Comparison of Lactate Dehydrogenase Activity in Hive and Forager Honeybees May Indicate Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness - Preliminary Studies.

Active skeletal muscles produce lactate. H+ is generated during lactate neutralization in the Cori cycle, which leads to muscle acidosis and soreness (the so-called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, DOMS) in vertebrates. The aim of the study was to determine the activities/concentrations of compounds involved in the Cori cycle in worker and forager bees. Muscles, fat bodies, and hemolymph from 1- and 14-day-old workers and foragers were collected and assayed for the protein, lactate, glucose, NAD+, and NADH concentrations and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity. Both lactate concentration and LDH activity in the hemolymph, muscles, and fat bodies increased with age. The concentrations of NAD+ and NADH in the tissues decreased with ageing/senescence, whereas protein concentrations increased until day 14 of bee's life and then decreased in foragers. The concentration of glucose decreased in the hemolymph and muscles and increased in the fat bodies. Elevated lactate concentrations in foragers may indicate transition from the aerobic to the anaerobic phase and development of metabolic acidosis that may eventually lead to muscle damage/soreness and shorter lifespan. When analyzing flight dynamics, load mass, and bee behavior, changes in the concentrations of Cori cycle compounds should be taken into account.

Bank voles (Myodes glareolus) and house mice (Mus musculus musculus; M. m. domesticus) in Europe are each parasitized by their own distinct species of Aspiculuris (Nematoda, Oxyurida).

The molecular phylogeny and morphology of the oxyuroid nematode genus Aspiculuris from voles and house mice has been examined. Worms collected from Myodes glareolus in Poland, Eire and the UK are identified as Aspiculuris tianjinensis, previously known only from China, while worms from Mus musculus from a range of locations in Europe and from laboratory mice, all conformed to the description of Aspiculuris tetraptera. Worms from voles and house mice are not closely related and are not derived from each other, with A. tianjinensis being most closely related to Aspiculuris dinniki from snow voles and to an isolate from Microtus longicaudus in the Nearctic. Both A. tianjinensis and A. tetraptera appear to represent recent radiations within their host groups; in voles, this radiation cannot be more than 2 million years old, while in commensal house mice it is likely to be less than 10,000 years old. The potential of Aspiculuris spp. as markers of host evolution is highlighted.

ESR and monolayer study of the localization of coenzyme Q10 in artificial membranes.

The data obtained from the ESR experiments show a complex, depth dependent effect of CoQ10 on the lipid molecules mobility in the bilayer. These effects depend both on its concentration and the temperature. CoQ10 disturbs not only the hydrophobic core of the membrane but also the region close to the hydrophilic headgroups of phospholipids. Both these effects could be explained by the fact that the high hydrophobicity of CoQ10 causes the molecules to position itself in the interior of the bilayer, but at the same time its water seeking headgroup is located close to the region of the polar headgrops of membrane lipids. The presence of CoQ10 in the hydrophobic core has further implications on the properties of membrane intrinsic domain. Results of monolayer experiments indicate that CoQ10 may form aggregates when mixed with PC molecules in the lipid hydrocarbon chain-length dependent manner. CoQ10 is not fully miscible with DMPC or DPPC but it is well miscible with the long-chain DSPC molecules. Our suggestion is that CoQ10 when present in long-chain phospholipid bilayer, interacts with saturated fatty acyl-chains and adapt the structure which allows such interactions: either parallel to the saturated acyl chains or "pseudo-ring" conformation resembling sterol structure.