bassianolide and Disease-Models--Animal

Topics: Animals; Bass; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Enzymes; HaCaT Cells; Humans; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; NIH 3T3 Cells; Peptides; Surgical Wound; Tissue Extracts; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Wound Healing

Sturgeon muscle byproduct collected after caviar production is usually not fully utilized, and sometimes may be discarded, thus causing a lot of waste. Yet dietary protein hydrolysates, which may be derived from sturgeon muscle, have been reported to have versatile beneficial biological activities. Studying the biological activities of sturgeon muscle-derived hydrolysates holds much promise for adding value to sturgeon. The current study aimed to study the therapeutic anti-inflammatory effects of sturgeon muscle-derived hydrolysates and the underlying mechanisms. The administration of sturgeon hydrolysates (SH) significantly decreased the severity of DSS-induced damage, evidenced by increased body weight, colon length, and decreased disease activity index (DAI) and histological scores. SH also inhibited myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and reduced the serum levels of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α. Western blotting results revealed that SH suppressed DSS-induced activation of the NF-κB and MAPK pathways in the colon. Furthermore, SH partially restored the alteration of the gut microbiota in colitic mice. SH increased the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio and the relative abundance of Ruminococcaceae, Porphyromonadaceae, and Bacteroidetes S24-7, while decreased the abundance of potentially harmful bacteria Erysipelotrichaceae and Enterococcaceae. These results suggest that SH inhibited DSS-induced colitis by regulating the NF-κB and MAPK pathways and modulating microbiota composition.

Topics: Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Bass; Colitis; Colitis, Ulcerative; Colon; Dextran Sulfate; Disease Models, Animal; Fish Proteins, Dietary; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Male; MAP Kinase Signaling System; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; NF-kappa B; Protein Hydrolysates

Sea bass (Lateolabrax maculatus) has been used for dietary therapy practice for wound healing of puerperal or surgery patients in China. Traditional Chinese medicinal books also documented that sea bass can be used to manage inflammation-associated conditions such as wound, miscarriage and cough. Some studies also proved that dietary supplement with fish benefited for treating many inflammatory - associated conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, ulcerative colitis and hyperlipidemia. However, the studies on the pharmacological mechanisms of wound healing efficacy of sea bass remain lack of investigation.. The aim of this study is to investigate the molecular mechanisms of sea bass on wound healing efficacy. Establishing a further justification for clinical application of aqueous extract of sea bass (ASB) in treating wound healing.. Transition from inflammation to proliferation phase treated as the critical step in wound repair which were investigated via in vitro and in vivo study. A series of inflammatory mediators associated with wound healing and proliferation effects of fibroblasts upon treatments were studied via Western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and scratch assay. The cutaneous wound model was applied on skin wound healing study to observe the healing process in C57BL/6 mice upon ASB treatments. Hematological parameters and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) secretions in serum were determined. Histopathological examinations were conducted by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and Masson staining. Immunofluorescence were performed to identify infiltrating neutrophils (MPO) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA).. Results showed that ASB significantly reduced the production of inflammatory mediators cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nitrite oxide (NO) production and TNF-α. The phosphorylation and nuclear protein levels of transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-ĸB) in toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling were decreased by ASB treatment as well. Wound closure rate and cyclin D1 expression level of fibroblasts were significantly increased by ASB treatments. Moreover, cutaneous wound model in C57BL/6 mice presented many similarities in appearance to the process of wound healing.. The in vitro study demonstrated an inhibitory effect of ASB on the inflammatory mediators regulated by TLR4 signaling pathways, providing evidence that ASB treatment potentially accelerate the wound healing through migration and proliferation enhancement. Additionally, the in vivo study suggested that ASB treatment has a potential in accelerating the proliferation phase of wound healing via well-organized abundant collagen deposition, angiogenesis and re-epithelialization in wounds. The present findings can be treated as a pharmacological basis for the folk use of sea bass and further studies in biological and medical fields.

