Changes In Animal Behavior Research Articles

Conservation implications of habituation in Nubian ibex in response to ecotourism

AbstractIncreased fragmentation and easier access to natural areas (e.g. ecotourism) is bringing man in closer contact to wild populations. Such encounters, even when they don't pose a direct threat to wildlife, may induce behavioral changes in animals that in the long run may have negative fitness consequences. We studied changes to the vigilance/group‐size effect in Nubian ibex Capra nubiana in response to increased non‐threatening anthropogenic disturbance in six sites, subject to different levels of ecotourism. In each site we regressed the average time ibex individuals devoted to vigilance on the size of the group they were with. We then compared the slopes and intercepts of the vigilance/group‐size function between the six sites. We complimented these data with a study of how flight initiation distance (FID) changed between the six sites, as an indicator of the level of tolerance that ibex exhibit to increased anthropogenic presence. We found that as anthropogenic presence increased the vigilance/group‐size function waned (i.e. the group‐size effect was weaker). These findings were associated with reduced FID reflecting increased levels of tolerance, likely as a result of habituation in sites subject to high levels of ecotourism. The loss of the vigilance response as a function of group size may decrease the behavioral diversity in the ibex population. Wildlife habituation to increased non‐threatening human activity alters key behavioral attributes that may ultimately impact social structure and other fitness‐related characteristics.

Expression of and choice for condition-dependent carotenoid-based color in an urbanizing context

Urban environments create a unique suite of conditions, leading to changes in animal behavior, morphology, phenology, and physiology. Condition-dependent traits such as the carotenoid-based coloration offer a unique opportunity to assess the impacts of urbanization on organisms because they reflect the nutrition, health, or other resource-based attributes of their bearers and they play an essential role in intra and intersex interactions. To determine if and how the carotenoid-based coloration of male house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) varies along a gradient of urbanization, we quantified the plumage coloration of more than 1000 individuals in urban, suburban, rural, and desert habitats over the course of 17 months. We also examined for the first time the preference of females for male plumage coloration across the urban-rural gradient, to test if and how female preferences varied relative to the plumage coloration displayed by males in their local population. We found that carotenoid-based coloration decreased along the gradient of urbanization, suggesting that the enzyme-driven metabolic conversion of dietary carotenoids into red carotenoids used to color plumage is sensitive to urban stressors. The stronger negative effect of urbanization on carotenoid-based plumage coloration during breeding than during molt and winter suggests that urbanization affects color fading rate, maybe through modifications of feather-degrading bacterial load. Finally, we have shown that urbanization influences female mate-choice behavior, suggesting that female color preferences may track the variation in male coloration across the gradient of urbanization.

Acute hepatologic and nephrologic effects of calcitriol in Syrian golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus).

Although vitamin D is included in the group of fat-soluble vitamins, it must be considered as a prohormone. Its active forms, including calcitriol, have pleiotropic effects and play an important role in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, as well as in hormone secretion, and they demonstrate anti-cancer properties. Since calcitriol delivery can be beneficial for the organism, and Syrian golden hamsters represent a unique experimental model, we decided to investigate its toxicity in this species. In this study, we injected calcitriol intraperitoneally at doses 0 (control), 0.180±0.009 µg/kg and 0.717±0.032 µg/kg. Animal behavior was observed for 72 hrs after injection, and afterwards blood, liver and kidneys were collected for post-mortem examination, electron microscopy, and hematology analyses. The highest dose of calcitriol induced a change in animal behavior from calm to aggressive, and the liver surface showed morphological signs of damage. Following injection of calcitriol, ultrastructural changes were also observed in the liver and kidneys, e.g. vacuolization and increased number of mitochondria. There was also a trend for increased serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), but not of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) or GGTP (gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase). There was no change in Ca, Mg and P levels, as well as in blood morphology between experimental and control groups. These results indicate that calcitriol at 0.717, but not at 0.180 µg/kg, may induce acute damage to the liver and kidneys, without inducing calcemia. We propose that the hepatotoxic effect of calcitriol in hamster constitutes the primary cause of behavioral changes.

