Paternal early experiences influence infant development through non-social mechanisms in Rhesus Macaques.

BackgroundEarly experiences influence the developing organism, with lifelong and potentially adaptive consequences. It has recently become clear that the effects of early experiences are not limited to the exposed generation, but can influence physiological and behavioral traits in the next generation. Mechanisms of transgenerational effects of parental early experiences on offspring development are often attributed to prenatal or postnatal parental influence, but recent data suggest that germ-line plasticity may also play a role in the transgenerational effects of early experiences. These non-genetic transgenerational effects are a potentially important developmental and evolutionary force, but the effects of parental experiences on behavior and physiology are not well understood in socially complex primates. In the non-human primate, the rhesus macaque, nursery rearing (NR) is an early life manipulation used for colony management purposes, and involves separating infants from parents early in life. We examined the effects of maternal and paternal early NR on infant rhesus macaque immunity, physiology, and behavior.ResultsWe theorized that differences in behavior or physiology in the absence of parent-offspring social contact would point to biological and perhaps germ-line, rather than social, mechanisms of effect. Thus, all subjects were themselves NR. Male and female infant rhesus macaques (N= 206) were separated from parents and social groups in the first four days of life to undergo NR. These infants differed only in their degree of NR ancestry - whether their dams or sires were themselves NR. At 3-4 months of age, infants underwent a standardized biobehavioral assessment. Factors describing immunity, plasma cortisol, and emotion regulation were generated from these data using factor analysis. Paternal, but not maternal, NR was associated with greater emotionality and higher plasma cortisol, compared with infants born to CONTROL reared fathers.ConclusionsThese data suggest that macaque biobehavioral makeup is strongly influenced by paternal experiences, and via non-social mechanisms

Early Social Stress Promotes Inflammation and Disease Risk in Rhesus Monkeys.

Early social stress has potent lifelong health effects. We examined the association of early stress in the attachment relationship (low maternal sensitivity, low MS), lower maternal social hierarchy rank, and greater frequency of group-level social conflict, with biomarkers of inflammatory stress response in plasma (IL-8, MCP-1 and CRP collected two hours after temporary separation from mothers and social groups) and risk for developing a common macaques disease outcome (infectious colitis) in 170 socially-housed rhesus monkeys. We controlled for gene-environment correlations by comparing cross-fostered subjects with infants reared by their biological mothers. Low MS predicted higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and proteins at 3-4 months of age (F(3, 162) = 3.508, p = 0.002, partial eta2 = 0.061) and higher lifetime risk for developing colitis for up to twelve years of age (chi square = 5.919, p = 0.026). Lower maternal social rank (F (3, 162) = 3.789, p = 0.012, partial eta2 = 0.06) and higher rates of social conflict (F (3, 162) = 4.264, p = 0.006, partial eta2 = 0.074) each also predicted greater inflammation in infancy, but not lifetime colitis risk (both p > 0.05). The effects of low MS, lower social rank, and higher social conflict were significant in infants reared by biological mothers and cross-fostered infants, suggesting that our results did not arise from gene-environment correlations, but environmental stressors alone. We conclude that several types of early social stress confer risk for inflammation in infancy, but that stress in the mother-infant relationship may confer the longest-term risk for adverse health outcomes

Decoupling social status and status certainty effects on health in macaques: a network approach.

BackgroundAlthough a wealth of literature points to the importance of social factors on health, a detailed understanding of the complex interplay between social and biological systems is lacking. Social status is one aspect of social life that is made up of multiple structural (humans: income, education; animals: mating system, dominance rank) and relational components (perceived social status, dominance interactions). In a nonhuman primate model we use novel network techniques to decouple two components of social status, dominance rank (a commonly used measure of social status in animal models) and dominance certainty (the relative certainty vs. ambiguity of an individual's status), allowing for a more complex examination of how social status impacts health.MethodsBehavioral observations were conducted on three outdoor captive groups of rhesus macaques (N = 252 subjects). Subjects' general physical health (diarrhea) was assessed twice weekly, and blood was drawn once to assess biomarkers of inflammation (interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and C-reactive protein (CRP)).ResultsDominance rank alone did not fully account for the complex way that social status exerted its effect on health. Instead, dominance certainty modified the impact of rank on biomarkers of inflammation. Specifically, high-ranked animals with more ambiguous status relationships had higher levels of inflammation than low-ranked animals, whereas little effect of rank was seen for animals with more certain status relationships. The impact of status on physical health was more straightforward: individuals with more ambiguous status relationships had more frequent diarrhea; there was marginal evidence that high-ranked animals had less frequent diarrhea.DiscussionSocial status has a complex and multi-faceted impact on individual health. Our work suggests an important role of uncertainty in one's social status in status-health research. This work also suggests that in order to fully explore the mechanisms for how social life influences health, more complex metrics of social systems and their dynamics are needed

Variations in some of the body fluid hormone levels currently used for endocrine monitoring during the third trimester of pregnancy

Peer Reviewe

Potenciales presas zooplanctónicas (Copepoda y Appendicularia) para Engraulis anchoita en relación con las distribuciones de larvas tempranas y de desove en la región frontal patagónica (océano Atlántico sudoccidental)

