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PubMedDate not supplied

Inbreeding depression in insular and central populations of Peromyscus mice.

We tested the hypothesis that small, isolated populations would show less depression in fitness when inbred than would large, central populations. Laboratory stocks of Peromyscus leucopus and P. polionotus were established from insular, peninsular, and central populations. The isolated populations had one-third to one-half the genic diversity of central populations. Responses to inbreeding were highly varied: some populations had smaller litters, others experienced higher mortality, some showed slower growth rates, and one displayed no measurable effects when inbred. These results suggest that inbreeding depression is controlled by a small number of genes and that the size of the genetic load depends on which alleles are present in the founders of a population. The severity of fitness depression in inbred litters did not correlate with initial genic diversity of the stocks nor, therefore, with the size of the wild populations. Fitness measures appeared linearly related to the inbreeding coefficient of the liters, with no diminution of deleterious effects through subsequent generations of inbreeding. Thus overdominance of fitness traits probably contributed as much to the genetic load as did deleterious recessive alleles. The inbreeding level of the dam negatively affected the size, growth, and survival of litters only in genetically diverse populations, indicating that the load of recessive alleles negatively impacting maternal care may have been reduced by selection in the more peripheral populations during past bottlenecks.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Enzyme variation of Eimeria arizonensis from Peromyscus truei and P. boylii.

Cricetid rodents, Peromyscus truei and P. boylii, were inoculated with sporulated oocysts of Eimeria arizonensis collected from wild P. truei maintained in the lab. In P. truei the prepatent period was 4-5 days, the patent period was 9-11 days, and sporulated oocysts were 21.5 x 25.0 (20-23 x 24-26) microns with sporocysts 7.7 x 12.0 (6-8 x 10-13) microns. In P. boylii the prepatent period was 6-7 days, the patent period was 8-9 days, and sporulated oocysts were 20.1 x 23.2 (18-22 x 21-24) microns with sporocysts 6.8 x 10.0 (5-8 x 9-12) microns. Sporulated oocysts from both host species were used in direct side-by-side comparison of isozyme banding patterns using protein electrophoresis. The parasite has polytypic loci for leucine aminopeptidase (LAP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6-PGD). In oocysts from P. truei, LAP showed one band with fast migration and LDH and 6-PGD each showed two bands, one with fast and one with slow migration. In oocysts from P. boylii, LAP and LDH each had one band with slow migration and 6-PGD had one band with moderate migration. Oocysts of E. arizonensis collected from P. boylii were used to inoculate P. truei. The prepatent and patent periods, structural measurements, and isozyme banding patterns of the resultant oocysts were the same as those from P. truei when inoculated with oocysts from P. truei.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1968

Circadian activity rhythm of the deer mouse, Peromyscus: effect of deuterium oxide.

Chemical modification of a vertebrate activity rhythm, the circadian (approximately 24-hour) rhythm of Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis, has been demonstrated. Activity in a running wheel was used to measure the rhythms of mice kept individually in conditions of continuous darkness. Deuterium oxide was presented in the drinking water. The length of the periods of rhythm increased directly and linearly with the increase in concentration of deuterium oxide. There is no threshold for this effect, and the maximum concentration of deuterium oxide (30 percent) that was presented resulted in a 6 percent lengthening of the period of circadian rhythm. The mice reverted to rhythms similar in period length to control values after deuterium oxide was withdrawn from their drinking water.

Animals↗
PubMed1972

Chromosome variation in Peromyscus: a new mechanism.

Differences in total chromosome lengths between two karyotypically divergent groups of Peromyscus maniculatus are taken as evidence for an deletion mechanism of chromosomal variation in the species. The differences may be due in part to variation in the amount of constitutive heterochromatin in the two karyotypes.

Animals↗
PubMed1974

Peromyscus: effect of early pairing on reproduction.

Sibling mating in prairie deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus bairdi) results in poor reproductive performance. Siblings experimentally paired before puberty exhibit delayed reproduction when adult. A behavioral mechanism is involved in this reproductive delay, since prepubertal familiarity also delays reproduction in nonsibling pairs. Such a reproductive delay may act to reduce inbreeding depression and regulate population growth.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1974

Modoc viral infections in the deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus.

The pathogenesis of Modoc virus and its mechanism of transmission were investigated in Peromyscus maniculatus gambeli (deer mouse) as a model to understand the natural history of this virus. Animals were readily infected by the intranasal or subcutaneous route of inoculation. Virus could be detected by direct isolation techniques in many organs and body fluids during the first 7 to 9 days after intranasal inoculation. Increases in viral titers were detectable first in lungs and then the spleen, salivary-submaxillary glands, and lymph nodes. Viremias were low titered and ephemeral. Virus was recovered from urine and throat swabs 4 to 6 days and 4 to 7 days after inoculation, respectively. Serum dilution neutralization, hemagglutination inhibition, or complement fixation antibodies were detected in sera of some animals 13 days after infection and in all animals after 20 days. Antibodies persisted for the 168-day period of observation. Persistent viral infection was demonstrable by in vitro culturing of lungs or pooled lungs, salivary glands, and kidneys from 14 of 69 mice that were sacrificed from 1 to 6 months after intranasal inoculation. Attempts to demonstrate horizontal or vertical transmission of Modoc virus among mice were generally unsuccessful. Female deer mice infected with virus before mating passed maternal antibodies to their young.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

A brain site for the antigonadal action of melatonin in the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus): involvement of the immunoreactive GnRH neuronal system.

Quantitative assessment of immunocytochemical staining for gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) was undertaken to determine the effects of an intracranial implant of melatonin on the GnRH neuronal system in the male white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus). Melatonin-containing pellets stereotaxically placed in the anterior hypothalamic area (AH) caused a 60% reduction in testes weight relative to control mice with melatonin-free pellets in the AH (p less than 0.01). Subcutaneous melatonin-containing implants had little effect on reproductive state (p less than 0.8). Melatonin pellets in the AH increased significantly both the optical density (OD) for immunostaining of cell bodies in the medial preoptic area and AH (p less than 0.04), and the percentage of area covered by GnRH fibers and beads in the median eminence (p less than 0.01). The melatonin-induced increase in OD of the GnRH cell bodies was independent of the distance of the cells from the melatonin implant, and there was little apparent effect of melatonin on the size and morphology of the GnRH cell bodies, or the trajectories of their fiber pathways. These results support the hypothesis that the antigonadal action of melatonin in the brain involves suppression of the release, rather than the synthesis of GnRH. Also, this effect may not be mediated via a direct action of melatonin on GnRH neurons. The finding that the brain site and time course for melatonin's antigonadal action in male. P. leucopus is similar to that found previously in the female is evidence that melatonin may induce gonadal regression, in part, by helping to suppress the tonic secretion of gonadotropins.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Short photoperiods impair spatial learning and alter hippocampal dendritic morphology in adult male white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus).

Although seasonal changes in brain morphology and function are well established in songbirds, seasonal plasticity of brain structure and function remain less well documented in mammals. Nontropical animals display many adaptations to reduce energy use to survive winter, including cessation of reproductive activities. Because of the high energetic costs of brain tissue, we hypothesized that male white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) would reduce brain size in response to short days as well as regress their reproductive systems. Because short days may decrease hippocampal volume and impair spatial learning and memory in rodents and because of the potential for seasonal plasticity in the hippocampus, we hypothesized that photoperiod alters hippocampal morphology to affect spatial learning and memory. Mice housed in either long or short days for 10 weeks were examined for performance in a water maze; brains were then removed and weighed, and hippocampal volumes were determined. We also measured dendritic morphology and spine density in the CA1, CA3, and dentate gyrus. Short days decreased brain mass and hippocampal volume compared with long days. Short days also impaired long-term spatial learning and memory relative to long days but did not affect sensory discrimination or other types of memory. Short days decreased apical (stratum lacunosum-moleculare) CA1 spine density, as well as increased basilar (stratum oriens) CA3 spine density. Results from this study suggest that photoperiod alters brain size and morphology, as well as cognitive function. Understanding the mechanisms mediating these photoperiod-induced alterations may provide insight for treatment of seasonal cognitive and affective disorders.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1992

A pseudoseasonal reproductive strategy in a tropical rodent, Peromyscus nudipes.