Standardization of ethanol addiction model in Swiss albino Mice

Background: Addiction is compulsive need for use of a habit-forming substance. World Health Organization (WHO) reported that worldwide 3.3 million people died due to alcohol addiction in 2012-13 and 11% of the population in India indulged in heavy drinking in 2014. Addiction is a prime socio-economical problem of society. Studying alcohol dependence in humans involved many ethical issues and experimental difficulties. Hence nonhuman animal experimental model has been used for a research on the topic of alcohol intoxication and dependence. Ethanol dependence has been preferred to develop in genetically modified strain of mice, C-57 which has a natural inclination to consume and develop addiction. But studying addiction in this special strain requires top end experimental facilities and financial aids. Authors reported the animal model to study ethanol dependence in Swiss albino mice. Aim of the study was to develop ‘Ethanol Dependence in Swiss albino mice animal model’ by intermitted access of 20% ethanol.Methods: Dependence was developed in Swiss albino mice by intermitted access of 20% ethanol in two groups having six animals in each group. Dependence was confirmed by presence of the withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, muscular incoordination and behavioral changes of animals on abstinence of ethanol.Results: Significant difference was noted on withdrawal symptoms, i.e. anxiety, muscular coordination, muscle spasm and other behavior related to withdrawal.Conclusions: Ethanol dependence can be successfully developed in Swiss albino mice in 14 days.

Carrying capacity of Peucang Island for ecotourism management in Ujung Kulon National Park

Peucang Island is one of island in Ujung Kulon National Park (UKNP), appointed as priority area and welcome area for tourism. This research aimed to calculate the carrying capacity of Peucang Island for ecotourism development (Study sites of this research are Karang Copong jungle trail and 8 sites of Peucangs beach). This research used observation method (wildlife exploration, measure the lenght of jungle track, and measure 10 parameters of beach), literature study and and interview method to collect data. The data of jungle track analyzed use Cifuentes’s formula. The result showed that Karang Copong jungle trekking had 20,000 visitors/day for Physical Carrying Capacity (PCC), 4 838 visitors/day for Real Carrying Capacity (RCC), and 6 visitors/day for Efective Carrying Capacity (ECC). Observation of biological aspect showed that there were some damages of vegetation along the track, and the changes in animal behavior. The data of beach carrying capacity analyzed use Yulianda’s formula that measured with the suitability map approach. Based on the suitability map, two beaches were classified in suitable category, while six beaches) were classified in highly suitable category for tourism activities. All of the beaches had different number of carrying capacity, specifically there are 70 visitors/day in highly suitable beach and 27 visitors/day in suitable beach. The number of visitor nowadays still not exceed from carrying capacity number of PCC, RCC of jungle trails and carrying capacity of the beach area, but the number has exceeded from the ECC numbers.

Characterization of the locomotor activities of zebrafish larvae under the influence of various neuroactive drugs.

Behavioral changes in animals reflect functional changes in their central nervous system. Neuroactive drugs that act on different neural pathways can induce specific behavioral responses; therefore, it is possible to infer the activities of neuroactive drugs by studying the behavioral changes induced by drugs of interest in animals. In this study, AB strain zebrafish larvae at 7 days post fertilization (dpf) were treated with different concentrations of drugs that act on different neural pathways. Changes in the swimming distances of zebrafish larvae under different illumination conditions and the differences in locomotor activities between light and dark conditions (lighting motor index) were analyzed. Among the drugs studied, different concentrations of sulpiride had no effect on larval locomotor activity either under light or dark conditions. Progressively decreased spontaneous movements were observed in zebrafish larvae treated with increasing doses of MK-801 and valproic acid. With increasing concentrations of pentylenetetrazole and yohimbine, the spontaneous movement of larval zebrafish presented a bell-shaped response. When the illumination changed from light to dark, zebrafish larvae not treated with drugs demonstrated increased locomotor activities. However, high levels of yohimbine, pentylenetetrazole decreased the degree of change in the lighting motor index. In conclusion, drugs that affect different neural pathways exert different influences on the locomotor activities of zebrafish larvae. This study presents an initial effort to establish a framework that correlates the drug activities and the behavioral responses of zebrafish larvae under drug treatments, which may provide a potential identification of the pathways of novel drugs with neurological activities through their behavioral influences.

