Autotomy (self-induced loss) of body parts has evolved independently as a predator defense mechanism in several major animal phyla. The mechanism among vertebrates, including 13 of the 20 recognized lizard families, is tail autotomy. Its occurrence among the majority of lizard families offers an excellent opportunity to examine the effects of a major selective force on the ecology and evolution of a group of organisms. The research of this study was designed to examine experimentally (i) the function of tail autotomy, (ii) the function of autotomized tail movement, (iii) the energetics of autotomized tail movement, and (iv) the energetic costs of autotomy of an energy-rich tail to reproduction.

The mechanisms of pain and hyperalgesia were examined in rats following cutaneous-heat and peripheral-nerve injury. Central mechanisms of hyperalgesia were indicated since a heat injury produced a decrease in foot-withdrawal latencies in the paw contralateral to the injury and an increase in autotomy of the injured paw following section of the sciatic and saphenous nerves. The reduced contralateral foot-withdrawal latencies were reversed by spinal anesthesia and subcutaneous guanethidine, but were unaffected by local anesthetics and capsaicin at the site of injury. The enhancement of autotomy produced by an injury was reduced by spinal anesthesia and a combination of intrathecal capsaicin and subcutaneous guanethidine. Both intrathecal substance P and systemic noradrenaline produced an increase in autotomy following nerve lesions; guanethidine, but neither capsaicin nor procaine, produced a decrease in autotomy. A reduction in inflammation and hyperalgesia within an injured paw was produced by local capsaicin, but not by guanethidine. The results suggest that central mechanisms, such as spinal hyperactivity, combined with peripheral neurogenic mechanisms are involved in the production of hyperalgesia following heat injury. Pain and hyperalgesia following nerve injury are proposed to be due to spinal cord plasticity resulting from deafferentation and abnormal sympathetic activity.

No description available.

No description available.

