significant relations for four out of six ecoregions. The steeper size diversity‐species diversity slope at lower latitudes is attributable to a lower overlap in fish size and thus likely to finer niche separation. Our results also suggest that size diversity is not a strong surrogate for species diversity in European lake fish communities. Thus, particularly in fish communities composed of few species, measuring size diversity may help to detect potential functional variation which may be neglected by measuring species diversity alone.     

Sequence homology of polymorphic AFLP markers in garlic (Allium sativum L.).

Linkage mapping and genetic diversity studies with DNA markers in plant species assume that comigrating bands are identical, or at least that they have homologous sequences. To test this assumption in a plant with a large genome, sequence identities of 7 polymorphic amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers of garlic, previously used to estimate similarity in genetic diversity studies, were characterized. Among 37 diverse garlic clones, 87 bands from these 7 polymorphisms were excised, amplicons were cloned, and 2 to 6 colonies were sequenced from each band, to yield a total of 191 DNA amplicons. Of these 87 bands, 83 bands (95.4%) contained AFLP amplicons that were identical or highly homologous to the typical marker of that band; only 4 bands contained amplicons with little homology to the same-sized amplicons of other garlic clones. Of these 83 bands, 64 (73.6%) contained only highly homologous amplicons (>90% sequence identity), whereas 19 (21.8%) contained both homologous and nonhomologous amplicons, with sequence identities less than 60%. Of the 37 nonhomologous amplicons identified, 25 (67.5%) differed in length from other amplicons in the band. Sequence conservation of AFLP amplicons followed patterns similar to phylogenetic relationships among garlic clones, making them useful for developing simple PCR-based markers in genetic mapping and diversity assessment.     

Regulation and phylogeny of skeletal muscle regeneration

One of the most fascinating questions in regenerative biology is why some animals can regenerate injured structures while others cannot. Skeletal muscle has a remarkable capacity to regenerate even after repeated traumas, yet limited information is available on muscle repair mechanisms and how they have evolved. For decades, the main focus in the study of muscle regeneration was on muscle stem cells, however, their interaction with their progeny and stromal cells is only starting to emerge, and this is crucial for successful repair and re-establishment of homeostasis after injury. In addition, numerous murine injury models are used to investigate the regeneration process, and some can lead to discrepancies in observed phenotypes. This review addresses these issues and provides an overview of some of the main regulatory cellular and molecular players involved in skeletal muscle repair.     

Impact of food concentration on diel vertical migration behaviour of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Daphnia pulex</Emphasis> under fish predation risk

Vertical migration of Daphnia represents the best-studied predator-avoidance behaviour known; yet the mechanisms underlying the choice to migrate require further investigation to understand the role of environmental context. To investigate the optimal habitat choice of Daphnia under fish predation pressure, first, we selected the individuals exhibiting strong migration behaviour. The animals collected from the hypolimnion during the daytime were significantly larger, being more conspicuous, and in turn performed stronger diel vertical migration (DVM) when exposed to fish cue. We called them strong migrants. Second, we provided the strong migrant D. pulex with food at high and intermediate (1 and 0.4 mg C l⁻¹, respectively) levels, which were well above the incipient limiting level and of high quality. They traded the benefits of staying in the warm water layer and moved down to the cold water in response to fish cue indicating fish predation. The availability of food allowed the animals to stay in the cold hypolimnion. However, at the low food level (0.1 mg C l⁻¹), which is an additional constraint on fitness, Daphnia moved away from the cold hypolimnion. Poor food condition resulted in strong migrant Daphnia to cease migration and remain in the upper warmer water layer. Although temperature is known to be a more important cost factor of DVM than food, our results clearly show that this is only true as long as food is available. It becomes clear that food availability is controlling the direction of vertical positioning when daphnids experience a dilemma between optimising temperature and food condition while being exposed to fish cue. Then they overlook the predation risk. Thus, the optimal habitat choice of Daphnia appears to be a function of several variables including temperature, food levels and fish predation. Handling editor: S. I. Dodson