scholarly journals Effects of chlorpyrifos on early development and anti-predator behavior of agile frogs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsanett Mikó ◽  
Veronika Bókony ◽  
Nikolett Ujhegyi ◽  
Edina Nemesházi ◽  
Réka Erös ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Larval Development ◽  
Aquatic Organisms ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Predatory Fish ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Organophosphate Insecticide ◽  
Widespread Application ◽  
Frog Tadpoles ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Predator Behavior

The widespread application of pesticides makes it important to understand the impacts of these chemicals on wildlife populations. Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide which can affect the development and behavior of aquatic organisms and may thereby alter predator-prey interactions. To investigate how environmentally relevant, sublethal concentrations of chlorpyrifos affect anti-predator behavior and larval development of the agile frog (Rana dalmatina), we exposed tadpoles to one of three concentrations (0, 0.5 and 5 μg chlorpyrifos / L) either for a brief period of three days (acute exposure) or throughout larval development (chronic exposure). We observed tadpole activity and space use in the presence or absence of chemical cues of predatory fish. We also assessed mortality, time to metamorphosis, mass at metamorphosis, brain morphology and sex ratio. We found that tadpoles chronically exposed to 5 μg/L chlorpyrifos swam distances that were longer by more than 20 % and exhibited body masses at metamorphosis that were lower by ca. 7 % than in control individuals, but the other fitness-related traits remained unaffected. The lower concentration of chlorpyrifos applied chronically, and either one of the acute chlorpyrifos treatments did not influence any measured trait. Our results demonstrate that exposure to chlorpyrifos can induce changes in locomotor activity and may result in lowered body mass of agile frog tadpoles, but only if the insecticide is present chronically at concentrations which are rarely reached in natural waterbodies. Thus, agile frog tadpoles appear to be relatively tolerant to chlorpyrifos, but may nonetheless suffer from its presence in situations of repeated high-dose application.

Brain plasticity in response to short-term exposure to corticosterone in larval amphibians

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth S. Cha ◽  
Madison T. Uhrin ◽  
Sara J McClelland ◽  
Sarah Woodley
Keyword(s):  
Neural Development ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Leopard Frog ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Vertebrate Brain ◽  
Larval Amphibians ◽  
Short Term Exposure ◽  
Functional Consequences ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Brain Shape

Exposure to stressors and elevation of glucocorticoid hormones such as corticosterone (CORT) has widespread effects on vertebrate brain development. Previous studies have shown that exposure to environmental stressors alters larval amphibian brain morphology and behavior, yet the effects of CORT on amphibian neural development are still unknown. We exposed prometamorphic Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens (Schreber, 1782)) tadpoles for 7 days to a concentration of exogenous CORT (45.56 g/L ) that produced physiologically-relevant increases in plasma CORT. This brief exposure to CORT, relatively late in development, resulted in a significantly larger diencephalon width (relative to body mass) when compared to controls. Although we were unable to detect changes in behavior or body morphology, our results indicate that brain shape is modulated by exposure to CORT. More studies are needed to better understand what accounts for the CORT-induced change in brain shape as well as the functional consequences of these changes.

scholarly journals A scalable culturing system for the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Kuehn ◽  
Alexander W. Stockinger ◽  
Jerome Girard ◽  
Florian Raible ◽  
B. Duygu Özpolat
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Organisms ◽  
Model System ◽  
Light Conditions ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Culture Methods ◽  
Cell Lineages ◽  
Full Life Cycle ◽  
Platynereis Dumerilii ◽  
Culturing Conditions ◽  
And Behavior

ABSTRACTPlatynereis dumerilii is a marine segmented worm (annelid) with externally fertilized embryos and it can be cultured for the full life cycle in the laboratory. The accessibility of embryos and larvae combined with the breadth of the established molecular and functional techniques has made P. dumerilii an attractive model for studying development, cell lineages, cell type evolution, reproduction, regeneration, the nervous system, and behavior. Traditionally, these worms have been kept in rooms dedicated for their culture. This allows for the regulation of temperature and light cycles, which is critical to synchronizing sexual maturation. However, regulating the conditions of a whole room present limitations, especially if experiments require being able to change culturing conditions. Here we present scalable and flexible culture methods that provide ability to control the environmental conditions, and have a multi-purpose culture space. We provide a closed setup shelving design with proper light conditions necessary for P. dumerilii to mature. We also implemented a standardized method of feeding P. dumerilii cultures with powdered spirulina which relieves the ambiguity associated with using frozen spinach, and helps standardize nutrition conditions across experiments and across different labs. By using these methods, we were able to raise mature P. dumerilii, capable of spawning and producing viable embryos for experimentation and replenishing culture populations. These methods will allow for the further accessibility of P. dumerilii as a model system, and they can be adapted for other aquatic organisms.

