Microglia and neurons in the hippocampus of migratory sandpipers

The semipalmated sandpiper Calidris pusilla and the spotted sandpiper Actitis macularia are long- and short-distance migrants, respectively. C. pusilla breeds in the sub-arctic and mid-arctic tundra of Canada and Alaska and winters on the north and east coasts of South America. A. macularia breeds in a broad distribution across most of North America from the treeline to the southern United States. It winters in the southern United States, and Central and South America. The autumn migration route of C. pusilla includes a non-stop flight over the Atlantic Ocean, whereas autumn route of A. macularia is largely over land. Because of this difference in their migratory paths and the visuo-spatial recognition tasks involved, we hypothesized that hippocampal volume and neuronal and glial numbers would differ between these two species. A. macularia did not differ from C. pusilla in the total number of hippocampal neurons, but the species had a larger hippocampal formation and more hippocampal microglia. It remains to be investigated whether these differences indicate interspecies differences or neural specializations associated with different strategies of orientation and navigation.

Determinação do perfil protéico da membrana externa da Leptospira interrogans sorovariedade Hardjoprajitno / Protein profile of the outer membrane of Leptospira interrogans serovar Hardjoprajitno

Estudou-se o perfil das proteínas da membrana externa (PME) da Leptospira interrogans sorovariedade Hardjoprajitno por meio da eletroforese bidimensional. Foram utilizadas técnicas de extração das PME com Triton x114 e precipitação com acetona. Os géis foram corados com nitrato de prata e as imagens analisadas para determinação da massa molecular das proteínas detectadas. Foram visualizadas 35 bandas protéicas, sendo que cinco delas se destacaram por estarem em maior quantidade: 22,54KDa (LipL22), 30/26KDa (LipL32), 34,41KDa (PME34), 42,75KDa (LipL41) e 58,59KDa (LipL63).

The protein profile of the outer membrane of Leptospira interrogans serovar Hardjoprajitno was determined by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The outer membrane was extracted with Triton x 114 and the proteins were precipitated with acetone. The images were analyzed for the determination of the molecular weight of the detected proteins. Thirty-five spots for the proteins that are predominant in the outer membrane of this Leptospira were observed and five proteins were found in higher quantities: 22.54KDa (LipL22), 30/26KDa (LipL32), 34.41KDa (PME34) (2), 42.75KDa (LipL41), and 58.59KDa (LipL63).