Leptin system is not affected by different diets in the abomasum of the sheep reared in semi-natural pastures of the Central Apennines.

The growing summer drought stress is affecting the nutritional value of pastures, no longer sufficient to support the nutritional status of sheep in extensive rearing. Adipokines affect organ and tissue functionality can be useful to evaluate animal welfare and prompt an improvement in the management of the grazing animals. Leptin (Lep) is an adipokine mainly produced by adipose tissue that regulates food intake by an anorexigenic action.

HSP70 upregulation in nasal mucosa of symptomatic children with allergic rhinitis and potential risk of asthma development.

Allergic rhinitis and asthma are the most common causes of chronic inflammation of the upper and lower airways in childhood. However, a nasal biomarker that can link to pulmonary inflammation is yet to be found. The present paper aims to investigate the possible role in inflammation of two inducible 70-kDa Heat Shock Proteins (HSP70) members, HSPA1A/B and HSPA6, in nasal mucosa cells of allergic children through their mRNA expression analysis, and their correlation to both spirometric and FeNO values.

Developmental stages of Amphibiocystidium sp., a parasite from the Italian stream frog (Rana italica).

Amphibian parasites of the genus Amphibiocystidium are members of the class Ichthyosporea (=Mesomycetozoea), within the order Dermocystida. Most of the species in the Dermocystida fail to grow in ordinary culture media, so their life cycle has only been partially constructed by studies in host tissues. However, to date, there have been few reports on the life cycle of Amphibiocystidium parasites with respect to the developmental life stages of both Dermocystidium and Rhinosporidium parasites.

Small heat shock proteins in the amphibian Pelophylax bergeri: Cloning and characterization of Hsp27 and Hsp30 cDNAs and their expression analysis in ex vivo skin exposed to abiotic stresses.

Small Heat Shock Proteins (sHSP) are molecular chaperones that play an essential role in maintaining protein homeostasis and promoting cell survival. In this work, for the first time, multiple cDNAs encoding for small Hsp27 and Hsp30, designed, respectively, as PbHsp27-(1-2) and PbHsp30-(1-5), were cloned and characterized in the amphibian Pelophylax bergeri, which is a suitable model for studying biological responses to environmental perturbations. Domain architecture analysis showed that PbHsp27 and PbHsp30 cDNAs displayed the typical signature motifs of the sHSP family such as the conserved α-crystallin domain flanked by variable N-terminal and C-terminal regions.

Longitudinal study of Amphibiocystidium sp. infection in a natural population of the Italian stream frog (Rana italica).

Mesomycetozoean-induced infections (order Dermocystida, genus Amphibiocystidium) in European and North American amphibians are causing alarm. To date, the pathogenicity of these parasites in field conditions has been poorly studied, and demographic consequences on amphibian populations have not been explored. In this study, an Amphibiocystidium sp.

New Evidences of Mitochondrial DNA Heteroplasmy by Putative Paternal Leakage between the Rock Partridge (Alectoris graeca) and the Chukar Partridge (Alectoris chukar).

The rock partridge, Alectoris graeca, is a polytypic species declining in Italy mostly due to anthropogenic causes, including the massive releases of the closely related allochthonous chukar partridge Alectoris chukar which produced the formation of hybrids. Molecular approaches are fundamental for the identification of evolutionary units in the perspective of conservation and management, and to correctly select individuals to be used in restocking campaigns. We analyzed a Cytochrome oxidase I (COI) fragment of contemporary and historical A.

Short-term cadmium exposure induces stress responses in frog (Pelophylax bergeri) skin organ culture.

There have been a few studies on the negative effects of pollutants on amphibian skin, the first structural barrier that interacts with the environment and its potential contaminants. In this study an ex vivo skin organ culture from the amphibian Pelophylax bergeri was used to evaluate cell stress responses induced by short-term exposure to cadmium (Cd), a toxic heavy metal known to be an environmental hazard to both humans and wildlife. Histopathological studies were carried out on skin explants using light microscopy and changes in the expression of stress proteins, such as Metallothionein (MT) and Heat shock proteins (HSPs), were investigated by Real-time RT-PCR.

Molecular characterization and expression of a heat-shock cognate 70 (Hsc70) and a heat-shock protein 70 (Hsp70) cDNAs in Rana (Pelophylax) lessonae embryos.

Heat-Shock Protein 70 (HSP70) is a class of highly conserved proteins which is involved in essential functions as molecular chaperones and in the acquired tolerance processes. In this work, two cDNAs encoding a constitutive Hsc70 and an inducible Hsp70 from the water frog Rana (Pelophylax) lessonae, belonging to the Rana (P.) esculenta complex of central Italy, have been isolated and characterized.

Ecology: the proximate cause of frog declines?

Pounds et al. argue that global warming contributes to amphibian declines by encouraging outbreaks of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Although our findings agree with the climate-linked epidemic hypothesis, this pathogen is probably not the only proximate factor in such cases: in the Trasimeno Lake area of Umbria in central Italy, for example, the water frog Rana lessonae first declined in the late 1990s, yet chytridiomycosis was not observed until 2003 (refs 5, 6).

The pathogen of frogs Amphibiocystidium ranae is a member of the order dermocystida in the class mesomycetozoea.

The pathogen of frogs Amphibiocystidium ranae was recently described as a new genus. Due to its spherical shape, containing hundred of endospores, it was thought to be closely related to the pathogens of fish, mammals, and birds known as Dermocystidium spp., Rhinosporidium seeberi, and Sphaerothecum destruens in the Mesomycetozoea, but further studies were not conducted to confirm this relationship.

Molecular characterization and expression of a divergent alpha-tubulin in planarian Schmidtea polychroa.

We report the cloning and sequencing of a cDNA from planarian Schmidtea polychroa (Platyhelminthes, Turbellaria, Tricladida) encoding for an unusual tubulin isoform (SpTub-1) which is specifically expressed in testis. Sequence comparison of SpTub-1 with other known tubulins reveals that it has the highest homology with alpha-tubulins, even though the analysis of the molecular features shows that this isoform is significantly divergent. Hybridization of SpTub-1 to restriction-digested genomic DNA to Southern blotting produced a multiple banding pattern indicating that in planarian, a tubulin multigene family exists.