阪神パークのチンパンジー

“Hanshin Park” located in Nishinomiya, Hyogo prefecture was an amusement park owned and operated by the Hanshin electric railway company limited. The park was opened near Koshien Stadium in 1929, using the land after the exposition of accession for Emperor Showa. In the1930’s it had a chimpanzee, extremely unusual to see for the public in Japan. Unfortunately, the park was closed in 2003. We investigated the history of the facility the chimpanzees lived in, by checking documents, newspaper articles, and research papers. The female chimpanzee named“ Opera” was imported to Japan from Africa in 1934 and she became nationally famous, riding a bicycle, walking on stilts, and so on. Although it is not known when Opera died, it is estimated that she lived there for 2 to 5 years. A male chimpanzee named“ Bamboo” came to Kobe around 1940. Because the site of the park was using for military airport, he had to move to Higashiyama Zoo, Nagoya-city in 1943. By the end of World War II, he was the only chimpanzee still alive in Japan. Hanshin Park was opened again nearby in 1950 and a female chimpanzee named“ Birdie” arrived in 1973. Two of the three chimpanzees found in this research were not registered in the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums studbook. The information will be valuable not only for learning more about captive chimpanzees but also for improvement of their welfare

Assessing chimpanzee personality and subjective well-being in Japan

We tested whether the cultural background of raters influenced ratings of chimpanzee personality. Our study involved comparing personality and subjective well-being ratings of 146 chimpanzees in Japan that were housed in zoos, research institutes, and a retirement sanctuary to ratings of chimpanzees in US and Australian zoos. Personality ratings were made on a translated and expanded version of a questionnaire used to rate chimpanzees in the US and Australia. Subjective well-being ratings were made on a translated version of a questionnaire used to rate chimpanzees in the US and Australia. The mean interrater reliabilities of the 43 original adjectives did not markedly differ between the present sample and the original sample of 100 zoo chimpanzees in the US. Interrater reliabilities of these samples were highly correlated, suggesting that their rank order was preserved. Comparison of the factor structures for the Japanese sample and for the original sample of chimpanzees in US zoos indicated that the overall structure was replicated and that the Dominance, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness domains clearly generalized. Consistent with earlier studies, older chimpanzees had higher Dominance and lower Extraversion and Openness scores. Correlations between the six domain scores and subjective well-being were comparable to those for chimpanzees housed in the US and Australia. These findings suggest that chimpanzee personality ratings are not affected by the culture of the raters. Am

Identification of Dipeptidyl-Peptidase (DPP)5 and DPP7 in Porphyromonas endodontalis, Distinct from Those in Porphyromonas gingivalis

Dipeptidyl peptidases (DPPs) that liberate dipeptides from the N-terminal end of oligopeptides are crucial for the growth of Porphyromonas species, anaerobic asaccharolytic gram negative rods that utilize amino acids as energy sources. Porphyromonas endodontalis is a causative agent of periapical lesions with acute symptoms and Asp/Glu-specific DPP11 has been solely characterized in this organism. In this study, we identified and characterized two P. endodontalis DPPs, DPP5 and DPP7. Cell-associated DPP activity toward Lys-Ala-4-methylcoumaryl-7- amide (MCA) was prominent in P. endodontalis ATCC 35406 as compared with the Porphyromonas gingivalis strains ATCC 33277, 16-1, HW24D1, ATCC 49417, W83, W50, and HNA99. The level of hydrolysis of Leu-Asp-MCA by DPP11, Gly- Pro-MCA by DPP4, and Met-Leu-MCA was also higher than in the P. gingivalis strains. MER236725 and MER278904 are P. endodontalis proteins belong to the S9- and S46-family peptidases, respectively. Recombinant MER236725 exhibited enzymatic properties including substrate specificity, and salt- and pH-dependence similar to P. gingivalis DPP5 belonging to the S9 family. However, the kcat/Km figure (194 mM21?sec21) for the most potent substrate (Lys-Ala-MCA) was 18.4-fold higher as compared to the P. gingivalis entity (10.5 mM21?sec21). In addition, P. endodontalis DPP5 mRNA and protein contents were increased several fold as compared with those in P. gingivalis. Recombinant MER278904 preferentially hydrolyzed Met-Leu-MCA and exhibited a substrate specificity similar to P. gingivalis DPP7 belonging to the S46 family. In accord with the deduced molecular mass of 818 amino acids, a 105-kDa band was immunologically detected, indicating that P. endodontalis DPP7 is an exceptionally large molecule in the DPP7/DPP11/S46 peptidase family. The enhancement of four DPP activities was conclusively demonstrated in P. endodontalis, and remarkable Lys-Ala-MCAhydrolysis was achieved by qualitative and quantitative potentiation of the DPP5 molecule

Diversity and function of aerobic culturable bacteria in the intestine of deep-sea holothurian

Ninety-two aerobic culturable bacterial strains were isolated from each part of the intestine of the deep-sea holothurian collected at 32°30′N, 129°09′E (southeast of Fukue Island, Nagasaki, Japan) and water depth of 236 m in November 2010. The temperature of seawater at the water depth of the sampling point was estimated to be ca.13-14 °C from data in Japan Meteorological Agency. By partial 16S rRNA gene sequences of the isolates, the isolates belonged to 45 nearest type strain species (below, referred to as species). High diversity was observed in the genera Bacillus (21 species) and Vibrio (6 species). The bacterial diversity was similar among three parts, i.e. anterior, mid and posterior parts of the intestine and 14 species were detected in multiple parts of the intestine. Most isolates showed various polysaccharide degradation activities but few isolates showed alginate or agar degradation activities probably because there were no seaweeds containing alginate or agar in this deep-sea. Comparing the functions and properties of several species in three parts, the posterior part was likely to be different from the anterior or mid parts

Nasal Vaccination with the 40-Kilodalton Outer Membrane Protein of Porphyromonas gingivalis and a Nontoxic Chimeric Enterotoxin Adjuvant Induces Long-Term Protective Immunity with Reduced Levels of Immunoglobulin E Antibodies▿

In this study, we demonstrated that the 40-kDa outer membrane protein of Porphyromonas gingivalis (40-kDa OMP) nasally administered with a nontoxic chimeric adjuvant that combines the A subunit of mutant cholera toxin E112K with the pentameric B subunit of heat-labile enterotoxin from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (mCTA/LTB) elicited a long-term protective immune response. Immunization with the 40-kDa OMP and mCTA/LTB induced high levels of 40-kDa-OMP-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA antibodies (Abs) in sera and elicited a significant IgA anti-40-kDa OMP Ab response in saliva. These Ab responses were maintained for at least 1 year after the immunization. Although using adjuvant mCTA/LTB gave Ab responses in the saliva comparable to those obtained using native cholera toxin (nCT) as the adjuvant, the levels of total IgE and 40-kDa-OMP-specific IgE Abs as well as interleukin-4 levels induced by the immunization with mCTA/LTB were lower than those induced by the immunization with nCT. Importantly, IgG Abs generated by nasal immunization with the 40-kDa OMP plus mCTA/LTB inhibited the coaggregation and hemagglutinin activities of P. gingivalis. Furthermore, the mice given nasal 40-kDa OMP plus mCTA/LTB showed a significant reduction of alveolar bone loss caused by oral infection with P. gingivalis even 1 year after the immunization compared to the loss in unimmunized mice. Because mCTA/LTB is nontoxic, nasally administered 40-kDa OMP together with mCTA/LTB should be an effective and safe mucosal vaccine against P. gingivalis infection in humans and may be an important tool for the prevention of chronic periodontitis