Long-term dim light during nighttime changes activity patterns and space use in experimental small mammal populations

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is spreading worldwide and thereby is increasingly interfering with natural dark-light cycles. Meanwhile, effects of very low intensities of light pollution on animals have rarely been investigated. We explored the effects of low intensity ALAN over seven months in eight experimental bank vole (Myodes glareolus) populations in large grassland enclosures over winter and early breeding season, using LED garden lamps. Initial populations consisted of eight individuals (32 animals per hectare) in enclosures with or without ALAN. We found that bank voles under ALAN experienced changes in daily activity patterns and space use behavior, measured by automated radiotelemetry. There were no differences in survival and body mass, measured with live trapping, and none in levels of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites. Voles in the ALAN treatment showed higher activity at night during half moon, and had larger day ranges during new moon. Thus, even low levels of light pollution as experienced in remote areas or by sky glow can lead to changes in animal behavior and could have consequences for species interactions.

Icariin Reduces Dopaminergic Neuronal Loss and Microglia-Mediated Inflammation in Vivo and in Vitro.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases characterized with a gradual loss of midbrain substantia nigra (SN) dopamine (DA) neurons. An excessive evidence demonstrated that microglia-mediated inflammation might be involved in the pathogenesis of PD. Thus, inhibition of neuroinflammation might possess a promising potential for PD treatment. Icariin (ICA), a single active component extracted from the Herba Epimedii, presents amounts of pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflammation, anti-oxidant, and anti-aging. Recent studies show ICA produced neuroprotection against brain dysfunction. However, the mechanisms underlying ICA-exerted neuroprotection are fully illuminated. In the present study, two different neurotoxins of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced rat midbrain DA neuronal damage were applied to investigate the neuroprotective effects of ICA. In addition, primary rat midbrain neuron-glia co-cultures were performed to explore the mechanisms underlying ICA-mediated DA neuroprotection. In vitro data showed that ICA protected DA neurons from LPS/6-OHDA-induced DA neuronal damage and inhibited microglia activation and pro-inflammatory factors production via the suppression of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway activation. In animal results, ICA significantly reduced microglia activation and significantly attenuated LPS/6-OHDA-induced DA neuronal loss and subsequent animal behavior changes. Together, ICA could protect DA neurons against LPS- and 6-OHDA-induced neurotoxicity both in vivo and in vitro. These actions might be closely associated with the inhibition of microglia-mediated neuroinflammation.

Abstract A09: Development of epigenetic-based strategies for blocking breast cancer growth, invasion, and metastasis in vitro and in vivo