Topics: Animals; Bass; Cell Proliferation; Collagen; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Inflammation; Male; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Neovascularization, Physiologic; RAW 264.7 Cells; Seafood; Signal Transduction; Skin; Toll-Like Receptor 4; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Wound Healing

Cortisol, the main glucocorticoid stress hormone in teleost fish, is of interest as a mediator of maternal stress on offspring characteristics because it plays an organizational role during early development. The present study tested the hypothesis that maternal exposure to cortisol treatment prior to spawn affects offspring phenotype using wild largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Baseline and stress-induced cortisol concentrations, body size (i.e. length and mass), and behavior (i.e. anxiety, exploration, boldness, and aggression) were assessed at different offspring life-stages and compared between offspring of control and cortisol-treated females. Cortisol administration did not affect spawning success or timing, nor were whole-body cortisol concentrations different between embryos from cortisol-treated and control females. However, maternal cortisol treatment had significant effects on offspring stress responsiveness, mass, and behavior. Compared to offspring of control females, offspring of cortisol-treated females exhibited larger mass right after hatch, and young-of-the-year mounted an attenuated cortisol response to an acute stressor, and exhibited less thigmotaxic anxiety, exploratory behavior, boldness and aggression. Thus, offspring phenotype was affected by elevated maternal cortisol levels despite the absence of a significant increase in embryo cortisol concentrations, suggesting that a mechanism other than the direct deposition of cortisol into eggs mediates effects on offspring. The results of the present raise questions about the mechanisms through which maternal stress influences offspring behavior and physiology, as well as the impacts of such phenotypic changes on offspring fitness.

Topics: Aggression; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Anxiety; Bass; Body Size; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Embryo, Mammalian; Exploratory Behavior; Female; Hydrocortisone; Male; Maternal Exposure; Reaction Time; Reproduction; Stress, Physiological; Swimming

The Redeye Bass, Micropterus coosae, was described from the Mobile River basin, Chattahoochee, and Savannah rivers in Alabama and Georgia, USA, by Hubbs and Bailey (1940). At that time the authors recognized significant variation in the Black Warrior River population, and noted that with further study this form may be recognized as a separate taxon. An examination of variation in morphology and mitochondrial DNA supported this observation, and highlighted additional species-level variation, resulting in descriptions of a total of four new species: Micropterus cahabae, new sp., restricted to the Cahaba River system; Micropterus tallapoosae, new sp., restricted to the Tallapoosa River system; Micropterus warriorensis, new sp., from the Black Warrior River system; and Micropterus chattahoochae, new sp., from the Chattahoochee River system. Micropterus coosae is restricted to the Coosa River system. The new species differ from each other and from M. coosae by a combination of pigmentation and scale count characteristics, development of the tooth patch, and divergence within the ND2 gene. While two of these species are relatively common in upland streams within their ranges, M. warriorensis, M. cahabae and M. chattahoochae are uncommon and may warrant protection.

Topics: Alabama; Animals; Bass; Disease Models, Animal; Georgia; Phylogeny; Species Specificity

Stress involves alterations of brain functioning that may precipitate to mood disorders. The neurotrophin Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) has recently been involved in stress-induced adaptation. BDNF is a key regulator of neuronal plasticity and adaptive processes. Regulation of BDNF is complex and may reflect not only stress-specific mechanisms but also hormonal and emotional responses. For this reason we used, as an animal model of stress, a fish whose brain organization is very similar to that of higher vertebrates, but is generally considered free of emotional reactions.. We provide a comprehensive characterization of BDNF gene in the Dicentrarchus labrax and its transcriptional, translational and post-translational regulation following acute stress. While total BDNF mRNA levels are unchanged, BDNF transcripts 1c and 1d resulted down regulated after acute stress. Acute stress induces also a significant increase in proBDNF levels and reduction in mature BDNF suggesting altered regulation of proBDNF proteolytic processing. Notably, we provide here the first evidence that fishes possess a simplified proteolytic regulation of BDNF since the pro28Kda form, generated by the SKI-1 protease in mammals, is absent in fishes because the cleavage site has first emerged in reptilians. Finally, we show that the proBDNF/totBDNF ratio is a highly predictive novel quantitative biomarker to detect stress in fishes with sensitivity = 100%, specificity = 87%, and Negative Predictive Value = 100%.. The high predictivity of proBDNF/totBDNF ratio for stress in lower vertebrates indicates that processing of BDNF is a central mechanism in adaptation to stress and predicts that a similar regulation of pro/mature BDNF has likely been conserved throughout evolution of vertebrates from fish to man.