A population of cloud forest mice (Peromyscus nudipes) at latitude 10 degrees N near Monteverde, Costa Rica, was sampled four times by live-trapping twice during the 7-8 month wet season and twice during the 4-5 month dry season in 1989 and 1990. Body weights were lower during the early part of the dry season in males and throughout the dry season in females than at other times. Testes and seminal vesicles were somewhat lighter early in the dry season, but epididymal spermatozoa were abundant in most males throughout the year. Adult females ovulated, mated and became pregnant in the wet and dry seasons, but young were produced only during the wet season. Most embryos failed to implant during the dry season, and the few that did complete implantation were reabsorbed before midpregnancy. Apparently, every year, the females in this population spend several months actively engaged in a behavioural and metabolically costly process that is doomed to be unsuccessful. This reproductive strategy is termed pseudoseasonal, because reproductive success is highly seasonal, but attempts to reproduce are nonseasonal. Implantation failures similar to those seen in the wild were induced in the laboratory using mild restriction of food or water. Field evidence points to food restriction as the more important cause of pregnancy losses in the wild. Exposure to the gradually changing daylengths typical of Costa Rica had no effect on the production of young by adults, and maintenance on light cycles of 8 h light: 16 h dark, 11 h light: 13 h dark, 13 h light: 11 h dark and 16 h light: 8 h dark had no effect on the reproductive development of young animals of either sex.

Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗
PubMed1975

Reproductive performance of a laboratory colony of the deermouse, Peromyscus maniculatus gambelii.

During a 23-mo period approximately 600 litters and 2,500 offspring were produced in a laboratory colony established with wild-trapped deermice (Peromyscus maniculatus gambelii). The incidence of pregnancy and size of litters increased with domestication. Average litter size was 4.3 for all litters and 4.1 and 4.7 for litters born to wild-trapped and first generation females, respectively. Litter size increased up to the seventh sequential pregnancy for both wild-caught and first-generation females and then tapered off. In all litters more males were born than females. The departure from a 1:1 ratio was significant for the combined data and for litters of first-generation females, but not for litters of wild-caught females.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Effects of the presence of the father on pup development in California mice (Peromyscus californicus).

Pup development and behavior in California mice were studied in litters housed with single mothers, or with fathers and mothers living together. Behavior of pups was recorded during a 15-min session every 2 days from 10 to 30 days of age. Physical contact, locomotion, grooming, and physical development indicators were recorded. It was found that the physical contact between siblings was greater and there was a tendency to have more contact between pup and either parent in the group in which the father was present. Finally, it was noted that the presence of the father did not affect either the first appearance of pup behavior during development or physical growth. In conclusion, the results indicate that the presence of the father had a greater influence on social contact between the different members of the litter than on pup behavioral development and physical growth.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

p-nitrosophenol reduction by liver cytosol from ADH-positive and -negative deermice (Peromyscus maniculatus).

Liver cytosolic fractions are known to catalyze the reduction of certain C-nitroso compounds to their corresponding hydroxylamines and amines. Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase, and xanthine and aldehyde oxidases have been implicated as C-nitroso reductases. To probe the role of these cytosolic enzymes in the reduction of C-nitroso compounds we have studied the effects of classical inhibitors of these enzymes on the ability of liver cytosolic fractions from ADH+ and ADH- deermice to reduce p-nitrosophenol to p-aminophenol. Pyrazole, a potent inhibitor of ADH, inhibited NADH-p-nitrosophenol reduction by ADH+ cytosol by > 85%. Thus, ADH contributes substantially to NADH-C-nitroso reduction by cytosol from ADH+ deermice. The NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase inhibitor, dicumarol, inhibited NADH-dependent p-aminophenol formation by about 25%; however, dicumarol potently inhibited the NADPH-dependent formation (90-95%). As expected, cytosol from ADH- deermice did not catalyze pyrazole-sensitive (ADH-dependent) C-nitroso reduction with NADH as the cofactor. Both NADPH- and NADH-p-nitrosophenol reduction by ADH- cytosol were inhibited > 90% by dicumarol. The xanthine oxidase/aldehyde oxidase inhibitor, allopurinol, was without effect on NAD(P)H cytosolic p-nitrosophenol reduction from ADH- and ADH+ deermice under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Our findings suggest that in the ADH+ animal, ADH contributes significantly to NADH-dependent C-nitroso reduction by cytosol relative to NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase. NADPH-dependent p-nitrosophenol reduction by liver cytosol of ADH+ animals is mostly dicumarol-sensitive, which implicates NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase as the major NADPH-dependent activity. In ADH- deermice, both NADH- and NADPH-dependent p-nitrosophenol reduction are essentially dicumarol-sensitive (NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase-dependent). Because the toxic expression of C-nitroso compounds is mediated by hydroxylamine intermediates, the present data indicate the importance of considering the role of ADH in the toxic sequelae of nitro and nitroso arenes.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