Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:Q86TM3 (cage)
 29,987 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Male and female Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) carrying three coat color alleles, agouti, sandy, and black, were tested for 15 min under three cage temperature conditions, warm (35-40 degrees C), neutral (20 degrees C), and cold (0-5 degrees C). A frequency count of scratching, face and body wash, belly/side rubs, and shaking was taken of these animals' activities during the test sessions. Sex differences were not evident but coat color and age temperature affected the belly/side rubs and shaking activities. There were also effects of cage temperature but not coat color on face/body wash and scratching. It appears that animals with these coat color variants manifest disparate patterns of COBS behavior when encountering different thermal environments.
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PMID:Coat color genes and cage temperature effects on care of the body surface (COBS) behavior of Meriones unguiculatus. 159 Jul 29

Seizure tendencies of three separate lines of Mongolian gerbils Meriones unguiculatus carrying three different coat color alleles were investigated. These alleles were agouti (A/-), black or nonagouti (a/a), or sandy (pink-eyed dilution p/p). Each animal was stroked on the back and then placed in a novel cage for 5 min while its seizure activity was measured in terms of latency, duration, and severity (grade). The results indicate that gerbils which are homozygous recessive at the pink-eyed dilution locus (sandy) exhibit less severe and shorter seizures than others. However, gerbils which are homozygous recessive at the agouti gene locus (black) show a shorter latency to manifest seizures than the other animals. These results indicate that the genetic mechanism determining coat color in Mongolian gerbils may also influence the susceptibility of these animals to seizure arising from novel stimulation.
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PMID:Influence of coat color genes on seizure behavior in Mongolian gerbils. 225 91

Individually, 10 male mice of both the albino (ST/bJ) and black-agouti (CBA/J) strains were taken at birth, fostered to females of the other strain, and reared with their litters. At weaning each male was paired with one of its foster brothers and placed in a separate cage. When the males were 90 days of age, a single albino (ST/bJ) female was placed in each pen. Ten litters were obtained from each competition cage, yielding a total of 100 litters for each type of fostering. In those cases where CBA males had been reared with ST litters, both males were equally successful in reproduction. However, in the reverse situation, where ST males had been reared with CBA litters, the ST males enjoyed a distinct reproductive advantage. These results are compared to those obtained in a previous sexual selection experiment, using the same strains of mice but without fostering. In addition, the results of fighting experiments between males from these strains and the implications of those results for the present study are discussed.
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PMID:Sexual selection in mice. VI. Effects of fostering. 715 90

Ovariectomy (OVX) leads to hyperphagia and weight gain in rats, which can be prevented by estradiol (E2) replacement; however, the role of endogenous E2 on feeding and energy homeostasis in female mice has not been well characterized. The primary goal of this study was to assess the relative contribution of increased energy intake and decreased energy expenditure to OVX-induced weight gain in female rats and mice. OVX led to hyperphagia in rats, but did not produce daily, nor cumulative, hyperphagia in mice. OVX decreased mass-specific metabolic rate in mice, but not in rats. OVX decreased home cage locomotor activity in both species. Pair-feeding attenuated OVX-induced weight gain in rats and produced both short- and long-term changes in expression of key hypothalamic genes involved in food intake and energy homeostasis, i.e., the anorexigenic neuropeptide pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) and the orexigenic neuropeptides: melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) and agouti-related peptide (AgRP). No differences in hypothalamic gene expression were observed between OVX'd and sham mice. The results suggest that OVX-induced weight gain is mediated by hyperphagia and reduced locomotor activity in rats, but that in mice, it is primarily mediated by reduced locomotor activity and metabolic rate.
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PMID:Female mice and rats exhibit species-specific metabolic and behavioral responses to ovariectomy. 2006 98

Lack of compensatory or even reduced food intake is frequently observed in weight-losing cancer patients and contributes to increased morbidity and mortality. Our previous work has shown increased transcription factor expression in the hypothalamus and ventral striatum of anorectic rats bearing small tumors. mRNA expression of molecules known to be involved in pathways regulating appetite in these structures was therefore assessed in this study. Given that pain, pro-inflammatory cytokines and metabolic hormones can modify food intake, spinal cord cellular activation patterns and plasma concentrations of cytokines and hormones were also studied. Morris hepatoma 7777 cells injected subcutaneously in Buffalo rats provoked a 10% lower body weight and 15% reduction in food intake compared to free-feeding tumor-free animals 4 weeks later when the tumor represented 1-2% of body mass. No differences in spinal cord activation patterns or plasma concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines were observed between groups. However, the changes in plasma ghrelin and leptin concentrations found in food-restricted weight-matched rats in comparison to ad libitum-fed animals did not occur in anorectic tumor-bearing animals. Real-time PCR showed that tumor-bearing rats did not display the increase in hypothalamic agouti-related peptide mRNA observed in food-restricted weight-matched animals. In addition, microarray analysis and real-time PCR revealed increased ventral striatal prostaglandin D synthase expression in food-restricted animals compared to anorectic tumor-bearing rats. These findings indicate that blunted hypothalamic AgRP mRNA expression, probably as a consequence of relatively high leptin and low ghrelin concentrations, and reduced ventral striatal prostaglandin D synthesis play a role in maintaining cancer-associated anorexia.
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PMID:Hormonal, hypothalamic and striatal responses to reduced body weight gain are attenuated in anorectic rats bearing small tumors. 2133 29

Dystocia is a complication that occurs at parturition either due to foetal or maternal factors. This condition has been well studies in domesticated species. However, there is very little information on dystocia in the agouti (Dasyprocta leporina). The agouti is utilized for its meat in South America and the Caribbean. More recently, farming of these animals intensively is being practiced in the Neo-tropics. This case report attempted to provide some insight into dystocia in the agouti which has been rarely reported in animals in captivity. A female agouti weighing approximately 3 kg (kg), which was in the last stage of pregnancy, was found dead in its cage. The vulva of the animal had the hind-limbs of the offspring protruding. Upon necropsy the animal had little fat reserves and had two foetuses in the right horn of the uterus. The feet of on offspring were dislocated and exposed at the level of the vulva. Each foetus weighed approximately 200 g. The foetuses were well formed with fur, teeth and eyes. The placenta was attached to each of the foetuses. The pathological findings suggested that dystocia resulted in secondary uterine inertia, which was the cause of death of the adult female agouti. To prevent the recurrence of this situation the gestation should be staged (timed) using ultrasonography. Animals which are in their third stage of gestation should be monitored using cameras or with personnel at the facility to assist agoutis which are having difficulties at parturition.
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PMID:Dystocia in a Captive Reared Agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) in Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. 3214 89