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| Author(s): |
Patricia Coutinho de Souza
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2010-02-24 |
| Examining board members: |
José Luiz Catão Dias;
Juliana Marigo;
José Guilherme Xavier
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| Advisor: | José Luiz Catão Dias |
| Abstract | |
The understanding of the role of different proteins and cytokines during the inflammatory diseases could lead to better knowledge of the marine mammal immune system and its relation to pathological process. Franciscana dolphin, Pontoporia blainvillei, is a coastal cetacean and the only Brazilian dolphin considered threatened with extinction, due to the human activities. The aim of the current study was to investigate the immunoexpression of TGF-β, TNF-α and IL-12 cytokines, and S-100 and Lysozyme proteins in pulmonary and splenic samples of 34 Pontoporia blainvillei. Based on histopathological examination, the animals were divided in two groups: G1 (n = 8) animals without pulmonary inflammatory disease; G2 (n = 26) animals with pulmonary inflammatory diseases. Fragments of lung and spleen were processed according to routine protocols. The immunohistochemistry and morphometric procedures were tested and optimized according to proceedings described in literature. Our results showed that P. blainvillei from G2 presented significant increase in the pulmonary immunoexpression of TGF-β, TNF-α and IL-12 cytokines, and S-100 and Lysozyme proteins in comparison with animals from G1. These results are according to the literature and suggest that P. blainvillei presents same cytokines observed in other mammals. We evidenced also that the P. blainvillei belonging to the G2 did not show splenic immunoexpression to TGF-β, TNF-α and IL- 12 cytokines and Lysozyme protein significantly higher than animals from G1. Further studies, including those related to the methods used, are necessary for the proper understanding of these results. And finally, although these are still preliminary data, we observed a possible association between high concentrations of organochlorines in subcutaneous adipose tissue of a portion of P. blainvillei studied in this research and the occurrence of splenic lymphoid depletion in these animals. These data confirm the importance of developing more detailed analysis on these topics in future scientific investigations. (AU) | |