Effects of Soy Isoflavone extract treatment on Morphology and Morphometry of the Urinary Tract of Overiectomised Female Sprague Dawley Rats

The effect of soy isoflavone extract on the morphology and morphometry of the urinary tract of ovariectomised Sprague Dwaley rats were evaluated using histological methods. Twenty four virgin adult Sprague Dawley rats were placed into three groups treated as follows: sham operate + distilled water, ovariectomy + soy isoflavone and ovariectomy + distilled water for 65 days. A 125μg isoflavone/g body weight/ day dosage was administered to the experimental group with ad libitum soy-free feed and water. The means for variables muscularis thickness, lamina propria thickness, muscle nuclei density, epithelium thickness and number of blood vessels were compared using ANOVA at 95% confidence interval. The sham operated group recorded significantly higher values for muscularis thickness and muscle nuclei density in all organs compared to the other two groups. Lamina propria thickness was lowest in the sham-vehicle treared group for all organs. No significant differences in the lamina propria thickness were recorded between the ovariectomy + isoflavone treated and the ovariectomy + distilled water treated groups in the urethra and bladder ( p=0.74; p=0.20) respectively. Urethral blood vessel numbers were significantly higher in the ovariectomy+ soy isoflavone group compared to the control groups (p=0.03). Ovariectomy resulted muscle depletion and vacuolation copled with an increase in lamina propria thickness in all organs. Soy isoflavones slightly reversed the effects of ovariectomy on muscle and connective tissue components of the bladder, urethra and ureter. Soy isoflavones were able to weakly positively influence the morphology and morphometry of the urinary tract

High diversity and evidence for inter-species transmission in astroviruses surveyed from bats in Zibabwae

International audienceAstroviruses (AstVs) have been discovered in over 80 animal species including diverse bat species and avian species. A study on Astrovirus circulation and diversity in different insectivorous and frugivorous chiropteran species roosting in trees, caves and building basements was carried out at 11 different sites across Zimbabwe. Pooled and individual faecal sampling methods were used for this study, with collection dates ranging from June 2016 to July 2021. In two sites, Magweto and Chirundu, sampling was carried out at monthly intervals from August 2020 to July 2021. Astroviruses and bat mitochondrial genes were amplified using pan-AstVs and CytB /12S RNA PCR systems respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of the RdRp Astrovirus sequences revealed a high genetic diversity of astroviruses. All the bat astroviruses tested in this study clustered with the Mamastrovirus genus. Two distinct groups of amplified sequences were identified. One group was comprised of sequences isolated from Hipposideros, Rhinolophus and Eidolonhelvum spp. clustered with Human Astrovirus strains: HuAstV types1-6, HuAstV-MLB1-3 and HuAstV-VA-1. The second group comprising the majority of the sequences clustered with different strains of Bat AstVs. Results from the longitudinal study at Magweto and Chirundu showed an overall AstV prevalence of 13.7% and 10.4% respectively. Peaks of AstV infection at Chirundu coincided with the period when juveniles are 4-6 months old. By combining data from our previous work on Coronaviruses, we also anaylzed co-infection of bats with Coronaviruses and Astroviruses at Magweto and Chirundu sites for which the prevalence of co-infection was 2.6% and 3.5% respectively