In animals, behavioural personality traits have been well-documented in a wide array of species. However, these traits, different between individuals, are not completely stable in individuals. They show behavioural plasticity like many other phenotypic traits. This plasticity is able to overcome some weak aspects of personality trait behavioural strategy. In the present study, we examined the relationship between motor personality traits and behavioural plasticity in the common vole (Microtus arvalis) using a PhenoTyper (PT) box (Noldus). During a three-day test, four behavioural motor activity parameters were monitored in 47 voles: distance moved, (loco)motion duration, motion change frequency, sprint duration. Consistency repeatability (RC) of the parameters from the PT test was very high, with all values ≥ 0.91. To select the best linear mixed-effect models (LMMs), several predictors (test day, sex, body weight) were tested. Only test day had a significant effect on the dependent variables and other predictors did not improve the LMMs. Further, we found significant effects of random intercepts (motor personality traits) and slopes (behavioural plasticity), as well as significant negative correlations between them for all behavioural parameters. Our results indicate that motor personality traits were connected with behavioural plasticity. Moreover, we revealed a significant positive correlation between the random slopes of (loco)motion duration and motion change frequency. This relationship could indicate some central plasticity of motor personality traits. In conclusion, negative correlations between the motor personality traits and the behavioural plasticity demonstrate expression of convergent tendency from both opposite trait values. This corresponds with different ideas on ability to compensate personality effects or to prepare for potential future conditions. In the laboratory, plasticity of personality traits take place whenever an animal is placed e. g. in a breeding box for the first time or is left for a long time in an experimental apparatus.
- MeSH
- Arvicolinae * MeSH
- chování zvířat * MeSH
- fenotyp MeSH
- osobnost MeSH
- tělesná hmotnost MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Fecal samples from wild-caught common voles (n = 328) from 16 locations in the Czech Republic were screened for Cryptosporidium by microscopy and PCR/sequencing at loci coding small-subunit rRNA, Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein, actin and 70 kDa heat shock protein. Cryptosporidium infections were detected in 74 voles (22.6%). Rates of infection did not differ between males and females nor between juveniles and adults. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of eight Cryptosporidium species/genotypes including two new species, C. alticolis and C. microti. These species from wild-caught common voles were able to infect common and meadow voles under experimental conditions, with a prepatent period of 3-5 days post-infection (DPI), but they were not infectious for various other rodents or chickens. Meadow voles lost infection earlier than common voles (11-14 vs 13-16 DPI) and had significantly lower infection intensity. Cryptosporidium alticolis infects the anterior small intestine and has larger oocysts (5.4 × 4.9 µm), whereas C. microti infects the large intestine and has smaller oocysts (4.3 × 4.1 µm). None of the rodents developed clinical signs of infection. Genetic and biological data support the establishment of C. alticolis and C. microti as separate species of the genus Cryptosporidium.
- MeSH
- Arvicolinae parazitologie MeSH
- Cryptosporidium klasifikace genetika ultrastruktura MeSH
- feces parazitologie MeSH
- fluorescenční mikroskopie MeSH
- fylogeneze MeSH
- gastrointestinální trakt parazitologie patologie ultrastruktura MeSH
- genetická variace MeSH
- interferenční mikroskopie MeSH
- kryptosporidióza epidemiologie parazitologie přenos MeSH
- krysa rodu rattus MeSH
- kur domácí MeSH
- mikroskopie elektronová rastrovací MeSH
- Murinae MeSH
- myši inbrední BALB C MeSH
- myši inbrední C57BL MeSH
- myši MeSH
- nemoci hlodavců epidemiologie parazitologie přenos MeSH
- polymerázová řetězová reakce MeSH
- prevalence MeSH
- protozoální DNA chemie genetika izolace a purifikace MeSH
- RNA ribozomální genetika MeSH
- sekvence nukleotidů MeSH
- sekvenční seřazení veterinární MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- krysa rodu rattus MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- myši MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Česká republika MeSH
Magnetosensitivity is widespread among animals with rodents being the most intensively studied mammalian group. The available behavioural assays for magnetoreception are time-consuming, which impedes screens for treatment effects that could characterize the enigmatic magnetoreceptors. Here, we present a fast and simple approach to test if an animal responds to magnetic stimuli: the magnetic object assay (MOA). The MOA focuses on investigating an animal's spontaneous exploration behaviour in the presence of a bar magnet compared to a demagnetised control. We present consistently longer exploration of the magnet in three different rodent species: Ansell's mole-rat (Fukomys anselli), C57BL/6J laboratory mouse, and naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber). For the naked mole-rat this is the first report that this species reacts on magnetic stimuli. We conclude that the MOA holds the potential to screen if an animal responds to magnetic stimuli, indicating the possession of a magnetic sense.