Les travaux décrits dans ce mémoire ont été conduits dans le but de tester l'utilisation potentielle de l'autotomie d'un invertébré d'eau douce Tubifex tubifex (Annélide, Oligochète) comme biomarqueur de la qualité sanitaire et environnementale des milieux aquatiques et apporter notre contribution à l'étude de la toxicité létale et sublétale de divers contaminants (le paraquat sous forme de Gramoxone® ; le fludioxonil sous forme Géoxe® ; l'isoproturon et le fenhexamide) couramment utilisés dans le vignoble champardennais. Nous avons réalisé des expérimentations au laboratoire et au niveau d'un site comportant plusieurs bassins de recueil des eaux de ruissellement du vignoble et présentant des taux de contamination différents et contrastés. Nous avons constaté une forte induction de l'autotomie pendant l'exposition aux contaminants. L'isoproturon et le Géoxe® s'accumulent de façon contrastée selon les régions morphologiques du ver. Des perturbations histopathologiques et biochimiques ont été observées chez les vers exposé aux contaminants. La sévérité des atteintes histopathologiques a été moins importante chez les vers autotomisés que les vers entiers. Les systèmes de défenses antioxydants et le métabolisme de phase II (catalase, glutathion-S-transférase) montrent des perturbations variables selon le contaminant et la région du ver sans qu'un schéma général de réponse n'apparaisse. L'approche expérimentale montre que les eaux des bassins provoquent rapidement une autotomie et un stress chez les vers. Le taux d'autotomie est corrélé avec la durée d'exposition et la concentration en toxique. De même une bonne corrélation existe « in situ » entre ce taux d'autotomie et la qualité sanitaire des bassins. Cette réponse morphologique originale constitue donc un biomarqueur potentiel de contamination et peut être compris comme une réponse adaptative du vers à la présence d'un ou plusieurs contaminants. / The work described in this thesis was conducted in order to test the potential use of autotomy of a freshwater invertebrate Tubifex tubifex (Annelida, Oligochaeta) as a biomarker of the sanitary and environnemental quality of aquatic environments and make our contribution to the study of lethal and sublethal toxicity of various contaminants (paraquat as Gramoxone® ; fludioxonil form Géoxe®; isoproturon and fenhexamid) commonly used in the vineyard Champagne-Ardenne. We conducted experiments in the laboratory and at a site with several ponds collecting vineyard runoff and presenting contrasted contamination rates. We found a significant induction of autotomy during exposure to contaminants. The isoproturon and Géoxe® accumulate in the worm with contrasted pattern according to morphological worm regions. Histopathological and biochemical disturbances were observed in worms exposed to contaminants. Rates of histopathology alterations were less important in worms autotomized than in entire worms. The antioxidant defense systems and phase II metabolism (catalase, glutathione-S-transferase) varied in different way depending on the parameter tested but not general pattern of the biochemical responses occured. The experimental approach showed that the pond water rapidly induced autotomy and stressed worms. The autotomy rate was correlated with the exposure time and toxicant concentration. Similarly a good correlation existed "in situ" between autotomy rates and the sanitary quality of ponds. Thus the autotomy is an original morphological response that might be a potential biomarker of contamination and might be understood as an adaptive response to the presence of contamination.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O estudo da instabilidade do desenvolvimento (ID) em organismos pode ser útil para identificar os primeiros sinais de estresse ambiental. Alterações na ID também influenciam a aptidão dos organismos. A variação entre a simetria dos lados esquerdo e direito, manifestada como assimetria flutuante (AF), é um indicador da ID. Ao quantificarmos a literatura científica referente aos estudos de assimetria em répteis identificamos as seguintes tendências: perturbações ambientais aumentam a AF nas populações, fêmeas tendem a escolher machos com características sexuais simétricas, a instabilidade térmica durante o desenvolvimento do ovo pode produzir indivíduos com maior assimetria, a ocorrência de lesões é mais frequente em indivíduos assimétricos para um determinado lado e há uma correlação negativa entre a assimetria e o desempenho locomotor. Considerando os nossos critério de busca, não encontramos estudos sobre assimetria em répteis na América do Sul. Neste estudo, utilizamos diferentes caracteres merísticos e métricos bilaterais para identificar a AF em diferentes populações de cinco espécies de lagartos do gênero Cnemidophorus (C. abaetensis, C. lacertoides, C. littoralis, C. nativo, C. ocellifer) em 15 áreas de restinga ao longo da costa leste do Brasil. A AF foi maior em populações de Cnemidophorus com maior densidade, menor em populações de restingas com maior degradação ambiental e a sua relação com a concentração de mercúrio variou dependendo da espécie. Provavelmente os agentes estressores ambientais avaliados atuam com intensidades diferentes. O nível de degradação ambiental e a concentração de mercúrio causariam a deterioração precoce dos indivíduos com maiores valores de AF. Isso resulta em uma relação inversa entre esses estresses e a AF das populações. Indivíduos com vestígios de autotomia caudal tiveram maiores valores de AF, o que pode ser um indicativo de que indivíduos com menor aptidão efetuam mais autotomia caudal do que aqueles com maior aptidão. Lagartos com evidências de autotomia também tiveram maior tamanho corpóreo, provavelmente devido a estes estarem expostos a mais tempo aos riscos de predação. Não encontramos diferenciação entre as espécies na frequência de autotomia caudal sendo esta talvez melhor explicada por fatores ambientais como a intensidade de predação. Os índices de AF para caracteres múltiplos se mostraram mais eficientes do que a AF de caracteres individuais nas comparações entre indivíduos vivendo em populações com diferentes níveis de estresse e entre indivíduos com e sem autotomia caudal / The study of developmental instability (DI) in organisms may be a useful tool to identify early signals of environmental stress. Variations in DI also influence the organisms fitness. The variation between the symmetry of the left and right sides, manifested as fluctuating asymmetry (FA), is widely used as a measure of DI. We screened the available scientific literature on asymmetry in reptiles and identified the following trends: environmental disturbances increase FA in populations, females tend to select males with symmetrical sexual traits, thermal instability during egg development can produce individuals with a higher asymmetry, occurrence of injuries is more frequent in asymmetrical individuals for a particular side, and there is a negative correlation between asymmetry and locomotor performance. There was no study on reptiles asymmetry at South America, considering our screening criteria. In this study, we used meristic and metrics bilateral traits to identify FA in populations of five species of Cnemidophorus lizards (C. abaetensis, C. lacertoides, C. littoralis, C. nativo, C. ocellifer) spread at 15 restinga areas along Brazilian east coast. The FA of individuals was higher at higher Cnemidophorus populations density, it was lower at restingas with higher environmental disturbance, and its relation to mercury concentration varied depending on the species. Probably the evaluated environmental stressors act with different intensities. The level of environmental disturbance and mercury concentration should cause earlier deterioration of individuals with higher FA. This results in an inverse relationship between these stressors and FA in populations. Individuals with autotomized tail had higher FA, which may indicate that individuals with lower fitness perform more tail autotomy than those with higher fitness. Lizards with tail autotomy also had higher body size, probably because older lizards have had more encounters with predator. We found no differentiation among species on tail autotomy frequency. Perhaps tail autotomy is better explained by environmental factors such as intensity of predation. The multiple traits FA indexes were more efficient than single traits index to compare individuals in different levels of environmental stress and to compare individuals with and without tail autotomy

