scholarly journals Sperm as moderators of environmentally induced paternal effects in a livebearing fish

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 20170087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan P. Evans ◽  
Rowan A. Lymbery ◽  
Kyle S. Wiid ◽  
Md. Moshiur Rahman ◽  
Clelia Gasparini
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Paternal Effects ◽  
Mate Assessment ◽  
Reduced Body ◽  
The Many ◽  
Livebearing Fish ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Size At Birth

Until recently, paternal effects—the influence of fathers on their offspring due to environmental factors rather than genes—were largely discarded or assumed to be confined to species exhibiting paternal care. It is now recognized that paternal effects can be transmitted through the ejaculate, but unambiguous evidence for them is scarce, because it is difficult to isolate effects operating via changes to the ejaculate from maternal effects driven by female mate assessment. Here, we use artificial insemination to disentangle mate assessment from fertilization in guppies, and show that paternal effects can be transmitted to offspring exclusively via ejaculates. We show that males fed reduced diets produce poor-quality sperm and that offspring sired by such males (via artificial insemination) exhibit reduced body size at birth. These findings may have important implications for the many mating systems in which environmentally induced changes in ejaculate quality have been reported.

scholarly journals Lysates of Methylococcus capsulatus Bath induce a lean-like microbiota, intestinal FoxP3+RORγt+IL-17+ Tregs and improve metabolism

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin A. H. Jensen ◽  
Jacob B. Holm ◽  
Ida S. Larsen ◽  
Nicole von Burg ◽  
Stefanie Derer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Diet ◽  
Liver Fat ◽  
Methylococcus Capsulatus ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Low Fat Diet ◽  
Reduced Body ◽  
Westernized Diet ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Immunological Homeostasis ◽  
Small And Large Intestine

AbstractInteractions between host and gut microbial communities are modulated by diets and play pivotal roles in immunological homeostasis and health. We show that exchanging the protein source in a high fat, high sugar, westernized diet from casein to whole-cell lysates of the non-commensal bacterium Methylococcus capsulatus Bath is sufficient to reverse western diet-induced changes in the gut microbiota to a state resembling that of lean, low fat diet-fed mice, both under mild thermal stress (T22 °C) and at thermoneutrality (T30 °C). Concomitant with microbiota changes, mice fed the Methylococcus-based western diet exhibit improved glucose regulation, reduced body and liver fat, and diminished hepatic immune infiltration. Intake of the Methylococcu-based diet markedly boosts Parabacteroides abundances in a manner depending on adaptive immunity, and upregulates triple positive (Foxp3+RORγt+IL-17+) regulatory T cells in the small and large intestine. Collectively, these data point to the potential for leveraging the use of McB lysates to improve immunometabolic homeostasis.

scholarly journals Current Developments and Best Practice in Open and Distance Learning

2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Armando Rocha Trinidade ◽  
Hermano Carmo ◽  
José Bidarra
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Technical Content ◽  
Support Mechanisms ◽  
The Many ◽  
Absolute Concept ◽  
Near Future

Through the many documents regularly emitted by those dedicated to this activity, it is comparatively easy to describe factual developments in the field of open and distance education in different places in the world. However, it is much more difficult to produce judgements of value about their quality. Quality is a subjective rather than an absolute concept and may be examined from different analytical perspectives: consumers' satisfaction level, intrinsic value of scientific and technical content of learning materials, soundness of learning strategies, efficiency of organisation and procedures, adequate use of advanced technologies, reliability of student support mechanisms, etc. These parameters should be put into the context of specific objectives, nature of target populations and availability of different kinds of resources. In a specific geographic, social, economic and cultural situation a given set of solutions might be judged as adequate and deserving the qualification of "good practice", while in a different context it could be considered of rather poor quality. The selection of examples in this article is the sole responsibility of the authors: neither should the chosen cases be considered as clearly better than any other one, nor missing cases be interpreted as lack of appreciation or a negative judgement. Finally, the authors are aware of the risks of interpreting trends and trying to extrapolate them into the near future: readers should use their own judgement in accepting (or forcefully rejecting) these projections.