Topics: Acute Disease; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Bass; Biomarkers; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; Disease Models, Animal; Gene Expression Regulation; Molecular Sequence Data; Protein Biosynthesis; Protein Isoforms; RNA, Messenger; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sequence Homology; Stress, Psychological; Transcription, Genetic

Global wildlife trade exacerbates the spread of nonindigenous species. Pathogens also move with hosts through trade and often are released into naïve populations with unpredictable outcomes. Amphibians are moved commercially for pets, food, bait, and biomedicine, and are an excellent model for studying how wildlife trade relates to pathogen pollution. Ranaviruses are amphibian pathogens associated with annual population die-offs; multiple strains of tiger salamander ranaviruses move through the bait trade in the western United States. Ranaviruses infect amphibians, reptiles, and fish and are of additional concern because they can switch hosts. Tiger salamanders are used as live bait for freshwater fishing and are a potential source for ranaviruses switching hosts from amphibians to fish. We experimentally injected largemouth bass with a bait trade tiger salamander ranavirus. Largemouth bass became infected but exhibited no signs of disease or mortality. Amphibian bait ranaviruses have the potential to switch hosts to infect fish, but fish may act as dead-end hosts or nonsymptomatic carriers, potentially spreading infection as a result of trade.

Topics: Ambystoma; Amphibians; Animals; Arizona; Bass; Commerce; Communicable Disease Control; Disease Models, Animal; Disease Reservoirs; DNA Virus Infections; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Ranavirus

The use of probiotic microorganisms in aquaculture is gaining a lot of interest. Gnotobiotic model systems are required in order to fully understand the effects and modes-of-action of these microorganisms, as the native microbial communities present in non-sterile animals can lead to false conclusions. In this study, a gnotobiotic sea bass larvae (Dicentrarchus labrax) test system was developed. In order to obtain bacteria-free animals, the eggs were disinfected with glutaraldehyde and subsequently incubated in a solution of rifampicin and ampicillin. Axenity was confirmed using culture-dependent and -independent techniques. The gnotobiotic larvae were fed axenic Artemia sp. from 7 days after hatching onwards. In the challenge test, one of the three opportunistic pathogens, Aeromonas hydrophila, Listonella anguillarum serovar O1 and O2a, was added to the model system via the water and encapsulated in Artemia sp. Only serovar O2a led to increased mortality in the sea bass larvae. The presented gnotobiotic model can be used for research on, among others, reciprocal metabolic effects between microorganisms and the host (e.g. as measured by gene expression), immunostimulants, pharmacological research and the histological development of the gastrointestinal tract and growth of larvae.

Topics: Aeromonas hydrophila; Animals; Bacterial Infections; Bass; Colony Count, Microbial; Disease Models, Animal; Germ-Free Life; Larva; Listonella; Survival Analysis

Betanodaviruses are causative agents of viral nervous necrosis (VNN), a devastating disease of cultured marine fish worldwide. Virus particles contain a single type of coat protein that spontaneously assembles into virus-like particles (VLPs) when expressed in a baculovirus expression system. In the present study, the immunogenicity of betanodavirus VLPs and the protection they confer against VNN in the European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax were investigated. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and seroneutralization tests performed on plasma from fish vaccinated intramuscularly with doses as low as 0.1 microg of VLPs indicated that the VLPs elicited the synthesis of specific antibetanodavirus antibodies with neutralizing activity. Moreover, fish vaccinated with VLPs were protected from challenge with live virus. Both the immune response and the protective effect against viral challenge were dose dependent. Reverse transcription-PCR data indicated that higher doses of vaccine also reduced the number of fish containing detectable quantities of betanodavirus RNA on day 30 after challenge. Taken together these data strongly support the hypothesis that VLPs obtained in the baculovirus expression system may represent an effective vaccine against VNN.