We investigated the spatial distribution of the abundance, biomass and size of zooplankton (nauplii, calanoids, cyclopoids and appendicularians) in relation to the distribution of first-feeding larvae and eggs of Engraulis anchoita across the frontal system of Peninsula Valdés. Twelve samples of zooplankton and ichthyoplankton were taken with small Bongo (67 μm) and Pairovet (200 μm) nets during the spring of 2004 along two transects. The total abundance of zooplankton and the chlorophyll a concentration were higher in homogeneous waters, while total biomasses were higher in stratified waters. Temperature was negatively correlated with biological variables and was the main factor affecting the zooplankton distribution. In both transects, abundance peaks of first-feeding larvae were detected at coastal stations along with the smallest fraction of zooplankton ( < 500 μm), while the largest fraction was dominant at the external stations, coinciding with the highest egg abundance. The physical structure of this front generates different levels of food availability for first-feeding larvae. Calanoids (southern transect) and cyclopoids (northern transect) are predominant followed by nauplii and appendicularians. The biomass of zooplankton preys contributes to the carbon transfer to the upper trophic levels and is probably important for the survival and growth of anchovy larvae in this frontal system.Se investigó la distribución espacial de la abundancia, biomasa y las tallas del zooplancton (nauplii, calanoideos, ciclopoideos y apendicularias) en relación con la distribución de las larvas en estadio de primera alimentación y los huevos de Engraulis anchoita en el sistema frontal de Península Valdés. Se tomaron 12 muestras de zooplancton e ictioplancton durante la primavera de 2004 a lo largo de dos transectos, mediante una red Minibongo (67 μm) y una Pairovet (200 μm) respectivamente. La abundancia total del zooplancton y la concentración de clorofila fue mayor en aguas homogéneas, mientras que la biomasa fue mayor en aguas estratificadas. La temperatura se correlacionó negativamente con las variables biológicas siendo ésta el principal factor que afectó la distribución del zooplancton. En las estaciones costeras de ambos transectos, se encontró la mayor abundancia de larvas en coincidencia con la fracción más pequeña de zooplancton ( < 500 μm), mientras que la fracción más grande fue dominante en las estaciones externas, en coincidencia con la mayor abundancia de huevos. La estructura física de este frente genera diferente disponibilidad de alimento para las larvas siendo los calanoideos (transecto sur) y los ciclopoideos (transecto norte) predominantes, seguidos por nauplii y apendicularias. La biomasa de dicho alimento zooplanctónico podría contribuir a la transferencia de carbono a los niveles tróficos superiores y esto sería importante para la supervivencia y crecimiento de la anchoita en este sistema frontal

Effect of chicken bone extracts on metabolic and mitochondrial functions of K562 cell line

Background: Tetracyclines’ use in intensive animal farming has raised some concerns regarding the biosafety for humans. Increasing evidences have revealed the presence of these drugs in processed animal by-products, such as bone, throughout the food chain. A potential off-target of tetracyclines is the bacterial-like mitochondrial translational machinery, thereby causing proteostatic alterations in mitochondrial DNA-encoded components of the oxidative phosphorylation system. Methods: The Seahorse methodology, confocal microscopy imaging of mitochondrial potential and reactive oxygen species, and q-RT-PCR analysis of the expression of genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and mitophagy were carried out on human lymphoblast derived K562 cell line challenged with bone powder derived from chicken treated with or without oxytetracycline and pure oxytetracycline. Results: A complex dose-dependent profile was attained with a low dosage of bone powder extracts causing a metabolic adaptation hallmarked by stimulation of the mitochondrial respiration and enhanced expression of mitochondriogenic factors in particular in cells challenged with oxytetracycline-free bone extract. Conversely, a higher dosage of bone powder extracts, regardless of their source, caused a progressive inhibition of mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis, ultimately leading to cell death. No significant effects of the pure oxytetracycline were observed. Conclusion: Bone powder, regardless of chicken treatment, contains and releases factors/chemicals responsible for the observed effects on energy metabolism. Quantitative differential effects appear to depend on biochemical alterations in the bone matrix caused by antibiotics rather than antibiotics themselves

Five new INTEGRAL unidentified hard X-Ray sources uncovered by Chandra

The IBIS imager on board INTEGRAL, with a sensitivity better than a mCrab in deep observations and a point source location accuracy of the order of few arcminutes, has localized so far 723 hard X-ray sources in the 17--100 keV energy band, of which a fraction of about 1/3 are still unclassified. The aim of this research is to provide sub-arcsecond localizations of the unidentified sources, necessary to pinpoint the optical and/or infrared counterpart of those objects whose nature is so far unknown. The cross-correlation between the new IBIS sources published within the fourth INTEGRAL/IBIS Survey catalogue and the CHANDRA/ACIS data archive resulted in a sample of 5 not yet identified objects. We present here the results of CHANDRA X-ray Observatory observations of these five hard X-ray sources discovered by the INTEGRAL satellite. We associated IGR J10447-6027 with IR source 2MASSJ10445192-6025115, IGR J16377-6423 with the cluster CIZA J1638.2-6420, IGR J14193-6048 with the pulsar with nebula PSR J1420-6048 and IGR J12562+2554 with the Quasar SDSSJ125610.42+260103.5. We suggest that the counterpart of IGR J12288+0052 may be an AGN/QSO type~2 at a confidence level of 90%.Comment: ApJ accepte