مجله پژوهشهای جانوری (زیست شناسی ایران)
سال سی و دوم شماره 4 (زمستان 1398)

The effects of dietary Manganese sulfate nanoparticles on digestive enzyme activity and non-specific immune responses for rainbow trout, (Oncorhynchus mykiss) juveniles were determined. Four-hundred rainbow trout (with an initial average weight of 0.8±0.1 g) were randomly distributed into four treatments, with three replicates and fed with four diets including a control diet (without manganese), Mn-M (containing manganese sulfate), Mn-N10 (containing 10 mg/kg manganese nanoparticles), Mn-N15 (containing 15 mg/kg manganese nanoparticles) for six weeks. At the end of the experiment, the average weight of fry fed the control diet (without manganese) was lower than other treatments and was significantly different compared to the groups fed diets containing manganese sulfate nanoparticles (P<0.05). The crude protein in juveniles fed diets containing manganese was significantly higher compared to the control group (P<0.05). Amylase, lipase and protease activity did not show statistically significant differences (P> 0.05). Plasma lysozyme activity of fish fed with Mn-N10 and Mn-N15 were significantly higher than fish fed control diet (P<0.05). Plasma complement activity was significantly higher in Mn-M compared to control treatment (P <0.05) but did not show significant difference with other treatments (P> 0.05). The results obtained in this study revealed that inclusion of manganese nanoparticles has no significant impact on activities of digestive enzymes in rainbow trout, but influences some immune responses of this spices.

Land use changes in recent years have led to the destruction, loss and fragmentation of natural habitats and, consequently, the reduction of global biodiversity. Meanwhile, large mammals have been endangered as a result of human activities, more than other species. The high nutritional requirements of meaty mammals have led to increased conflict between these species and humans that leads to their vulnerability in recent years. The brown bears population, as an umbrella species in the country, has been significantly reduced in recent years due to the destruction of habitats and unauthorized hunting. In order to modeling the habitat of this species ENFA method in a Biomapper software has been used. In this study, the presence points of species used as a dependent variable and 10 environmental variables used as an independent variables. So These layers were prepared and analyzed. Habitat suitability map which prepared in this study has showed that suitable habitat for Brown bears in Golestan National Park located in the slopes of more than 20% and altitude of 1400 meters above sea level, all the geographical and peripheral directions, mainly by covering herb shrubs include wild apple shrubs, wild pears and raspberries. Based on the results of marginalization, The Brown bears tends to live in central habitats. Also, the tolerance factor indicates that the Brown bears of a non-specialized species are within their range of habitat resources. The most important variables for determining the suitability of brown bears habitat is distance from rivers, springs and rangers sites.

The aim of this study was improving antioxidant defense system and monitoring some plasma biochemical parameters of parrot fish fed on diet enriched with astaxanthin alone or in combination with bile salt after exposure to water-born silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). 200 parrot fish were randomly distributed in three different treatments as control, astaxanthin and astaxanthin-bile salt. The fish were fed for 90 days and then subjected to AgNPs 250 μg/L for five days and some plasma biochemical parameters were measured before and after AgNPs stress. The results showed that feeding fish with diet enriched with astaxanthin could cause significant reduction in the plasma levels of all studied oxidative enzymes in comparison to the other groups (P<0.05). AgNPs caused significant elevation in the levels of plasma oxidative enzymes in the control while such elevations were not visible in fish fed on astaxanthin (P>0.05). At the end of feeding trail, day 90th, plasma levels of hepatic enzymes, asparat transaminase and alanin transaminase were significantly lower in the astaxanthin - bile salt group (P<0.05); after AgNPs stress, the levels of the mentioned enzymes were significantly reduced in groups of control and astaxanthin, while such reductions were not observed in the group fed on astaxanthin-bile salt diet (P>0.05). The results of this study showed that astaxanthin alone or in combination with bile salt could improve some plasma oxidative and biochemical parameters of parrot fish when the fish were subjected to AgNPs. The positive effect of bile salt on astaxanthin function was observed on some parameters.

Insects are influenced by many biotic and abiotic factors. Light is one of the environmental factors that affect not only the growth and development of the moth, but also the morphology of their internal and external organs. Regarding the mentioned effect, aim of the present study is to investigate light diets on the morphometric changes of male and female reproductive organs (testes and corpus bursa) of flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Based on the results, the largest testicular length on a millimeter scale (mean= 1.034± 0.01SEM, n= 30) and the largest area of corpus bursa on a millimeter scale (mean= 1.44±0.01SEM, n= 30) was recorded under the alternating light and dark condition (12L: 12D). The obtained results suggest that different light diets can affect the sperm release and reproductive processes of moth by changing the morphometric of different parts of the reproductive system in both male and female.