Abstract DNA hypomethylation has been implicated in the coordinated targeting of various signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and metastasis. In the current study, through various in vitro and in vivo assays, we have examined the plausibility of using universal methyl donor S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) to block breast cancer development, growth, and metastasis in our xenograft and transgenic models of breast cancer. Treatment of highly invasive human triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines MDA-MB-231 and Hs578T with SAM resulted in a significant dose-dependent decrease in cell proliferation, invasion, migration, colony formation, and increased apoptosis in vitro. Affymetrix gene expression array and real-time PCR (qPCR) validated the ability of SAM to decrease the expression of several genes implicated in cancer progression in MDA-MB-231 cells. For the in vivo studies, MDA-MB-231 cells expressing green fluorescent protein (MDA-MB-231-GFP) were inoculated into female CD-1 nude mice via mammary fat pad. From day three post tumor cell inoculation, animals were treated with SAM (0.8-1.6 mg/day) or vehicle alone as control via daily oral gavage, and tumor volume was determined at weekly intervals for 10 weeks. SAM treatment caused a significant dose-dependent decrease in tumor volume and GFP-positive metastasis to lungs, liver, and spleen in experimental animals compared to vehicle-treated controls. Analysis of RNA from primary tumors by qPCR showed the ability of SAM to cause a marked decrease in the expression of several prometastatic and EMT pathway genes. Pyrosequencing of tumoral DNA from control and experimental animals showed that SAM treatment causes a significant increase in the percentage of CpG methylation at the promoter region of several cancer-related genes which were seen to be downregulated in the qPCR assay. We next determined the effect of SAM in MMTV-PyMT transgenic mouse model of breast cancer where SAM treatment resulted in a significant delay in the development of mammary tumors and decreased tumor growth in experimental animals as compared to vehicle-treated controls. SAM was found to bioavailable in the serum of experimental animals as determined by mass spectrometry and no notable adverse side effects were seen, including any change in animal behavior. Results from these studies provide compelling evidence for the therapeutic potential of SAM in breast cancer to provide the rationale for initiating clinical trials with SAM in patients with breast and other common cancers as monotherapy or in combination setting with current therapeutic agents to reduce cancer-associated morbidity and mortality. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: Niaz Mahmood, David Cheishvili, Ani Arakelian, William J. Muller, Imrana Tanveer, Haseeb Khan, Moshe Szyf, Shafaat A. Rabbani. Development of epigenetic-based strategies for blocking breast cancer growth, invasion, and metastasis in vitro and in vivo [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR International Conference held in cooperation with the Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group (LACOG) on Translational Cancer Medicine; May 4-6, 2017; São Paulo, Brazil. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2018;24(1_Suppl):Abstract nr A09.

Borna disease virus and its role in the pathology of animals and humans

Infectious diseases that are caused by numerous pathogenic microorganisms – bacteria, viruses, protozoa or fungi – can be transmitted from patients or carriers to healthy people or animals. A large group of infectious disease is caused by pathogens of animal infections – zoonoses. The issue of zoonoses is of great significance in human pathology and requires comprehensive study. This is of particular relevance to Ukraine, as the question of prevalence, level within the population and threats to human life and health from zoonoses, though highly important, has remained insufficiently studied. Information about many of these pathogens is absent in the existing scientific literature accessible in Ukraine – both veterinary and medical. This applies, in particular, to a causative agent of viral zoonoses the Borna disease virus or Bornavirus. For this purpose, an analysis of the literature concerning the role of the Bornavirus in the pathology of animals and humans was conducted. It is well known that a large number of pathogens of animal infections (zoonoses), including viral, pose a potential threat to human health. Among these potential threats is the Borna disease virus belonging to the family of Bornaviridae, order Mononegavirales. This order includes representatives of deadly human diseases like rabies (family Rhabdoviridae), Ebola virus (family Filoviridae) and Nipah virus (family Paramyxoviridae). Borna virus disease affects mainly mammals, but can infect birds and even reptiles (Aspid bornavirus). It is established that Bornaviruses have a wide range of natural hosts (horses, sheeps, cats, bats and various birds), including domestic animals, which poses a potential threat to human health. This is evidenced by numerous, although contradictory, research into the role of the Borna disease virus in human pathologies such as schizophrenia, depression, prolonged fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis and others. Analysis of the literature clearly shows the important role of the Borna disease virus in a variety of mental and behavioural changes in animals, both wild and domestic. However, the large amount of contradictory data and studies cannot yet provide a clear picture of the role of this virus in human pathology. On the one hand, there are clear data of the presence of RNA of the Bourna disease virus and antibodies to it in patients with psychoneurotic changes. On the other, there is no clear understanding of the infectivity of the virus in humans and its transmission from animals to humans and from person to person. These questions require further research and comprehensive study, particularly on the territory of Ukraine.