Litter size is one of the most reliable state-dependent life-history traits that indicate parental investment in polytocous (litter-bearing) mammals. The tendency to optimize litter size typically increases with decreasing availability of resources during the period of parental investment. To determine whether this tactic is also influenced by resource limitations prior to reproduction, we examined the effect of experimental, pre-breeding food restriction on the optimization of parental investment in lactating mice. First, we investigated the optimization of litter size in 65 experimental and 72 control families (mothers and their dependent offspring). Further, we evaluated pre-weaning offspring mortality, and the relationships between maternal and offspring condition (body weight), as well as offspring mortality, in 24 experimental and 19 control families with litter reduction (the death of one or more offspring). Assuming that pre-breeding food restriction would signal unpredictable food availability, we hypothesized that the optimization of parental investment would be more effective in the experimental rather than in the control mice. In comparison to the controls, the experimental mice produced larger litters and had a more selective (size-dependent) offspring mortality and thus lower litter reduction (the proportion of offspring deaths). Selective litter reduction helped the experimental mothers to maintain their own optimum condition, thereby improving the condition and, indirectly, the survival of their remaining offspring. Hence, pre-breeding resource limitations may have facilitated the mice to optimize their inclusive fitness. On the other hand, in the control females, the absence of environmental cues indicating a risky environment led to "maternal optimism" (overemphasizing good conditions at the time of breeding), which resulted in the production of litters of super-optimal size and consequently higher reproductive costs during lactation, including higher offspring mortality. Our study therefore provides the first evidence that pre-breeding food restriction promotes the optimization of parental investment, including offspring number and developmental success.
- MeSH
- chov metody MeSH
- laktace fyziologie MeSH
- myši inbrední ICR MeSH
- myši MeSH
- odstavení MeSH
- potraviny MeSH
- rodiče MeSH
- rozmnožování fyziologie MeSH
- těhotenství MeSH
- tělesná hmotnost fyziologie MeSH
- velikost vrhu fyziologie MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- myši MeSH
- těhotenství MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Magnetoreception has been convincingly demonstrated in only a few mammalian species. Among rodents, magnetic compass orientation has been documented in four species of subterranean mole rats and two epigeic (i.e. active above ground) species-the Siberian hamster and the C57BL/6J mouse. The mole rats use the magnetic field azimuth to determine compass heading; their directional preference is spontaneous and unimodal, and their magnetic compass is magnetite-mediated. By contrast, the primary component of orientation response is learned in the hamster and the mouse, but both species also exhibit a weak spontaneous bimodal preference in the natural magnetic field. To determine whether the magnetic compass of wild epigeic rodents features the same functional properties as that of laboratory rodents, we investigated magnetic compass orientation in the bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus (Cricetidae, Rodentia). The voles exhibited a robust spontaneous bimodal directional preference, i.e. built nests and slept preferentially along the north-south axis, and deflected their directional preference according to a shift in the direction of magnetic north, clearly indicating that they were deriving directional information from the magnetic field. Thus, bimodal, axially symmetrical directional choice seems to be a common feature shared by epigeic rodents. However, spontaneous directional preference in the bank vole appeared to be more pronounced than that reported in the hamster and the mouse. These findings suggest that bank voles are well suited for future studies investigating the adaptive significance and mechanisms of magnetic orientation in epigeic rodents.
- MeSH
- Arvicolinae fyziologie MeSH
- hnízdění fyziologie MeSH
- magnetické jevy * MeSH
- orientace fyziologie MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
The theory of classical and cryptic Pleistocene refugia is based mainly on historical changes in temperature, and the refugia are usually defined within a latitudinal gradient. However, the gradient of oceanic-continental climate (i.e. longitudinal) was also significantly variable during glacial cycles with important biotic consequences. Range-wide phylogeography of the European ground squirrel (EGS) was used to interpret the evolutionary and palaeogeographical history of the species in Europe and to shed light on its glacial-interglacial dynamic. The EGS is a steppe-inhabiting species and the westernmost member of the genus in the Palaearctic region. We have analysed 915 specimens throughout the present natural range by employing mitochondrial DNA sequences (cytochrome b gene) and 12 nuclear microsatellite markers. The reconstructed phylogeography divides the species into two main geographical groups, with deep substructuring within both groups. Bulgaria is the centre of the ancestral area, and it also has the highest genetic diversity within the species. The northernmost group of the EGS survived in the southern part of Pannonia throughout several glacial-interglacial cycles. Animals from this population probably repeatedly colonized areas further to the north and west during the glacial periods, while in the interglacial periods, the EGS distribution contracted back to this Pannonian refugium. The EGS thus represents a species with a glacial expansion/interglacial contraction palaeogeographical dynamics, and the Pannonian and southeastern Balkanian steppes are supported as cryptic refugia of continental climate during Pleistocene interglacials.