Arthropoda hemocytes are an important indicator of the safety of arthropoda against pathogens and parasitoids. Morphological characterization of hemocytes, is the first step to investigate the involvement of hemocytes in scorpion immunity and specific functions of cells. Due to limited researches on the biology of scorpion in this research the hemocytes of Mesobuthus eupeus were examined using light microscopy. Giemsa staining was used to identify these cells. Five identified types of hemocytes in this scorpion were; Prohemocyte, plasmatocyte granulocytes, spherulocytes, and oenocytoids. Two cell types are very common, plasmatocytes and granulocytes, Plasmatocytes constitute 70.2–81.2%, followed by granulocytes with 18.6–29.7% of the total cell population. Prohomocyte with 5-7 μm was the smallest and plasmocytes (12.25- 75.2 μm) were reported to be the largest hemolymph of Mesobuthus eupeus. Identification of blood cells of this scorpion for the first time and can provide a study of the immunity of scorpion against pathogens and its resistance to environmental conditions

The Alburnus chalcoides is of the species of teleost fish of the Caspian Sea. Sampling was done randomly on days 1 to 5 and days 7, 8, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 75, 90 after hatching, pre-puberty and puberty. The digestive enzymes studied in this fish include pancreatic enzymes (trypsin, chtotripsin, lipase, amylase) and intestinal enzymes (alkaline phosphatase and N-aminopeptidase). During the growth of fish, trypsin, kumotrypsin and N-aminopeptidase enzymes had an increasing trend which is caused by a high-protein diet. The phosphatase enzyme also has a rising trend up to one month of age and is then fixed under the effect of the pH of the environment. Amylase and lipase enzymes have an incremental reduction peak which shows that the fish diet has low sugar and fat compounds. Significant differences were observed for all enzymes (P≤0.05) which has been the start of a significant difference for the trypsin and chomitripsin from the third day, lipase enzyme from the second day, amylase enzyme from the seventh day and the alkaline phosphatase and N-aminopeptidase from day five. All the digestive tract enzymes studied in this fish on the day of onset of active feeding has had incremental peak.

The Alburnus chalcoides is of the species of teleost fish of the Caspian Sea. Sampling was done randomly on days 1 to 5 and days 7, 8, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 75, 90 after hatching, pre-puberty and puberty. The digestive enzymes studied in this fish include pancreatic enzymes (trypsin, chtotripsin, lipase, amylase) and intestinal enzymes (alkaline phosphatase and N-aminopeptidase). During the growth of fish, trypsin, kumotrypsin and N-aminopeptidase enzymes had an increasing trend which is caused by a high-protein diet. The phosphatase enzyme also has a rising trend up to one month of age and is then fixed under the effect of the pH of the environment. Amylase and lipase enzymes have an incremental reduction peak which shows that the fish diet has low sugar and fat compounds. Significant differences were observed for all enzymes (P≤0.05) which has been the start of a significant difference for the trypsin and chomitripsin from the third day, lipase enzyme from the second day, amylase enzyme from the seventh day and the alkaline phosphatase and N-aminopeptidase from day five. All the digestive tract enzymes studied in this fish on the day of onset of active feeding has had incremental peak.

A total of 300 freshwater fishes, belonging to nine species were collected from Gheshlagh basin. Sampling was carried out in the two stations namely river and dam Gheshlagh seasonally in the vicinity of Sanandaj city, Kurdistan Province from September 2016 to August 2017. In the present study were found three digenean trematode (Clinostomum complanatum, Posthodiplostomum sp. and Allocreadium sp.), two tapeworms (Khawia armenica and Schyzocotyle acheilognathi), two Monogenea (Dactylogyrus hypophthalmichthys and Paradiplozoon sp.) and an Acanthocephala (Pallisentis (Pallisentis) cholodkowskyi). The digenean parasites were isolated from the river, monognean parasites from the dam and the tapeworms and spiny-headed worm from both stations. The C. damascina was highly infected with parasites (6 species), followed by S. cephalus (4 species), A. mossulensis (3 species), C. trutta (2 species), B. lacerta (2 soecies), G. rufa (2 species), C. auratus (2 species) and H. molitrix (1 species). A total of 45% of fish were infected with parasites, and Posthodiplostomum sp., P. (P.) cholodkowskyi were the most prevalent (25.7% and 10.7%, respectively) and Schyzocotyle acheilognathi was scarce (0.3%). The highest mean abundance of infection was 0.63±2.3 (P. (P.) cholodkowskyi) and followed by 0.56±1.2 (Posthodiplostomum sp.) and the highest mean intensity of infection was 1.3±4.3 (P. (P.) cholodkowskyi) and 1.1±2.5 (Posthodiplostomum sp.). The prevalence and intensity of infection based on season and fish length were investigated. The present study is the first report of C. complanatum and Posthodiplostomum sp. from this region and the first report from their host species, C. damascina, A. mossulensis and G. rufa.