فصلنامه زیست شناسی جانوری تجربی
سال نهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 35، زمستان 1399)

Sepsis is a systemic body reaction to invasive microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi It has also been a systemic response to severe infections it is one of the top ten main causes of death among all patients admitted to the hospital.  Multiple potential drug therapies have been investigated, but as yet there is no known effective pharmacological treatment for sepsis. Therefore, the effect of aspirin as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) in the treatment and reduction of sepsis effects on parameters involved in oxidative damage to liver tissue has been investigated. For this purpose, the experimental inflammatory model was used in this study, so that the mice were divided into four groups (4 people). The first group - control group, the second group-LAP group (laparotomy), the third group-CLP group; Group 4 - Aspirin treatment group with a dose of 2 mg / kg body weight orally once a day for 48 hours after induction of CLP in rats and blood samples were collected from their hearts. In the next step, the animals are killed and the liver tissue is separated for histological and biochemical studies. Separated liver tissue, to test for COX2 gene expression; The Real-Time pCR technique was used. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software and Anova test. p < 0.05 is considered statistically significant. Our results showed that the treatment of animals with aspirin is effective in regulating antioxidant and inflammatory parameters. Also, the findings indicate that in liver tissue, aspirin has the greatest effect on reducing gene expression. Pathological studies have also shown that sepsis causes damage to liver tissue that can be reduced by these methods. Finally, sepsis causes oxidative damage to liver tissue and the use of aspirin is effective in preventing and improving these injuries.

Streptococcus iniae is a gram-positive bacterium that causes invasive infections with severe septicemia and meningitis as well as high economic losses in freshwater and sea fish. It is one of the most infectious diseases in Asian sea bass. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of this bacterium in marine bass fish mortality in farmed cages on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf.  In this study, a number of 150 cultured Asian sea bass (60 fish suspected of bacterial infection and 90 apparently healthy fish) were selected and bacterial sampling were taken from head kidneys and brain of fish from sea bass cages of Bushehr, Khuzestan and Hormozgan provinces. After isolation and purification of the bacteria, the presence of Streptococcus iniae was evaluated and confirmed via biochemical tests and molecular methods (with specific primers of lctO gene). The PCR results and sequencing of the PCR product indicate high prevalence of Streptococcus iniae in Asian sea bass cages culturing in the Persian Gulf. Therefore, effective measures should be taken to prevent Streptococcosis (especially vaccination).

Recently, plant protection products have become commonly used in aquaculture as immune stimulants to strengthen the fish safety system. Some plants are a rich source of tannins, polysaccharides, alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, and polyphenols, which have been shown to play different roles, including having antimicrobial effects and strengthening the immune system of fish. In the present study, 150 goldfish (mean weight 135 g) were divided into three groups: control group (T1), metal + extract of green tea (T2) and metal (T3) with three replicates. The optimum dose of extract in fish diet was determined (0.65 mg/kg), sub-lethal concentrations of cadmium (0.5 mg/l) and mercury (0.5 mg/l). In order to study the biochemical parameters of blood, sampling was carried out on days 3, 7, and 14, after exposure to the concentration of heavy metals of cadmium and mercury. The results showed that total protein, cholesterol, glucose and the levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) enzymes were significantly different in treatment of herbal extracts (T2) than other treatments. On the other hand, the values ​​of the mentioned indices in the treatment of metal containing the extract of the plant were significantly higher than other treatments (P<0.05). According to the results, it can be stated that increased the immunity system in fish that fed with plant extract and the biochemical parameters were optimally. Regarding the fact that heavy metals in water resources affect the biochemical parameters of blood of fish, the results of this study suggest that the use of herbal extract increases the fish's physiological capacity against the negative effects of environmental pollutants. Therefore, the use of Camelia siensies extract in fish is recommended to increase the physiological capacity and reduce liver damage in the exposure of wastewater and industrial contaminants.

Environmental, nutritional, size and age conditions cause many direct and indirect changes in the blood and serum indices of fish in different species. The aim of this study was to determine and evaluate the changes in hematological indicators and some biochemical indicators of Cyprinus carpio blood serum in different weights.  For this purpose, common carp farmed in the weight range of 500 to 2000 g were examined and analyzed in 5 weight groups of 500, 700, 1000, 1300 and 1600 g.  The studied fish were bred and examined in a 2-hectare pool in one of the farms of Sari city under the same conditions. To perform blood tests, 5 fish were used in each weight group and blood sampling was performed by cutting the vein of the caudal stem vein. The results of the study of hematological indicators and some serum biochemical indicators showed that in different weights, significant changes in the amount of red blood cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean red blood cell volume, mean hemoglobin concentration, mean red blood cell hemoglobin concentration, white blood cells, lymphocyte, monocyte, granulocytes, glucose, urea, triglycerides, cholesterol, phosphorus, calcium, sodium, potassium, albumin, and total protein were not observed (P> 0.05). The results of the present study showed that weight changes did not affect the hematological indicators and some biochemical indicators of common carp blood serum.

