Calcium transport in gill cells of Ucides cordatus, a mangrove crab living in variable salinity environments

Crustaceans show discontinuous growth and have been used as a model system for studying cellular mechanisms of calcium transport, which is the main mineral found in their exoskeleton. Ucides cordatus, a mangrove crab, is naturally exposed to fluctuations in calcium and salinity. To study calcium transport in this species during isosmotic conditions, dissociated gill cells were marked with fluo-3 and intracellular Ca2+ change was followed by adding extracellular Ca2+ as CaCl2 (0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.50, 1.0 and 5 mM), together with different inhibitors. for control gill cells, Ca2+ transport followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics with V-max = 0.137 +/- 0.001 Delta Ca(2+)i (mu M x 22.10(4) cells(-1) x 180 s(-1); N = 4; r(2) = 0.99); K-m = 0.989 +/- 0.027 mM. the use of different inhibitors for gill cells showed that amiloride (Na+/Ca2+ exchange inhibitor) inhibited 80% of Ca2+ transport in gill cells (V-max). KB-R, an inhibitor of Ca influx in vertebrates, similarly caused a decrease in Ca2+ transport and verapamil (Ca2+ channel inhibitor) had no effect on Ca2+ transport, while nifedipine (another Ca2+ channel inhibitor) caused a 20% decrease in Ca2+ affinity compared to control values. Ouabain, on the other hand, caused no change in Ca2+ transport while vanadate increased the concentration of intracellular calcium through inhibition of Ca2+ efflux probably through the plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase. Results show that transport kinetics for Ca2+ in these crabs under isosmotic conditions is lower compared to a hyper-regulator freshwater crab Dilocarcinus pagei studied earlier using fluorescent Ca2+ probes. These kinds of studies will help understanding the comparative mechanisms underlying the evolution of Ca transport in crabs living in different environments. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Universidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Renal Physiol, São Paulo, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Physiol, BR-05508900 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Renal Physiol, São Paulo, BrazilFAPESP: FAPESP 2009/15546-3Web of Scienc

Efeito da granulometria sobre o conteúdo energético do milho para frangos de corte.

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Carvedilol in cardiac hypertrophy due to use of anabolisants in rabbits

With the intention of testing the use of carvedilol for the treatment of secondary cardiovascular alterations due to the use of AAS, an experimental study was accomplished in 30 rabbits. Heart monitoring was performed through the analysis of heart silhouette obtained from a sequence of x-rays and evaluated through the program AUTOCAD 2004â. The use of carvedilol reduced in 13% in average the secondary myocardial hypertrophy to the use of 5 mg of nandrolone decanoate, weekly, during 9 weeks, providing remodelamento of the cardiac silhouette, with reduction of the areas, cardiac perimeters and volumes, when analyzed with the aid of the AUTOCAD 2004®. The use of carvedilol decrease in 13% the hypertrophy secondary to the chronic use of nandrolone decanoate in the dosage employed of 5mg for 9 weeks, remodeling of the cardiac silhouette. A decrease of areas, perimeters and heart size was observed when analyzed with the AUTOCAD 2004â program. The interpretation of heart remodulation with the use of AUTOCAD 2004® could be adopted in the veterinary medicine practice for the evaluation of the treatment of patients with long period cardiomyopathy, because its great versatility, low costs and for providing trustworthy parameters of evolution of the hipertrofic cardiomiopathy.Estudou-se a ação do carvedilol frente a alterações cardiovasculares induzidas pelo uso de esteróides anabólicos androgênicos (EAA), em 30 coelhos. O monitoramento cardíaco deu-se fundamentalmente pela análise da silhueta cardíaca a partir de radiografias seqüenciais mensais, analisadas através do programa AUTOCAD 2004®. O uso do carvedilol reduziu em 13% em média a hipertrofia miocárdica secundária ao uso de 5 mg de decanoato de nandrolona, semanalmente, durante nove semanas, proporcionando remodelamento da silhueta cardíaca, com diminuição das áreas, perímetros e volumes cardíacos, quando analisadas com o auxílio do AUTOCAD 2004®. A interpretação do remodelamento cardíaco com o AUTOCAD 2004® pode ser adotada como prática diagnóstica para a investigação de pacientes com cardiomiopatias pela sua versatilidade, baixo custo e por proporcionar parâmetros fidedignos de evolução de cardiopatias. O carvedilol é uma opção a ser considerada para o tratamento das cardiomiopatias hipertróficas

Integrating fungicide and biocontrol foliar spray on maize grain yield and fumonisin content.

The adoption of biocontrol is low in maize production, although it has been reported reduction in fumonisin levels when combined with fungicides. The objective of this work was to evaluate the potential of Streptomyces araujoniae (BC1) and Bacillus sp. (BC2) combined or not with the fungicide azoxystrobin+ciproconazol (FG), on grain yield, Fusarium verticillioides incidence and fumonisin (B1 and B2) content. Maize plants were sprayed two times, at V9 and R1 with Water, BC1, BC2, Fungicide alone or in different combinations two by two. All plants were inoculated with F. verticillioides. Upon harvest, treatments were evaluated for total yield, F. verticillioides grain contamination (blotter test) and total fumonisin (B1+B2) contents. FG (V9) + BC1 (R1) resulted in increased yield in three out of four field trials, while all other treatments increased yield in only two. All treatments except FG (V9 + R1) reduced F. verticillioides incidence. None of the treatments reduced fumonisin levels, but FG (V9 + R1), BC1 (V9) + FG (R1) and BC1 (V9) + BC1 (R1) resulted in higher mycotoxin content compared to the control. FG (V9) + BC1 (R1) increased yield, reduced grain contamination and didn?t contribute to higher fumonisin levels compared to control. Therefore, it can contribute to qualitative and quantitative maize grain yield improvement

Modeling viral coevolution: HIV multi-clonal persistence and competition dynamics

The coexistence of different viral strains (quasispecies) within the same host are nowadays observed for a growing number of viruses, most notably HIV, Marburg and Ebola, but the conditions for the formation and survival of new strains have not yet been understood. We present a model of HIV quasispecies competition, that describes the conditions of viral quasispecies coexistence under different immune system conditions. Our model incorporates both T and B cells responses, and we show that the role of B cells is important and additive to that of T cells. Simulations of coinfection (simultaneous infection) and superinfection (delayed secondary infection) scenarios in the early stages (days) and in the late stages of the infection (years) are in agreement with emerging molecular biology findings. The immune response induces a competition among similar phenotypes, leading to differentiation (quasi-speciation), escape dynamics and complex oscillations of viral strain abundance. We found that the quasispecies dynamics after superinfection or coinfection has time scales of several months and becomes even slower when the immune system response is weak. Our model represents a general framework to study the speed and distribution of HIV quasispecies during disease progression, vaccination and therapy.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure