فصلنامه زیست شناسی جانوری تجربی
سال دهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 37، تابستان 1400)

Soybean (Glycine max) is a plant of the legume family and one of the most important oil plants. Soybean is rich in various proteins and phytochemicals, especially isoflavones. The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant and inhibitory effects of hydro-alcoholic extract of soybean seed on acetyl cholinesterase and production of amyloid nanobiofibrils in bovine serum albumin protein as a model protein. First, the yellow soybean seeds was powdered, then its hydro-alcoholic extract was prepared.  The extracts composition were obtained by GC-MS spectroscopy. Anti-Alzheimer's effects were performed by measuring antioxidant activity by DPPH method, Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase by ellman method and inhibition of the production of amyloid nanobiofibrils by congored absorption method. Transmission electron microscopy was used to confirm the presence of amyloid fibrils. The presence of genistein active component in yellow soybean seed extract was confirmed by 2.97% and palmitic and linoleic acids by 3.11 and 10.69%, respectively. Investigation of antioxidant activity of soybean extract in different doses showed that with increasing the concentration of the extract, the percentage of antioxidant activity also increases. Investigation of acetylcholinesterase inhibition using a substrate analogue called acetylthiocholine iodide (ATCI) showed that with increasing the concentration of the extract, the amount of enzyme inhibition increases. The amounts of extract at high concentrations reduced the production of amyloid nanofibrils. This was confirmed by electron microscope images.Yellow soybeans, with their good antioxidant and inhibitory effects on the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, can be a good candidate for reducing the side effects of Alzheimer's.

This study was conducted to study sexual dimorphism of Caspian kutum, Rutilus kutum collected from the Rudsar coast and Anzali Wetland, Guilan Province. After collecting, the left lateral face of the fresh specimens were photographed, then 13 Landmark-points were defined and digitized using tpsDig2 software. Generalized procrustes analysis was performed to eliminate non-shape effects, including size, direction and position. Then date was analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA) based on P-value obtained from Hoteling’s t-test. The results showed a significant difference in the body shape of the male and female (P<0.05). The observed differences confirm the presence of the sexual dimorphism in the study species during reproductive season. The observed morphological can be shown presence of the sexual dimorphism in this species. Based on the findings, the females have deeper body and smaller head, which can related to reproductive performance of each sex.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are salts that can affect the structure, stability, and function of proteins. Researchers have recently been interested in finding ionic liquids that increase the stability, activity and solubility of enzymes. In this study, efforts are made to investigate the effect of triethylammonium propionate (TEAP) on the function of urate oxidase (UOX). We treated the enzyme in different concentrations of TEAP. The volume percentages of TEAP in the solvent phase are 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 5%, 10% and 15%. The results  indicate that TEAP has a concentration-dependent effect on the activity of UOX enzyme. The use of 1% TEAP ionic liquid increased the enzymatic activity in comparison to untreated enzyme. We concluded that  this ionic liquide was able to alter the structure of the uricase in a way that increased the activity and improve its catalytic efficiency of the enzyme. Also the thermodynamic prameters such as ΔG#, ΔH#, and ΔS# values indicate that the use of 1% of triethylammonium propionate increases the thermostability of uricase and reduces the conformational changes of this enzyme during thermal inactivation process.

The Rollers or Coraciidae (Passeriformes) are distributed in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. The family has two genera including Coracias with nine species and Eurystomus with four species. Of this species diversity, only European Roller (Coracias garrulus) and Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis) are found in Iran. Evolutionary biologists have always emphasized the importance of recording contact zones for sister species and relatives. The occurrence of hybridization in Coraciiformes was reported at about 14%. The reproductive range of European and Indian roller is broadly geographically separated, however their geographic distributions are in contact in eastern Iraq, western and southern Iran, and Pakistan. There is no information on the contact zone and hybridization between the two species. Therefore, in this study the distribution of these two rollers in the Fars province (southwestern Iran), contact zone and hybridization were investigated in fieldworks conducted during spring and summer in 2017 and 2018 years. The results showed that the European Roller was distributed throughout all of Fars province except narrow range in the south of the province but the distribution of Indian Roller is more restricted to the southern and western half of the province, so the two species has overlapping zones in the southern half and western parts of the province. In the present study, no hybrid specimens were observed in terms of plumage colors.

Birds provide important ecosystem services, but they face several threats like climate change, land-use change, and illegal hunting. Protected areas are important tools for the conservation of avian diversity however their avian diversity and distribution poorly studied in Iran. In this study, we present the result of our field observations of avifauna and breeding birds of Touran National Park, Semnan province between 2019 and 2021. We recorded 92 bird species in the national park and confirmed the breeding status of 33 species, some of which, namely Eastern Imperial Eagle, Asian Houbara Bustard, and European roller are threatened. Eastern Imperial Eagle and Asian Houbara Bustard are listed on Annex I of CITES and Eurasian Kestrel and Merlin are listed on Annex I of CITES. Diversity of bird of prey, breeding of the Persian Ground Jay and Houbara Bustard in the desert and semi-arid steppe ecosystems are some of the remarkable values of the Touran National Park. According to the field surveys, the presence of large numbers of domestic animals around the Park and the trampling of bird nests, the high number of domestic camels, and successive droughts are the most important avian threats in the Touran National Park.

This study aimed to describe the breeding biology of the Great Crested Grebe during the breeding season from April to September 2015 in the western part of Anzali wetland. A total of 56 nests were identified during this survey. Totals of 18 and 20 Great Crested Grebe nests were built simultaneously in two separate colonies from mid-April to early May, and in addition at least two months later, a further 18 nests with a minimum distance of 100 meters from each other within Whiskered Tern colonies. The mean clutch size was 3.91±0.85 (n= 56), the average weight of the eggs was 38.8±3.01 g (n= 68) and the average volume of eggs was 37.00±3.6 cm3 (n= 68). This study showed that Great Crested Grebes have a long breeding period in the western part of Anzali wetland (more than 170 days). Breeding success is affected by the large area of the water body which has large waves in spring, as well as the presence of predators such as Marsh Harrier. The first nests in the colony are constructed in the margins of the wetland and among small clumps of reeds. Subsequently, with the gradual increase in the growth and biomass of submerged water plants in the water body and the start of Whiskered Tern nesting on these water plants, the grebes build individual nests among the large colonies of Whiskered Terns. This may represent a specific breeding strategy of the Great Crested Grebe to increase the number of chicks reared during the breeding season.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different levels of peppermint extract on semen quality of Arabi rams. Semen was collected from 12 Arabi rams weekly for 8 weeks and immediately mixed, and then were divided into 5 parts and received zero, 50, 100, 150 and 200 μl/ml of peppermint extract. At different storage times of diluted semen containing treatments (zero, 24, 48 and 72 hours) in liquid condition, semen quality parameters were evaluated. Immediately after sperm collection, the lowest total motility and sperm viability belonged to the level of 200 peppermint extract (P<0.05). At 24 hours, levels 150 and 200 of extract increased the rate of morphological abnormalities of sperms. At this time, the lowest level of sperm plasma membrane integrity was related to the level of 200 peppermint extracts (P<0.05). 48 hours after sperm storage, the highest total motility, viability and plasma membrane integrity of sperms were belonged to the control group (P<0.05). 72 hours after semen storage, no statistically significant differences were found among treatments for all sperm quality parameters. At this time, the highest concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in seminal plasma was related to the level of 100 μl/ml peppermint extract (P<0.05). In general, by adding different levels of peppermint extract to the diluent and maintaining the diluted semen of the Arabi ram in a liquid state at 5°C, the concentrations used of peppermint extract not only did not improve the qualitative parameters of the sperm, it also had a devastating effect.