- MeSH
- cytochromy b genetika MeSH
- fylogeneze * MeSH
- fylogeografie MeSH
- genetická variace MeSH
- ledový příkrov * MeSH
- mikrosatelitní repetice genetika MeSH
- mitochondriální DNA genetika MeSH
- molekulární evoluce MeSH
- molekulární sekvence - údaje MeSH
- podnebí MeSH
- populační genetika * MeSH
- Sciuridae genetika fyziologie MeSH
- sekvenční analýza DNA MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Evropa MeSH
Akutní transverzální myelitida má nejčastěji parainfekční původ, o něco méně často se vyskytuje v rámci demyelinizačního onemocnění typu roztroušené sklerózy, dále jako idiopatická, ischemického či infekčního původu. Izolovaná akutní transverzální myelitida se vyskytuje u necelých 5 % všech případů neuroborreliózy. Autoři popisují případ 62leté ženy, u které se objevil červený exantém na zádech. Po 3 týdnech došlo k rozvoji bolestí v dolním hrudním a bederním úseku s projekcí podél žeber a následně vznikly porucha čití s hranicí Th7, sfinkterové poruchy a lehká spastická paraparéza dolních končetin. Byl prokázán syndrom aseptické meningitidy, průkaz IgG a IgM protilátek proti borreliím v krvi, likvoru, na MRI míchy T2 hyperintenzní ložisko v úrovni Th6. Po léčbě Lendacinem intravenózně a kortikoidy došlo v průběhu dalších 3 týdnů k velmi podstatnému klinickému zlepšení a po 4 měsících byla již pacientka zcela bez neurologického deficitu.
The etiology of acute transverse myelitis (ATM) is in most cases parainfectious, less frequently is ATM caused by demyelinating disorders such as multiple sclerosis. The origin can be also infectious, ischemic or idiopathic, but as the only manifestation of neuroborreliosis it represents less than 5% of all cases. The authors present a case report of 62-year old woman, in whom a red exanthema appeared. After 3 weeks she developed radicular pain in lower thoracic and lumbal region radiating along ribs. Subsequently sensory impairment below the Th7 level, sphincter dysfunction and mild spastic paraparesis appeared. In cerebrospinal fluid changes typical for aseptic meningitis were detected and the lyme disease antibodies IgG and IgM in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid were proved. Spinal MRI showed T2 weighted hyperintense lesion at the Th6 level. After 3 weeks of intravenous treatment with ceftriaxon and corticosteroids the clinical state significantly improved and within 4 months the patient fully recovered.
- MeSH
- akutní nemoc MeSH
- ceftriaxon terapeutické užití MeSH
- diferenciální diagnóza MeSH
- ELISA MeSH
- hormony kůry nadledvin terapeutické užití MeSH
- klinický obraz nemoci MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- lymská neuroborelióza * diagnóza komplikace terapie MeSH
- magnetická rezonanční tomografie MeSH
- mozkomíšní mok cytologie MeSH
- prednison terapeutické užití MeSH
- transverzální myelitida * diagnóza etiologie terapie MeSH
- výsledek terapie MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- kazuistiky MeSH
Evidence for magnetoreception in mammals remains limited. Magnetic compass orientation or magnetic alignment has been conclusively demonstrated in only a handful of mammalian species. The functional properties and underlying mechanisms have been most thoroughly characterized in Ansell's mole-rat, Fukomys anselli, which is the species of choice due to its spontaneous drive to construct nests in the southeastern sector of a circular arena using the magnetic field azimuth as the primary orientation cue. Because of the remarkable consistency between experiments, it is generally believed that this directional preference is innate. To test the hypothesis that spontaneous southeastern directional preference is a shared, ancestral feature of all African mole-rats (Bathyergidae, Rodentia), we employed the same arena assay to study magnetic orientation in two other mole-rat species, the social giant mole-rat, Fukomys mechowii, and the solitary silvery mole-rat, Heliophobius argenteocinereus. Both species exhibited spontaneous western directional preference and deflected their directional preference according to shifts in the direction of magnetic north, clearly indicating that they were deriving directional information from the magnetic field. Because all of the experiments were performed in total darkness, our results strongly suggest that all African mole-rats use a light-independent magnetic compass for near-space orientation. However, the spontaneous directional preference is not common and may be either innate (but species-specific) or learned. We propose an experiment that should be performed to distinguish between these two alternatives.
- MeSH
- chování zvířat MeSH
- druhová specificita MeSH
- krysa rodu rattus MeSH
- magnetické pole * MeSH
- mikroftalmičtí podzemní hlodavci fyziologie MeSH
- orientace fyziologie MeSH
- tma MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- krysa rodu rattus MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- srovnávací studie MeSH