Treadmill exercise ameliorates social isolation-induced depression through neuronal generation in rat pups.

Social isolation is known to induce emotional and behavioral changes in animals and humans. The effect of treadmill exercise on depression was investigated using social isolated rat pups. The rat pups in the social isolation groups were housed individually. The rat pups in the exercise groups were forced to run on treadmill for 30 min once a day from postnatal day 21 to postnatal day 34. In order to evaluate depression state of rat pups, forced swimming test was performed. Newly generated cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus were determined by 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) immunohistochemistry. We examined the expression of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) in the dorsal raphe using immunofluorescence. The expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tyrosine kinase B (TrkB) was detected by Western blot analysis. The present results demonstrated that social isolation increased resting time and decreased mobility time. Expression of 5-HT and TPH in the dorsal raphe and expression of BDNF and TrkB in the hippocampus were decreased by social isolation. The number of BrdU-positive cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus was suppressed by social isolation. Treadmill exercise decreased resting time and increased mobility in the social isolated rat pups. Expression of 5-HT, TPH, BDNF, and TrkB was increased by treadmill exercise. The present results suggested that treadmill exercise may ameliorates social isolation-induced depression through increasing neuronal generation.

Methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) supplementation attenuates breast cancer growth, invasion, and metastasis in vivo; therapeutic and chemopreventive applications.

DNA hypomethylation coordinately targets various signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and metastasis. At present, there are no approved therapeutic modalities that target hypomethylation. In this regard, we examined the therapeutic plausibility of using universal methyl group donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to block breast cancer development, growth, and metastasis through a series of studies in vitro using two different human breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and Hs578T) and in vivo using an MDA-MB-231 xenograft model of breast cancer. We found that SAM treatment caused a significant dose-dependent decrease in cell proliferation, invasion, migration, anchorage-independent growth and increased apoptosis in vitro. These results were recapitulated in vivo where oral administration of SAM reduced tumor volume and metastasis in green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged MDA-MB-231 xenograft model. Gene expression analyses validated the ability of SAM to decrease the expression of several key genes implicated in cancer progression and metastasis in both cell lines and breast tumor xenografts. SAM was found to be bioavailable in the serum of experimental animals as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and no notable adverse side effects were seen including any change in animal behavior. The results of this study provide compelling evidence to evaluate the therapeutic potential of methylating agents like SAM in patients with breast cancer to reduce cancer-associated morbidity and mortality.

Physical and Mental Health Status in Toxoplasma-Infected Women before and 3 Years after They Learn about Their Infection: Manipulation or Side-Effects of Impaired Health?

Latent toxoplasmosis is known to be associated with specific changes in animal and human behavior and human personality. Many toxoplasmosis-associated shifts, such as an extroversion-introversion shift or a trust -suspicion shift, go in opposite directions in men and women. The stress coping hypothesis suggests that such behavioral effects of toxoplasmosis are side effects of chronic stress caused by lifelong parasitosis and associated health disorders. Several studies have searched for, and typically found, indices of impaired health in infected subjects. However, subjects were always aware of their toxoplasmosis status, which could influence obtained data and cause false-positive results of the studies. Here we searched for differences in physical and mental health status among 39 Toxoplasma-infected and 40 Toxoplasma-free female university students who completed identical questionnaires (N-70, and anamnestic questionnaire), before and 3 years after they were informed of their toxoplasmosis status. Our results showed that infected women showed indices of poorer health status, not only after, but also before they were informed of their infection. In accordance with previously published data, these indices were more numerous and stronger in Rh-negative than in Rh-positive women. Present results suggest that observed indices of poorer health and symptoms of chronic stress in Toxoplasma-infected subjects are real. Due to its high (30%) prevalence, toxoplasmosis could represent an important factor for public health.

Correction to 'Starvation effects on nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes of animals: an insight from meta-analysis of fasting experiments'.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1098/rsos.170633.].