12 QUANTIFICATION OF REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES IN BOVINE SEMEN WITH DIFFERENT SEMINAL QUALITY AND WITH EXTENDER CONTAINING ANTIOXIDANT EVALUATED BY ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
J. C. Borges ◽  
M. R. Silva ◽  
A. C. Tedesco ◽  
D. S. Costa ◽  
C. R. Esper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reactive Oxygen Species ◽  
Lipid Peroxidation ◽  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Pregnancy Rates ◽  
Ros Production ◽  
Oxygen Species ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Bovine Semen ◽  
Major Defect

The aim this study was to evaluate the effects on artificial insemination (AI) of minimizing oxidative stress by adding an antioxidant into the sperm microenvironment. For that purpose, semen of bulls with different seminal quality was evaluated in nature and after addition of extender with and without antioxidant, followed by freezing and thawing, with respect to thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) concentration, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and AI success. TBARS is an indicator of lipid peroxidation and TAC measures free radicals. Twelve ejaculates from 5 bulls were treated with Tris egg yolk extender (CE) and in half of each ejaculate the extender was supplemented with 200 μL of Trolox (AE). Three of these 5 bulls had high-quality semen (mean 11.9 ± 5.9 total defect, 7.7 ± 3.1 major defect, and 4.2 ± 3.9 minor defect) and 2 animals had poor-quality sperm (mean 31.9 ± 9.7 total defect, 26.3 ± 8.5 major defect, and 5.6 ± 5.0 minor defect) (P < 0.05). For AI, 300 Nelore heifers were divided in 10 groups and the females in each group were inseminated with semen of the same bull and extender treatment. To evaluate oxidative damage, TBARS concentration was measured to indirectly determine malondialdehyde (lipid-peroxidation metabolite) concentration, whereas TAC was measured using myoglobin, as a source of radicals, which interact with a chromogen 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), whose cation radical is spectroscopically detectable. The latency phase (lag) in the accumulation of ABTS cation is proportional to the antioxidant concentration. The pregnancy rates 60 days after AI were analyzed by chi-square test, and data of free radical production were evaluated by ANOVA, followed by the Tukey test with significance level of 5%. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in nature semen (0.351 nmol of TBARS in 50 × 108 spermatozoa) was lower (P < 0.05) when compared to diluted semen (0.367 nmol of TBARS in 50 × 108 spermatozoa). No difference (P > 0.05) between extenders was observed after thawing. The bulls with poor-quality semen presented total ROS production (0.967) superior (P < 0.05) to that of bulls with good-quality semen (0.753). Although the use of antioxidant in the extender did not decrease ROS and TAC production (P > 0.05), pregnancy rates after AI in bulls with poor quality semen with AE (60.0%) was superior (P < 0.06) to that in bulls with high-quality sperm with AE (56.6%). In conclusion, bulls with poor-quality semen present higher ROS and TAC production, and the use of antioxidant in the extender for cryopreservation with poor-quality bovine semen, in spite of not decreasing ROS and TAC production, improves pregnancy rates. Financial support: FAPESP.

scholarly journals FTIR Spectroscopy to Reveal Lipid and Protein Changes Induced on Sperm by Capacitation: Bases for an Improvement of Sample Selection in ART

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (22) ◽  
pp. 8659
Author(s):  
Maria Pachetti ◽  
Luisa Zupin ◽  
Irene Venturin ◽  
Elisa Mitri ◽  
Rita Boscolo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lipid Composition ◽  
Semen Quality ◽  
Sperm Quality ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Interesting Possibility ◽  
The Many ◽  
Α Helix ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Although being a crucial step for Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) success, to date sperm selection is based only on morphology, motility and concentration characteristics. Considering the many possible alterations, there is a great need for analytical approaches allowing more effective sperm selections. The use of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) may represent an interesting possibility, being able to reveal many macromolecular changes in a single measurement in a nondestructive way. As a proof of concept, in this observational study, we used a FTIR approach to reveal features related to sperm quality and chemical changes promoted by in vitro capacitation. We found indication that α-helix content is increased in capacitated sperm, while high percentages of the β-structures seem to correlate to poor-quality spermatozoa. The most interesting observation was related to the lipid composition, when measured as CH2/CH3 vibrations (ratio 2853/2870), which resulted in being strongly influenced by capacitation and well correlated with sperm motility. Interestingly, this ratio is higher than 1 in infertile samples, suggesting that motility is related to sperm membranes stiffness and lipid composition. Although further analyses are requested, our results support the concept that FTIR can be proposed as a new smart diagnostic tool for semen quality assessment in ART.

