animation

Squalene is a high-value antioxidant with many commercial applications. The use of microbial cell factories to produce squalene as an alternative to plant and animal extracts could meet increasing market demand. Yarrowia lipolytica is an excellent host for squalene production due to its high levels of acetyl-CoA and a hydrophobic environment. However, the need for precise and complicated gene editing has hindered the industrialization of this strain. Herein, the rapid construction of a strain with high squalene production was achieved by enhancing the homologous recombination efficiency in Y...

Animal models are critical for understanding the initiation and progression of myopia, a refractive condition that causes blurred distance vision. The prevalence of myopia is rapidly increasing worldwide, and myopia increases the risk of developing potentially blinding diseases. Current pharmacological, optical, and environmental interventions attenuate myopia progression in children, but it is still unclear how this occurs or how these interventions can be improved to increase their protective effects. To optimize myopia interventions, directed mechanistic studies are needed...

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a mosquito-borne virus endemic to Africa and the Middle East. RVFV infection can cause encephalitis, which is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Studies of RVFV encephalitis following percutaneous inoculation, as would occur following a mosquito bite, have historically been limited by a lack of consistent animal models. In this review, we describe new insights into the pathogenesis of RVFV and the opportunities provided by new mouse models. We underscore the need to consider viral strain and route of inoculation when interpreting data obtained using animal models...

Objective: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a challenging psychiatric disorder and a complex disease. The associated reduction in serum vitamin D3 (VitD3 ) levels in BD patients and the contribution of zinc (Zn) to the treatment, along with the severe side effects of lithium (Li) treatment, were encouraging to assess the efficacy of different correlated combinations of therapeutic/nutraceutical treatments such as olanzapine (Oln), VitD3, and Zn against Li. Methods: Mania was induced in C57BL/6 mice by administering methylphenidate (MPH) for 14 consecutive days...

About 10 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year. Globally, it is the second leading cause of death after heart disease, and by 2035, the death toll could reach 14.6 million. Several drugs and treatments are available to treat cancer, but survival rates remain low. Many studies in recent years have shown that plant-derived monoterpenes, particularly geraniol and citral, are effective against various cancers, including breast, liver, melanoma, endometrial, colon, prostate, and skin cancers. This trend has opened new possibilities for the development of new therapeutics or adjuvants in the field of cancer therapy...

Sterile alpha and TIR motif-containing 1 (SARM1) is a protein involved in programmed death of injured axons. Following axon injury or a drug-induced insult, the TIR domain of SARM1 degrades the essential molecule nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), leading to a form of axonal death called Wallerian degeneration. Degradation of NAD+ by SARM1 is essential for the Wallerian degeneration process, but accumulating evidence suggest that other activities of SARM1, beyond the mere degradation of NAD+, may be necessary for programmed axonal death...

To study how the nervous system processes visual information, experimenters must record neural activity while delivering visual stimuli in a controlled fashion. In animals with a nearly panoramic field of view, such as flies, precise stimulation of the entire visual field is challenging. We describe a projector-based device for stimulation of the insect visual system under a microscope. The device is based on a bowl-shaped screen that provides a wide and nearly distortion-free field of view. It is compact, cheap, easy to assemble, and easy to operate using the included open-source software for stimulus generation...

Functional neuroimaging studies indicate that the human brain can represent concepts and their relational structure in memory using coding schemes typical of spatial navigation. However, whether we can read out the internal representational geometries of conceptual spaces solely from human behavior remains unclear. Here, we report that the relational structure between concepts in memory might be reflected in spontaneous eye movements during verbal fluency tasks: When we asked participants to randomly generate numbers, their eye movements correlated with distances along the left-to-right one-dimensional geometry of the number space (mental number line), while they scaled with distance along the ring-like two-dimensional geometry of the color space (color wheel) when they randomly generated color names...

Clinical assessment of body condition is crucial in captive and free-ranging reptiles, since a large percentage of diseases result from inadequate nutrition. However, preventive health care is restricted by the lack of a practical method for the assessment in tortoises. Pre-existing evaluation systems based on weight and shell measurements are laborious and ignore the clinical presentation of the animal. The present study aimed to facilitate the assessment by establishing a body condition score. A total of 373 Hermann's Tortoises (Testudo hermanni) (n = 281 tortoises kept as pets in Germany and n = 92 tortoises originating from a free-ranging population (68) or a rearing station (24) in France) were examined and data (weight (g), carapace length (cm), width (cm), height (cm)) were recorded in a standard protocol between October 2020 and October 2021...