Understanding and predicting habitat for wildlife conservation: the case of Canada lynx at the range periphery

AbstractEcologists and managers are motivated to predict the distribution of animals across landscapes as well as understand the mechanisms giving rise to that distribution. Satisfying this motivation requires an integrated framework that characterizes multi‐scale habitat use and selection, as well as builds predictive models such as resource selection functions. However, the assumption of constant habitat use or selection is often made in such analyses, which ignores the possibility that individuals experiencing different conditions might respond differently. Assessing functional responses in habitat use evaluates how animal behavior changes with differing environmental conditions, which has basic and applied utility. Here, we combined these ideas into an integrated process that characterizes habitat relationships, predicts habitat, and assesses behavioral differences with changing environmental conditions. Our species of interest was Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) in the Northern Rocky Mountains, which is a rare and federally threatened forest carnivore. Through our process, we developed multi‐scale predictions of lynx distribution and learned that across scales and seasons, lynx use more mature, spruce‐fir forests than any other structure stage or species. Intermediate snow depths and the distribution of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) were the strongest predictors of where lynx selected their home ranges. Within their home ranges, female and male lynx increasingly used advanced regeneration forest structures as they became more available (up to a maximum availability of 40%). These patterns supported the bottom‐up mechanisms regulating Canada lynx in that advanced regeneration generally provides the most abundant snowshoe hares, while mature forest is where lynx appear to hunt efficiently. However, lynx exhibited decreasing use of stand initiation structures (up to a maximum availability of 25%). Land managers have an opportunity to promote lynx habitat in the form of advanced regeneration, but are required to go through the stand initiation phase. Thus, managers can apply the relative proportions of forest structure classes along with our response curves to inform landscape actions (e.g., timber harvest) targeted at facilitating the forest mosaic used and selected by Canada lynx. Collectively, the insights gleaned from our approach advance habitat conservation efforts and consequently are of broad utility to applied ecologists and managers.

Exhausting all avenues: why impacts of air pollution should be part of road ecology

Roads are an omnipresent feature of the contemporary landscape and are associated with extensive ecological impacts, including habitat degradation, changes in animal behavior, and increases in wildlife mortality. Road ecology has grown into a dynamic multidisciplinary research area within the environmental sciences, aiming to avoid, minimize, and offset the impacts of road use. However, current best practices in mitigation are often incomplete, failing to account for the full suite of environmental problems that roads create and for the causal mechanisms of those problems. We highlight one environmental problem that is largely absent from the road ecology literature – air pollution from motorized vehicles and from road use. Using recent examples, we discuss our current understanding of the ecological effects of air pollution and describe ways to incorporate it into a comprehensive road ecology research framework. Failure to develop such a framework will result in an incomplete representation of the impact that roads have, and will likely diminish the effectiveness of mitigation strategies.

Abstract 4346: S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM) blocks breast cancer growth, invasion and metastasis in vitro and in vivo