Broadening Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Paternal Care and Fathers’ Effects on Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee T. Gettler ◽  
Adam H. Boyette ◽  
Stacy Rosenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Paternal Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Paternal Effects ◽  
Male Care ◽  
Effects On Children

Unlike most mammals, human fathers cooperate with mothers to care for young to an extraordinary degree. Human paternal care likely evolved alongside our unique life history strategy of raising slow-developing, energetically costly children, often in rapid succession. Adaptive frameworks generally assume that paternal provisioning played a critical role in this pattern's emergence. We draw on nonhuman primate data to propose that nonprovisioning forms of low-cost hominin male care were potentially foundational and ratcheted up through evolutionary time, helping facilitate social contexts for later subsistence specialization and sharing. We then argue for expanding the breadth of anthropological research on paternal effects in families, particularly in three domains: direct care and teaching;social capital cultivation; and reduction of family conflict. Anthropologists can greatly contribute to conversations about the determinants of children's development across contexts, but we need to ask more expansive questions about the pathways through which caregivers (including fathers) affect child outcomes.

scholarly journals Paternal care in a fish: epigenetics and fitness enhancing effects on offspring anxiety

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1794) ◽  
pp. 20141146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie E. McGhee ◽  
Alison M. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methyltransferase ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Resource Provisioning ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Differential Sensitivity ◽  
Epigenetic Alterations ◽  
Paternal Effects ◽  
Epigenetic Effect ◽  
Early Stress

In many animals, including humans, interactions with caring parents can have long-lasting effects on offspring sensitivity to stressors. However, whether these parental effects impact offspring fitness in nature is often unclear. In addition, despite evidence that maternal care can influence offspring behaviour via epigenetic alterations to the genome, it remains unclear whether paternal care has similar effects. Here, we show in three-spined sticklebacks, a fish in which fathers are the sole provider of offspring care, that the direct care provided by fathers affects offspring anxiety and the potential for epigenetic alterations to the offspring genome. We find that families are differentially vulnerable to early stress and fathers can compensate for this differential sensitivity with the quality of their care. This variation in paternal care is also linked to the expression in offspring brains of a DNA methyltransferase (Dnmt3a) responsible for de novo methylation. We show that these paternal effects are potentially adaptive and anxious offspring are unlikely to survive an encounter with a predator. By supplying offspring care, fathers reduce offspring anxiety thereby increasing the survival of their offspring—not in the traditional sense through resource provisioning but through an epigenetic effect on offspring behavioural development.

scholarly journals Regulation of cysteine dioxygenase degradation is mediated by intracellular cysteine levels and the ubiquitin–26 S proteasome system in the living rat

2006 ◽  
Vol 394 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Dominy ◽  
Lawrence L. Hirschberger ◽  
Relicardo M. Coloso ◽  
Martha H. Stipanuk
Keyword(s):  
Half Life ◽  
Proteasome Inhibitor ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Cysteine Dioxygenase ◽  
Irreversible Oxidation ◽  
Proteasome Pathway ◽  
The Many ◽  
Induced Changes

Mammalian metabolism of ingested cysteine is conducted principally within the liver. The liver tightly regulates its intracellular cysteine pool to keep levels high enough to meet the many catabolic and anabolic pathways for which cysteine is needed, but low enough to prevent toxicity. One of the enzymes the liver uses to regulate cysteine levels is CDO (cysteine dioxygenase). Catalysing the irreversible oxidation of cysteine, CDO protein is up-regulated in the liver in response to the dietary intake of cysteine. In the present study, we have evaluated the contribution of the ubiquitin–26 S proteasome pathway to the diet-induced changes in CDO half-life. In the living rat, inhibition of the proteasome with PS1 (proteasome inhibitor 1) dramatically stabilized CDO in the liver under dietary conditions that normally favour its degradation. Ubiquitinated CDO intermediates were also seen to accumulate in the liver. Metabolic analyses showed that PS1 had a significant effect on sulphoxidation flux secondary to the stabilization of CDO but no significant effect on the intracellular cysteine pool. Finally, by a combination of in vitro hepatocyte culture and in vivo whole animal studies, we were able to attribute the changes in CDO stability specifically to cysteine rather than the metabolite 2-mercaptoethylamine (cysteamine). The present study represents the first demonstration of regulated ubiquitination and degradation of a protein in a living mammal, inhibition of which had dramatic effects on cysteine catabolism.

scholarly journals Ejaculate-mediated paternal effects: evidence, mechanisms and evolutionary implications

Reproduction ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 157 (4) ◽  
pp. R109-R126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan P Evans ◽  
Alastair J Wilson ◽  
Andrea Pilastro ◽  
Francisco Garcia-Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequence ◽  
Sperm Cell ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Seminal Fluid ◽  
Complex Trait ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Haploid Genome ◽  
Paternal Effects ◽  
Induced Changes