Ecological niche models have found many applications in paleoecology, archeology and paleoanthropology. These models are based on niche theory and are used to model the distribution of species through time and space. Species distribution models use species distribution data and environmental predictors to model species distribution. In this study I used MaxEnt model, distribution records of the Homo neanderthalensis (Mousterian artefacts) and topographic and climatic data to reconstruct eco-cultural niche of the species on the Central Iranian Plateau. The performance of the model was assessed using the area (AUC) under the receiver operating curve (ROC). The predictive ability of the model was high (AUC = 0.827 for training and 0.813 for test data). The species past distribution model showed that there were numerous suitable patches for distribution of the species in the study area. The most continues patches were found in Yazd province, west of Semnan province and east of Isfahan province. With 48.3 percent contribution to the model, topographic heterogeneity was the most important predictor of this archaic human distribution. This is because topographic heterogeneity influences resource availability, meaning that areas with higher topographic heterogeneity provide more resources. The eco-cultural niche model predicts many suitable patches which can be target of future field excavations in the study area.

Today, the migration and movement of organisms among patches has been considered to prevent habitat isolation. The purpose of this study is to identify suitable habitats for Capra aegagrus species in Dareh Anjir Wildlife Refuge and Kuh-e-Bafq Protected Area and connecting these two habitats. In this study, the maximum entropy algorithm and the least cost method were used to evaluate habitat suitability and design the corridor of Capra aegagrus species respectively. For this purpose, at first, species presence data along with eight environmental variables (direction, height, plant density, distance from the river, distance from the road, slope, vegetation and distance from the village) were entered into Maxent software and The utility map was prepared, Then the resistance map and the cumulative cost layer were prepared in Arc GIS10.1. Finaly Corridor command was used to plot the corridor using Arc GIS10.1 software in Spatial Analyst tools Distance. The results of the Maxent model showed Jack Nayef analysis, the most important factor in scattering of Capra aegagrus in the study area is the slope variable. In the ROC chart, The AUC value of the training data was 0.961, which indicates that the high detection power of the model (separation of presence and absence of species) is Excellent. Also the results of the least cost method showed that of the ten corridors plotted, none of the corridors interconnects the two zones. Therefore, in order to prevent the isolation of habitats, it is necessary to take appropriate management practices and create suitable conditions for the species between these two areas, because the connection between habitats is needed to protect and manage natural ecosystems.

Species diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) within three subfamilies Dolichoderinae, Formicinae and Myrmicinae was studied in forest ecosystems in northern parts of Iran. The sampled areas of the present research were Jangal-e 2000 and 3000 Tonekabon, Dalkhani forest in Ramsar, Khoshrudpey forest in Galogah, Urim forst in Savadkuh (Mazandaran province), Abr forest in Shahrud (Semnan province), Arasbaran forests (East Azarbaijan province), Golestan National Park (Golestan province), and Guisum forest in Talesh (Guilan province). In total, 27 species within 12 genera and three subfamilies Dolichoderinae (two species, one genus), Formicinae (10 species, five genera) and Myrmicinae (15 species, six genera) were collected and identified. Upon the results of this research, the highest niche similarity index was obtained between Abr forest and Golestan National Park (75%), and then Dalkhani forest and Jangal-e 2000 and 3000 (55.5%). Among the collected species, three species Tapinoma erraticum (Latreille, 1798), Cataglyphis livida (André, 1881) and Monomorium abeillei André, 1881 with 22, 20 and 18 collected specimens, and 6.89%, 6.26% and 5.64% of abundance percentage, respectively are dominant species in forest ecosystems in northern Iran.

Ischemia in rat brain causes severe neuronal damage and consequently anxiety and depression disorders. The herniarin has a phenolic compound and is a powerful antioxidant. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of herniarin on anxiety and depression in ischemia model in male rats. In this experimental study, 50 male Wistar rats(200-250g) were divided into 5 groups: control group, sham and ischemic group and ischemic groups receiving doses of 150 and 300 mg/kg herniarin by gavage method. To induce ischemia, bilateral carotid arteries were separated, blocked in two, and cut off in the middle section. Anxiety assessment was performed during the open-box test. Immobility time in forced swimming was also measured to measure depression. In the ischemic rats a significantly increased anxiety and an increase of   mobility   duration in both open box and forced swimming tests were observed (P<0.001). When the doses of 150-300 mg/kg herniarin was prescribed the times of elevation of hands was increased (P<0.001) and a significantly reduction of excretion times in each dose was observed (P<0.001) and consumption of herniarin doses 150-300 mg/kg was significantly increased in the ischemicrats when they passed several times through squares in the open box (P<0.001). herniarin has the effect of both anti-anxiety and- depression in the experimental model.