Sphingosine 1-phosphate promotes activation of aprine preantral follicle in vitro

Este estudo descreve o efeito da esfingosina 1-fosfato (S1P) no desenvolvimento de folículos pré-antrais, portanto da ativação e viabilidade de folículos caprinos cultivados in vitro. Fragmentos de ovários foram cultivados por um ou sete dias em meio essencial mínimo com diferentes concentrações de S1P (0, 1, 10, 50, 100 ou 200ng/mL). Os fragmentos de ovário foram processados para análise histológica em microscopia óptica, microscopia eletrônica e microscopia de fluorescência. O tratamento usando 1ng/mL de S1P foi capaz de manter a porcentagem de folículos normais durante o período de cultivo de sete dias. Ao final do período de cultivo, houve uma redução significativa (p<0,05) na porcentagem de folículos primordiais em todos os grupos tratados com S1P, comparados com os grupos controle (FC e CC), seguida por um aumento do número de folículos ativados (intermediários, primários e secundários). Adicionalmente, na cultura por sete dias com meio suplementado com S1P (1ng/mL), houve preservação da ultraestrutura das organelas e manteve-se a viabilidade dos folículos pré-antrais avaliados por microscopia de fluorescência. Em conclusão, após sete dias de cultura, o meio suplementado com 1ng/mL de S1P ativa o desenvolvimento de folículos pré-antrais de caprino, cultivados in situ e mantém as viabilidades oocitária e folicular.This study describes the effect of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) for development of preantral follicle, therefore the activation and follicular viability of caprine follicles cultured in vitro. Ovarian fragments were cultured for 1 or 7 days in Minimum Essential Medium with different S1P concentrations (0, 1, 10, 50, 100 or 200ng/mL). All ovarian fragments were processed for histological analysis in optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and fluorescence analysis. The treatment using 1ng/mL of S1P was able to maintain the percentage of normal follicles with the progression of the culture from day 1 to 7. At end of the 7-day culture period there was a significant reduction (P<0.05) in the percentage of primordial follicles in all groups treated with S1P, compared with fresh control (FC) and Control Culture (CC), which was followed by an increase of activated follicles (intermediary, primary and secondary). In addition, the culture for 7 days with media supplemented with S1P with 1ng/mL preserved the ultrastructure of organelles and kept the preantral follicular viability when evaluated by fluorescence microscopy. In conclusion, after 7 days of culture, the 1ng/mL of S1P activates the development of preantral caprine follicles, cultured in situ and maintains the oocitary and follicular viability

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time, and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge, it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

The differentiation potential of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells into cell lineage related to male germ cells

ABSTRACT The adipose tissue is a reliable source of Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) showing a higher plasticity and transdifferentiation potential into multilineage cells. In the present study, adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AT-MSCs) were isolated from mice omentum and epididymis fat depots. The AT-MSCs were initially compared based on stem cell surface markers and on the mesodermal trilineage differentiation potential. Additionally, AT-MSCs, from both sources, were cultured with differentiation media containing retinoic acid (RA) and/or testicular cell-conditioned medium (TCC). The AT-MSCs expressed mesenchymal surface markers and differentiated into adipogenic, chondrogenic and osteogenic lineages. Only omentum-derived AT-MSCs expressed one important gene marker related to male germ cell lineages, after the differentiation treatment with RA. These findings reaffirm the importance of adipose tissue as a source of multipotent stromal-stem cells, as well as, MSCs source regarding differentiation purpose

Efeito da somatotrofina bovina (bST-r), do implante de progestágeno e do desmame por 72 horas na indução do estro e na taxa de prenhez em vacas

Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a eficiência de tratamentos hormonais sobre a fertilidade de vacas de corte no pós-parto com diferentes condições corporais, durante a estação de monta de outono. Setenta e três vacas pluríparas cruzadas (Hereford x Nelore) criadas extensivamente, com condição corporal entre 2 e 4, foram pesadas e distribuídas em três grupos experimentais. O grupo GSED, constituído por 25 vacas, recebeu pessário vaginal (dia 0) contendo 250mg de acetato de medroxiprogesterona e 500mg de somatotropina bovina recombinante (bST-r). Na retirada dos pessários (dia 7), as vacas receberam 0,5mg de cipionato de estradiol e procedeu-se o desmame temporário dos bezerros por 72 horas. No grupo SED, 25 vacas receberam tratamento semelhante ao grupo GSED, porém não receberam bST-r. No grupo-controle, as 23 vacas somente foram separadas dos seus bezerros por 72h. Quando da retirada dos pessários as vacas foram colocadas com touros por 30 dias. Os animais foram pesados e avaliados quanto à condição corporal no início do experimento e na retirada dos touros (dia 37). Foi constatada perda média de peso de 0,648 kg/dia e os percentuais de estro foram de 26,1%, 33,3% e 56,5%, respectivamente, para os grupos controle, SED e GSED. O diagnóstico de gestação, realizado pela palpação retal 60 dias após a retirada dos touros, indicou percentuais de prenhez de 13,0%, 8,3% e 21,7%, respectivamente, para os grupos controle, SED e GSED (P=0,16), demonstrando que os programas hormonais adotados não foram eficientes no incremento das taxas de prenhez de vacas que perdiam peso entre 50 e 70 dias após o parto