Catestatin, vasostatin, cortisol, temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, scores of the short form of the Glasgow composite measure pain scale and visual analog scale for stress and pain behavior in dogs before and after ovariohysterectomy

Background: The stress reaction induced by surgery and associated pain may be detrimental for patient recovery and should be minimized. The neuropeptide chromogranin A (CGA) has shown promise as a sensitive biomarker for stress in humans. Little is known about CGA and its derived peptides, catestatin (CST) and vasostatin (VS), in dogs undergoing surgery. The objectives of this study were to investigate and compare concentrations of CGA epitopes CST and VS, cortisol, body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, scores of the short form of the Glasgow composite measure pain scale (CMPS-SF) and visual analog scales (VAS) for stress and pain behavior in dogs before and after ovariohysterectomy. Methods: Thirty healthy privately owned female dogs admitted for elective ovariohysterectomy were included. Physical examination, CMPS-SF, pain behavior VAS, and stress behavior VAS were recorded and saliva and blood samples were collected before surgery, 3h after extubation, and once at recall 7–15 days after surgery. Dogs were premedicated with morphine and received carprofen as analgesia for 7 days during the postoperative period. Results: At 3h after extubation, CMPS-SF and pain behavior VAS scores had increased (p<0.0001) and stress behavior VAS scores, temperature, respiratory rate (p<0.0001), plasma CST concentrations (p=0.002) had decreased significantly compared to before surgery. No significant differences were observed in the subjective and physiological parameters between before surgery and at recall, but plasma CST (p=0.04) and serum cortisol (p=0.009) were significantly lower at recall. Plasma VS, saliva CST, and heart rate did not differ significantly at any observed time. Conclusion: Study parameters for evaluating surgery-induced stress and pain changed in dogs subjected to ovariohysterectomy. To further evaluate CST and VS usefulness as pain biomarkers, studies on dogs in acute painful situations are warranted

Produção de mudas de pimenteira-do-reino em substrato comercial fertilizado com adubo de liberação lenta

As doenças provocadas por patógenos de solo vêm causando sérios prejuízos pipericultura nacional, em consequência da morte prematura das plantas. Em razão disso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a produção de mudas de três genótipos de pimenteira-do-reino, em substrato comercial isento de solo, e determinar as doses adequadas de adubo de liberação lenta, para cada genótipo, nesse substrato. Foram produzidas mudas clonais dos genótipos 'Guajarina', 'Iaçará' e 'Cingapura', em substrato comercial composto por casca de pínus e vermiculita. Ao substrato, foram misturadas cinco doses de adubo de liberação lenta, fórmula NPK 15-09-12: 0,0; 2,5; 5,0; 7,5 e 10 kg m-3. Aos 120 dias após a repicagem, os resultados mostraram que houve diferenças de crescimento entre os genótipos para todas as características avaliadas, com exceção de altura de plantas. Houve efeito das doses do adubo para todas as características avaliadas, porém a interação entre genótipos e doses do adubo foi constatada somente para o número de folhas e massas de matérias secas do sistema radicular e total. As mudas de 'Guajarina' foram as que obtiveram maior massa de matéria seca total, enquanto as de 'Cingapura' obtiveram o menor valor. As doses do adubo que proporcionaram os valores máximos de massa de matéria seca total das mudas foram 4,4 kg m-3 para 'Guajarina'; 6,4 kg m-3 para 'Iaçará' e 5,3 kg m-3 para 'Cingapura'

Heme-binding enables allosteric modulation in an ancient TIM-barrel glycosidase

Glycosidases are phylogenetically widely distributed enzymes that are crucial for the cleavage of glycosidic bonds. Here, we present the exceptional properties of a putative ancestor of bacterial and eukaryotic family-1 glycosidases. The ancestral protein shares the TIM-barrel fold with its modern descendants but displays large regions with greatly enhanced conformational flexibility. Yet, the barrel core remains comparatively rigid and the ancestral glycosidase activity is stable, with an optimum temperature within the experimental range for thermophilic family-1 glycosidases. None of the ∼5500 reported crystallographic structures of ∼1400 modern glycosidases show a bound porphyrin. Remarkably, the ancestral glycosidase binds heme tightly and stoichiometrically at a well-defined buried site. Heme binding rigidifies this TIM-barrel and allosterically enhances catalysis. Our work demonstrates the capability of ancestral protein reconstructions to reveal valuable but unexpected biomolecular features when sampling distant sequence space. The potential of the ancestral glycosidase as a scaffold for custom catalysis and biosensor engineering is discussed.Uppsala Universit