scholarly journals Inelastic hyperspectral lidar for aquatic ecosystems monitoring and landscape plant scanning test

2018 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 01003
Author(s):  
Guangyu Zhao ◽  
Elin Malmqvist ◽  
Klas Rydhmer ◽  
Alfred Strand ◽  
Giuseppe Bianco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diode Laser ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Focal Depth ◽  
Aquatic Organisms ◽  
Landscape Plant ◽  
Optical Arrangement ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
And Behavior

We have developed an aquatic inelastic hyperspectral lidar with unrestricted focal-depth and enough sensitivity and spatio-temporal resolution to detect and resolve position and behavior of individual sub-millimeter aquatic organisms. We demonstrate ranging with monitoring of elastic echoes, water Raman signals and fluorescence from chlorophyllbearing phytoplankton and dye tagged organisms. The system is based on a blue CW diode laser and a Scheimpflug optical arrangement.

scholarly journals Lake Phytoplankton Assemblage Altered by Irregularly Shaped PLA Body Wash Microplastics but Not by PS Calibration Beads

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2650
Author(s):  
Kiyoko Yokota ◽  
Marissa Mehlrose
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Organisms ◽  
Environmental Pollutant ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Source Water ◽  
Phytoplankton Assemblage ◽  
Phytoplankton Communities ◽  
Aquatic Food ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Natural Phytoplankton

Microplastics are an emerging environmental pollutant, whose global ubiquity is becoming increasingly evident. Conventional wastewater treatment does not completely remove them, and there are growing concerns about microplastics in source water and post-treatment drinking water. Microplastics have been reported to alter the development, physiology, and behavior of various aquatic organisms; however, limited knowledge exists on their effect on natural phytoplankton communities. Many studies also use uniformly spherical plastic beads, while most scrub particles in consumer products and secondary microplastics in the environment have various shapes and sizes. We tested the effects of two types of microplastics, 50 µm polystyrene (PS) calibration beads and polylactic acid (PLA) plastic body wash scrub particles, and one type of plant-derived body wash scrub particle on a natural phytoplankton assemblage through a 7-day incubation experiment in a temperate, mesotrophic lake. The calibration beads and the plant-derived particles generally did not alter the taxonomic composition of the phytoplankton in the mesocosms, while the PLA body wash microplastics eliminated cryptophytes (p < 0.001) and increased chrysophytes (p = 0.041). Our findings demonstrate differential effects of irregularly shaped PLA body wash microplastics vs. PS calibration beads on lake phytoplankters and empirically support potential bottom-up alteration of the aquatic food web by secondary microplastics.

Skin grafting in frog tadpoles: Local specificity of skin and behavior of epidermis

1932 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert W. Rand ◽  
Madelene E. Pierce
Keyword(s):  
Skin Grafting ◽  
Frog Tadpoles ◽  
And Behavior

scholarly journals Rostral Anterior Cingulate Thickness Predicts the Emotional Psilocybin Experience

Biomedicines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candace R. Lewis ◽  
Katrin H. Preller ◽  
B. Blair Braden ◽  
Cory Riecken ◽  
Franz X. Vollenweider
Keyword(s):  
Individual Variability ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Altered State Of Consciousness ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri ◽  
Individual Drug Response ◽  
Structure Metrics ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Serotonin 2A

Psilocybin is the psychoactive compound of mushrooms in the psilocybe species. Psilocybin directly affects a number of serotonin receptors, with highest affinity for the serotonin 2A receptor (5HT-2Ar). Generally, the effects of psilocybin, and its active metabolite psilocin, are well established and include a range of cognitive, emotional, and perceptual perturbations. Despite the generality of these effects, there is a high degree of inter-individual variability in subjective psilocybin experiences that are not well understood. Others have shown brain morphology metrics derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can predict individual drug response. Due to high expression of serotonin 2A receptors (5HT-2Ar) in the cingulate cortex, and its prior associations with psilocybin, we investigate if cortical thickness of this structure predicts the psilocybin experience in healthy adults. We hypothesized that greater cingulate thickness would predict higher subjective ratings in sub-scales of the Five-Dimensional Altered State of Consciousness (5D-ASC) with high emotionality in healthy participants (n = 55) who received oral psilocybin (either low dose: 0.160 mg/kg or high dose: 0.215 mg/kg). After controlling for sex, age, and using false discovery rate (FDR) correction, we found the rostral anterior cingulate predicted all four emotional sub-scales, whereas the caudal and posterior cingulate did not. How classic psychedelic compounds induce such large inter-individual variability in subjective states has been a long-standing question in serotonergic research. These results extend the traditional set and setting hypothesis of the psychedelic experience to include brain structure metrics.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document