Despite serving the primary objective of ensuring that at least one sperm cell reaches and fertilises an ovum, the male ejaculate (i.e. spermatozoa and seminal fluid) is a compositionally complex ‘trait’ that can respond phenotypically to subtle changes in conditions. In particular, recent research has shown that environmentally and genetically induced changes to ejaculates can have implications for offspring traits that are independent of the DNA sequence encoded into the sperm’s haploid genome. In this review, we compile evidence from several disciplines and numerous taxonomic systems to reveal the extent of such ejaculate-mediated paternal effects (EMPEs). We consider a number of environmental and genetic factors that have been shown to impact offspring phenotypes via ejaculates, and where possible, we highlight the putative mechanistic pathways by which ejaculates can act as conduits for paternal effects. We also highlight how females themselves can influence EMPEs, and in some cases, how maternally derived sources of variance may confound attempts to test for EMPEs. Finally, we consider a range of putative evolutionary implications of EMPEs and suggest a number of potentially useful approaches for exploring these further. Overall, our review confirms that EMPEs are both widespread and varied in their effects, although studies reporting their evolutionary effects are still in their infancy.

scholarly journals Artificial insemination and cryopreservation of boar semen: current state and problematics

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquim Moreira da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Cold Shock ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Freezing And Thawing ◽  
Swine Industry ◽  
Current State ◽  
Boar Semen ◽  
The Many ◽  
Cryopreservation Method

 Commercial artificial insemination with boar semen still prefers the usage of refrigerated semen up to 5 days over frozen-thawed, to date. This is because of the uneconomical properties of frozen-thawed boar semen, such as low motility, viability, fertility rates and the need for higher semen doses, because of the decreased quality after cryopreservation. Since boar semen is highly susceptive to cold shock damage, the invention of a successful cryopreservation method would be greatly beneficial for the swine industry. This review briefly focuses on the many factors that influence the quality of frozen-thawed boar semen, including the different compositions of extenders, comparison of commercial extenders, freezing and thawing methods (temperature and duration). It could be concluded from the present review that optimum freezing/thawing protocol for swine is not standardized, so far being the current status still considered poor-to-fair. 

scholarly journals Development Needs of Dairy Farms in Kosovo

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Tiina Kokko ◽  
Kati Partanen ◽  
Hilkka Kämäräinen ◽  
Ardita Jahja-Hoxha ◽  
Jussi Juhola
Keyword(s):  
Milk Production ◽  
Agricultural Education ◽  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
The Future

The Republic of Kosovo in Western Balkans has raised agriculture as one of its development priorities. Farms are still mainly small and agricultural production poorly developed. Most of the agricultural products in retail stores are imported. The goal of this study was to define development needs of Kosovan dairy farms by observing farm operations. Observations were made in March 2012 by following the work of a farmer in 13 different sized dairy farms. Farmers were also interviewed. The results show that most development needs in milk production are milking hygiene, cleanliness of the milking facility, feeding and heat detecting. For example hoof care and animal welfare were usually at a good level in the observed farms. The size of the observed farms varied between 6 to 115 dairy cows. Milking was done in the smallest farm by hands, ninehad bucket milking system and threepipeline milking system. The observed farms can be classified as semi-commercial and commercial farms which deliver most of their milk to the processor. The main problems in the observed farms were poor milking hygiene and poor cleansing of the milking equipment. This can be also seen from the milk quality of the observed farms: according to somatic cells five farms were in Extra class and 5 in I-class (no information available in 3 farms). In number of bacteria 3 farms were in Extra class, 6 in I-class, 2 in II-class and 1 in III-class (no information available in 1 farm). Especially bucket milking system and in some cases the milking tank seemed to be difficult to clean. In some farms the condition of the milking machine seemed to be poor. The time between calvings was long, on average 432 days. There might be lack of heat detection. Also fertility may be low due to wrong feeding of the cows. The time between calvings was lowest on farms using only natural insemination (396 days) and longest in farms using both natural and artificial insemination (470 days). In farms using only artificial insemination the time between calvings was 444 days. Lactations per cow was on average 3,86. None of the interviewed farmers had agricultural education. An average farm size in Kosovo is about 2,2 hectares of field and about two milking cows. The average milk yield is estimated to be around 2200 kg / year. The biggest problems in milk processors are poor quality of milk and variations in milk received during the year: in summer processors have troubles in using all the milk and in winter the milk production of farms is too low. Only about 10 % of the milk produced is delivered to the processors. The future of agriculture looks bright in Kosovo as all interviewed farmers were willing to develop their farm and saw the future positive. Agricultural advisory (extension) services and the availability of training for farmers play a vital role in improving the basic environment for farming as well as farm profitability.

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