The impact of microbiome in animal physiology is well appreciated, but characterization of animal-microbe symbiosis in marine environments remains a growing need. This study characterizes the microbial communities associated with the moon jellyfish Aurelia coerulea, first isolated from the East Pacific Ocean and has since been utilized as an experimental system. We find that the microbiome of this Pacific Aurelia culture is dominated by two taxa, a Mollicutes and Rickettsiales. The microbiome is stable across life stages, although composition varies...

The claustrum is an irregular and fine sheet of grey matter in the basolateral telencephalon present in almost all mammals. The claustrum has been the object of several studies using animal models and, more recently, in human beings using neuroimaging. One of the most extended cognitive processes attributed to the claustrum is the salience process, which is also related to the insular cortex. In the same way, studies with human subjects and functional magnetic resonance imaging have reported the coactivation of the claustrum/insular cortex in the integration of sensory signals...

While chronic stress induces learning and memory impairments, acute stress may facilitate or prevent memory consolidation depending on whether it occurs during the learning event or before it, respectively. On the other hand, it has been shown that histone acetylation regulates long-term memory formation. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of two inhibitors of class I histone deacetylases (HDACs), 4-phenylbutyrate (PB) and IN14 (100 mg/kg/day, ip for 2 days), on memory performance in mice exposed to a single 15-min forced swimming stress session...

The aim of this study was to elucidate the specific mechanism through which 7-difluoromethoxy-5,4'-dimethoxygenistein (DFMG) inhibits angiogenesis in atherosclerosis (AS) plaques, given its previously observed but poorly understood inhibitory effects. In vitro, a model using Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial (HUVEC-12) cells simulated the initial lesion in the atherosclerotic pathological process, specifically oxidative stress injury, by exposing cells to 30 μmol/L LPC. Additionally, an AS mouse model was developed in ApoE knockout mice through a 16-week period of high-fat feeding...

BACKGROUND: Considering the expected increase in the elderly population and the growing emphasis on aging-related biomedical research, the demand for aged laboratory animals has surged, challenging established husbandry practices. Our objective was to establish a cost-effective method for environmental enrichment, utilizing the liver as a representative organ to assess potential metabolic changes in response to differing enrichment levels. METHODS: We conducted a six-month study involving 24 male Sprague Dawley rats, randomly assigned to four environmental enrichment groups...

Streptococcus suis (S. suis) infections in weaned pigs are common and responsible for a high consumption of antimicrobials, and their presence is assumed to be multi-factorial. A specific evidence-based veterinary guideline to support the control of S. suis in weaned pigs was developed for veterinary practitioners in the Netherlands in 2014. Adherence to the S. suis clinical practice guideline helps veterinary practitioners to prevent and control the disease in a systematical approach and thereby improve antimicrobial stewardship and contribute to the prevention of antimicrobial resistance in animals and humans...

There is a critical need for widespread information dissemination of agricultural best practices in Africa. Literacy, language and resource barriers often impede such information dissemination. Culturally and linguistically localized, computer-animated training videos placed on YouTube and promoted through paid advertising is a potential tool to help overcome these barriers. The goal of this study is to assess the feasibility of reaching language-diverse populations in Africa using this new type of information dissemination channel...

In vitro cell culture serves as an efficient system for studying animal cell behavior in a controlled setting. Here, we present a 3D culture model for forming ruminant adipose organoids using stromal vascular fraction cells. We describe steps for forming cell spheroids and growing them on a Matrigel-coated surface. We then detail procedures for inducing organoids to undergo angiogenesis and adipogenesis followed by capillary sprouting. This protocol can be utilized to study the interaction between blood vessels and adipocytes...

AbstractLong-term social and genetic monogamy is rare in animals except birds, but even in birds it is infrequent and poorly understood. We investigated possible advantages of monogamy in a colonial, facultative cooperatively breeding bird from an arid, unpredictable environment, the sociable weaver ( Philetairus socius ). We documented divorce and extrapair paternity of 703 pairs over 10 years and separated effects of pair duration from breeding experience by analyzing longitudinal and cross-sectional datasets...

OBJECTIVES: Constipation is the infrequent or difficult emission of hard, dry faeces and is a common digestive condition in cats. Psyllium is a low-fermentable fibre, with soluble and insoluble components and water-holding properties. It forms a mucilaginous gel with water and is used for the symptomatic treatment of constipation in various species. This study evaluated the effect of dietary psyllium on faecal characteristics in cats. METHODS: Healthy neutered adult cats (six female and three male, aged 3...

Despite the potential protective role of the gut microbiome against COVID-19, specific microbes conferring resistance to COVID-19 have not yet been identified. In this work, we aimed to identify and validate gut microbes at the species level that provide protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection. To identify gut microbes conferring protection against COVID-19, we conducted a fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from an individual with no history of COVID-19 infection or immunization into a lethal COVID-19 hamster model...