Ultrasound characterization of the coelomic cavity organs of the red-footed tortoise ( Chelonoidis carbonaria )

ABSTRACT: Herein it was describe sonographic morphology and sintopy of the bowels of the coelomic cavity in the red-footed tortoise. Coelomic cavity of 19 males and 19 females were scanned through cervical and prefemoral access with a multifrequency sector transducer. Morphology, syntopy and echogenicity of the heart, thyroid, liver, gallbladder, reproductive organs, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, urinary bladder and kidneys were evaluated. The heart showed two atria and one ventricle with a thick, trabecular wall. The thyroid was oval and hyperecoic, visualized in the cardiac portion of the ultrasound. The liver, gallbladder and digestive system were similar to those seen in mammals and turtles. However, the tortoise liver was relatively more hyperechoic than mammals. The kidneys appeared as triangular structures, which were hypoechoic, homogeneous and vascularized; the bladder was observed mostly as being elongated with anechoic content, and its wall appeared as a thin hyperechoic line when free fluid was present. The testes were observed to be elongated, homogeneous and more hyperechoic than kidneys. The ovarian follicles were seen as hyperechoic, echogenic balls of variable size and quantity, the oviduct as a sigmoid tubular structure and the eggs as thin hyperechoic lines with posterior acoustic shadowing. In some animals, there were variable amounts of fluid around the heart and in the coelomic cavity

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field