Topics: Animals; Antibodies, Viral; Bass; Central Nervous System Viral Diseases; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Fish Diseases; Neutralization Tests; Nodaviridae; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA Virus Infections; RNA, Viral; Survival Analysis; Virosomes

Evaluation of several parameters involved in iron metabolism was carried out after intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection with iron dextran (IDx) in sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.). After treatment, a rapid mobilization of IDx from the peritoneal cavity to other organs was observed. This was followed by a modification of normal peripheral blood iron parameters. Total iron (TI) and transferrin saturation (TS) rose rapidly, to 4.14 microg/ml and 83.7%, respectively, on day 3. In contrast, unsaturated iron binding capacity (UIBC) dropped from 3.19 microg/ml (at day 0) to 0.90 microg/ml on day 3. Tissue iron content was determined by atomic absorption spectometry (AAS). Three days post-IDx injection, values of iron concentration in liver, spleen and head kidney were significantly higher than control values (15, 6 and 9-fold increase, respectively). Samples of liver, spleen and head kidney were processed for routine histology, and the Perl's method was used for iron staining. Histological sections of the IDx-treated animals showed iron deposition in all tissues studied. In the liver, the iron was evenly distributed over the whole organ, being present in the hepatocytes. In the head kidney and spleen, the iron deposition was mainly observed in the melanomacrophage centres (MMCs). The present study characterizes several parameters involved in iron metabolism, and develops a fish model, of iron overload, which can be used in further studies of iron toxicity and iron-induced susceptibility to bacterial infections.

Topics: Animals; Bass; Disease Models, Animal; Histocytochemistry; Iron; Iron Overload; Iron-Dextran Complex; Kidney; Liver; Spleen; Statistics, Nonparametric; Transferrin

Abnormal lipid metabolism is a main cause of dyslipidemia, which is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease and obesity and is even linked to diabetic-dyslipidemic complications. Fifteen days of high-fat feeding in Charles Foster rats resulted in a significant increase in baseline serum lipid levels accompanied by pronounced dyslipidemia. Treatment with fish liver preparations (FLPs) from sea bass and the standard drug gemfibrozil produced a lowering of serum lipids and glucose levels, along with a fall in very-low-density and low-density lipoprotein and an increase in high-density lipoprotein levels. Simultaneously, reactivation of plasma postheparin lipolytic activity (PHLA) and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity was also observed. A positive correlation was observed between low-density lipoprotein activity and fecal bile acid excretion, which was enhanced on treatment with FLPs and gemfibrozil, indicating the catabolic process for normal lipids and cholesterol homeostasis. These data suggest that FLPs and gemfibrozil not only lower lipid intolerance but also reduce diabetic-dyslipidemic complications by activating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR).

Topics: Animals; Bass; Cholesterol, LDL; Cholesterol, VLDL; Disease Models, Animal; Feces; Fish Oils; Gemfibrozil; Hyperlipidemias; Hypolipidemic Agents; Lipoprotein Lipase; Liver; Phosphatidylcholine-Sterol O-Acyltransferase; Rats; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; Transcription Factors

Excessive copper storage in livers of feral white perch (Morone americana) from the Chesapeake Bay is described. Age-related, progressive accumulation of hepatic copper in levels often exceeding 1,000 micrograms/g wet weight was associated with peribiliary fibrosis and inflammation, bile duct hyperplasia, prominent, enlarged melanomacrophage centers, and disruption of hepatic architecture in older fish. Levels of zinc were mildly elevated compared to striped bass (Morone saxitilis) and adult rats. Cholangiomas were found in two perch. Rubeanic acid-stained liver had abundant copper-positive cytoplasmic granules in hepatocytes and cells of melanomacrophage centers. Subcellular fractionation showed that 90% of hepatocellular copper was in nuclei/cell debris fractions (which also contain tertiary lysosomes). Using electron probe microanalysis, high copper levels were localized in hepatocellular cytoplasmic bodies. Resolution of hepatic cytosol by gel permeation chromatography indicated that approximately 50% of the cytosolic copper in the white perch was bound to non-specific high molecular weight proteins, with the remaining 50% eluting at a peak where rat metallothionein is located. Ultrastructural examination revealed abundant lysosomes, increased size and number of peroxisomes, and increased density and numbers of mitochondrial matrix granules. This study indicates that white perch may be a model for studying effects of excessive copper accumulation and cellular mechanisms which control copper kinetics.

Topics: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Bass; Copper; Disease Models, Animal; Electron Probe Microanalysis; Fish Diseases; Liver; Male; Metal Metabolism, Inborn Errors; Microscopy, Electron; Perciformes; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Zinc