Acute exposure of a glyphosate-based herbicide affects the gills and liver of the Neotropical fish, Piaractus mesopotamicus

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Effects of monocrotaline on energy metabolism in the rat liver

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Transcriptome architecture across tissues in the pig

Background: Artificial selection has resulted in animal breeds with extreme phenotypes. As an organism is made up of many different tissues and organs, each with its own genetic programme, it is pertinent to ask: How relevant is tissue in terms of total transcriptome variability? Which are the genes most distinctly expressed between tissues? Does breed or sex equally affect the transcriptome across tissues?Results: In order to gain insight on these issues, we conducted microarray expression profiling of 16 different tissues from four animals of two extreme pig breeds, Large White and Iberian, two males and two females. Mixed model analysis and neighbor - joining trees showed that tissues with similar developmental origin clustered closer than those with different embryonic origins. Often a sound biological interpretation was possible for overrepresented gene ontology categories within differentially expressed genes between groups of tissues. For instance, an excess of nervous system or muscle development genes were found among tissues of ectoderm or mesoderm origins, respectively. Tissue accounted for similar to 11 times more variability than sex or breed. Nevertheless, we were able to confidently identify genes with differential expression across tissues between breeds (33 genes) and between sexes (19 genes). The genes primarily affected by sex were overall different than those affected by breed or tissue. Interaction with tissue can be important for differentially expressed genes between breeds but not so much for genes whose expression differ between sexes.Conclusion: Embryonic development leaves an enduring footprint on the transcriptome. The interaction in gene x tissue for differentially expressed genes between breeds suggests that animal breeding has targeted differentially each tissue's transcriptome.

Breeding of Ornidia obesa (Diptera: Syrphidae: Eristalinae) on Pig Carcasses in Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Abamectin affects the bioenergetics of liver mitochondria: A potential mechanism of hepatotoxicity

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Supersensitivity of the isolated guinea-pig vas deferens induced by a toxic fraction of scorpion venom (Tityus serrulatus)

1. Tityustoxin (TsTx), a toxic fraction of Tityus serrulatus venom, was studied on the isolated guinea-pig vas deferens. It increased significantly the maximal response of the preparation to both norepinephrine and acetylcholine and decreased the effective median dose of norepinephrine. 2. The effect of TsTx on norepinephrine median dose was unchanged when atropinized or pharmacologically 'denervated' preparations were used but was abolished when both procedures were associated. 3. Atropinization of pharmacologically denervated muscles almost never modify the TsTx-induced increase in the maximal response to norepinephrine. 4. On denervated or phentolamine-treated muscles TsTx-induced increase in the maximal response to acetylcholine was abolished. 5. It was concluded that toxin predominantly induces adrenergic postsynaptic supersensitivity. 6. Of minor significance, it also induces presynaptic cholinergic and adrenergic supersensitivity. 7. Comparison of these results with those of crude venom indicates that TsTx effects may result from the sum of the effects of subcomponents not demonstrated by the chemical procedures here utilized.

Effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) on the histamine release induced by compound 48/80 and cardiac anaphylaxis in guinea-pig isolated heart

Histamine release from guinea pig heart treated with compound 48/80 was potentiated by the cyclooxygenase inhibitors indomethacin and piroxicam but not by aspirin or phenylbutazone. This differential effect suggests that the potentiation is not merely due to an inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis. Piroxicam potentiated the histamine release induced by cardiac anaphylaxis whereas indomethacin reduced this effect. The SRS-A antagonist FPL 55712 inhibited histamine release induced by cardiac anaphylaxis, but not that evoked by compound 48/80, and also prevented the potentiation due to indomethacin and piroxicam. In total, these data suggest that the potentiation of histamine release by piroxicam and indomethacin is probably due to a diversion of arachidonic acid metabolism from the cyclooxygenase to the lipoxygenase pathways. The resulting lipoxygenase products may then regulate histamine release, with the secretion due to antigen being more sensitive to such modulation than that evoked by compound 48/80.