Abstract DNA hypomethylation has been implicated in the coordinated targeting of various signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and metastasis. In the current study through various in vitro and in vivo assays, we have examined the plausibility of using universal methyl donar S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) for its ability to block breast cancer development, growth and metastasis in our xenograft and transgenic models of breast cancer. Treatment of highly invasive human triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines MDA-MB-231 and Hs578T with SAM resulted in a significant dose-dependent decrease in cell proliferation, invasion, migration, colony formation and increased apoptosis in vitro. Affymetrix gene expression array and real time PCR (qPCR) validated showed the ability of SAM to decrease the expression several genes implicated in cancer progression in MDA-MB-231 cells. For the in vivo studies, MDA-MB-231 cells expressing green fluorescent protein (MDA-MB-231-GFP) were inoculated into female CD-1 nude mice via mammary fat pad. From day three post tumor cell inoculation, animals were treated with SAM (0.8-1.6 mg/day) or vehicle alone as control via daily oral gavage and tumor volume was determined at weekly intervals for 10 weeks. SAM treatment caused a significant dose dependent decrease in tumor volume and GFP positive metastasis to lungs, liver and spleen in experimental animals compared to vehicle-treated controls. Analysis of RNA from primary tumors by qPCR showed the ability of SAM to cause a marked decrease in the expression of several pro-metastatic and EMT pathway genes. Pyrosequencing of tumoral DNA from control and experimental animals showed that SAM treatment causes a significant increase in the percentage of CpG methylation at the promoter region of several cancer-related genes which were seen to be downregulated in the qPCR assay. We next determined the effect of SAM in MMTV-PyMT transgenic mouse model of breast cancer where SAM treatment resulted in a significant delay in the development of mammary tumors and decreased tumor growth in experimental animals as compared to vehicle treated controls. SAM was found to bioavailable in the serum of experimental animals as determined by mass spectrometry and no notable adverse side effects were seen including any change in animal behavior. Results from these studies provide compelling evidence for the therapeutic potential of SAM in breast cancer to provide the rationale for initiating clinical trials with SAM in patients with breast and other common cancers as monotherapy or in combination setting with current therapeutic agents to reduce cancer associated morbidity and mortality. Citation Format: Niaz Mahmood, David Cheishvili, Ani Arakelian, William J. Muller, Moshe Szyf, Shafaat A. Rabbani. S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM) blocks breast cancer growth, invasion and metastasis in vitro and in vivo [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4346. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4346

Ablation of the sacroiliac joint using MR-guided high intensity focused ultrasound: a preliminary experiment in a swine model

BackgroundDysfunction of the Sacroiliac Joint (SIJ) is one of the key sources of low back pain. For prolonged pain relief, some patients undergo fluoroscopic guided radio-frequency (RF) ablation of SIJ, during which a number of RF probes are inserted to create thermal lesions that disrupt the posterior sacral nerve supply. This procedure is minimally invasive, laborious, time-consuming and costly. To study if High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) ablation is a feasible alternative approach to SIJ pain treatment, we performed experiments using HIFU to ablate SIJ in the swine model.MethodsThree female Yorkshire swine (36, 35.2 and 34 kg) underwent bilateral Magnetic Resonance guided HIFU (MRgHIFU) ablation of the SIJs. Treatment assessment was performed using contrast-enhanced imaging, histopathology and evaluation of pain and changes in ambulation and gait.ResultsContiguous lesions along the right and left SIJs were achieved in all animals. In one out of three animals, excessive heating of the muscle and skin tissue in the near-field resulted in unwanted muscle necrosis. No changes in animal behavior, ambulation or gait were detected.ConclusionsThe initial experiments with MRgHIFU ablation of SIJs in sub-acute swine model show promise for this ablation modality as a non invasive and more precise alternative to the currently used fluoroscopically - guided RF ablations and injections.

Acute Toxicity Studies of Petroleum Ether, Methanol and Aqueous Extracts of Nigella sativa

The purpose of the study was to test the acute oral toxicity of the different extracts of the plant Nigella sativa. Acute toxicity of petroleum ether, methanol and aqueous extracts of Nigella sativa was evaluated in Swiss mice. The acute toxicity studies were carried out based on OECD guidelines 423. The animals were administered orally with a single dose of 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2000 mg/kg body weight of each extract. Signs of toxicity and mortality were noted after 1, 4 and 24h of administration of the extract for about 14 days. The highest dose administered (2000 mg/kg body weight) do not produce mortality or changes in general behaviour of the test animals. These results indicate the safety of the oral administration of petroleum ether, methanol and aqueous extracts of Nigella sativa.

Interleukin-17: Why the Worms Squirm

IL-17 is a cytokine known primarily for its role in inflammation. In a recent issue of Nature, Chen etal. (2017) demonstrate that IL-17 plays a neuromodulatory role in Caenorhabditis elegans by acting directly on neurons to amplify neuronal responses to stimuli and produce changes in animal behavior.