Submitted by FREDERICO SALOMÉ DE OLIVEIRA null (fredericosalome@uol.com.br) on 2017-08-10T12:38:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE Frederico Salomé de Oliveira.pdf: 13106811 bytes, checksum: 4dc17b24b5f5a7c92058e2cb50a4b78f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by LUIZA DE MENEZES ROMANETTO (luizamenezes@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-08-14T14:32:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 oliveira_fs_dr_mar.pdf: 13106811 bytes, checksum: 4dc17b24b5f5a7c92058e2cb50a4b78f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-14T14:32:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 oliveira_fs_dr_mar.pdf: 13106811 bytes, checksum: 4dc17b24b5f5a7c92058e2cb50a4b78f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-25 / Essa tese discute as realizações culturais e práticas religiosas dos antigos moradores do povoado Canela, especialmente durante os festejos ao Divino Espírito Santo, como lugares de memória que se transformam de acordo com as influências da Igreja e imposições da urbanidade, desencadeando novas formas de manifestação da fé e mudanças nas tradições, costumes, valores, modo de vida e identidade da comunidade. Pelo estudo das interpretações em cultura e religiosidade, essas expressões e representações são densamente descritas, tendo como referências as marcas discursivas textuais – orais e imagéticas – dessa comunidade ribeirinha transferida para a cidade de Palmas quando seu território foi submerso para formação da represa da Usina Hidrelétrica de Lajeado, no Tocantins. A pesquisa etnográfica, com aporte teórico-metodológico da antropologia visual, se baseou na abordagem direta e observação participante. Os dados foram descritos e interpretados a partir do material coletado em levantamento documental, entrevistas, relatos de vida, registros fotográficos e gravações audiovisuais. Justapondo narrativas da memória e história às observações registradas e ao material produzido durante a Festa do Divino no ano de 2010, as interpretações possibilitaram estabelecer a tese de que a religiosidade popular praticada pela comunidade Canela se caracteriza pela marginalidade resistente às imposições da Igreja e da sociedade, ampliando suas práticas de devoção ao santo às manifestações de afetividade familiar e ao resgate e manutenção das memórias do passado, constituindo-se como Catolicismo Marginal. / This thesis presents the cultural activities and religious practice of the Canela settlement native people, most specifically those carried out during the Holy Ghost festivities, like memory places that undergo change in response to the influence of the Church and the demands of urban life, in a chain of events that bring about new ways of manifesting their faith as well as other collateral changes to tradition, habits, values, way of living and the common identity of the community. Through a thorough examination of interpretations of culture and religiosity, those expressions and representations are heavily described, keeping as a reference the textual discursive marks – either oral and imagistic – of this riverside community, forcefully transferred to the city of Palmas when their homeland was drowned due to the implementation of Lajeado Hydroelectric Power Plant, in the Brazilian state of Tocantins. Etnographic research, corroborated by theoretical and methodological input from visual anthropology, was based on straightforward approaches and participative observation. Data have been described and interpreted from what has been collected during documental assessments, interviews, life story telling, photo records and audiovisual recordings. When narratives of memory and history are put side by side with the observations and other material produced during the Holy Ghost Festivity of 2010, one shall posit the popular religiosity practiced by the Canela community is deeply marked by traits of marginalization, mostly due to their resistance against the demands of both Church and general society, in a process that ends up to broaden this people’s practices of devotion to the saint, as to englobe familial affection and their effort to rescue and maintain memories from the past, thus constituting a Marginal Catholicism.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O estudo da instabilidade do desenvolvimento (ID) em organismos pode ser útil para identificar os primeiros sinais de estresse ambiental. Alterações na ID também influenciam a aptidão dos organismos. A variação entre a simetria dos lados esquerdo e direito, manifestada como assimetria flutuante (AF), é um indicador da ID. Ao quantificarmos a literatura científica referente aos estudos de assimetria em répteis identificamos as seguintes tendências: perturbações ambientais aumentam a AF nas populações, fêmeas tendem a escolher machos com características sexuais simétricas, a instabilidade térmica durante o desenvolvimento do ovo pode produzir indivíduos com maior assimetria, a ocorrência de lesões é mais frequente em indivíduos assimétricos para um determinado lado e há uma correlação negativa entre a assimetria e o desempenho locomotor. Considerando os nossos critério de busca, não encontramos estudos sobre assimetria em répteis na América do Sul. Neste estudo, utilizamos diferentes caracteres merísticos e métricos bilaterais para identificar a AF em diferentes populações de cinco espécies de lagartos do gênero Cnemidophorus (C. abaetensis, C. lacertoides, C. littoralis, C. nativo, C. ocellifer) em 15 áreas de restinga ao longo da costa leste do Brasil. A AF foi maior em populações de Cnemidophorus com maior densidade, menor em populações de restingas com maior degradação ambiental e a sua relação com a concentração de mercúrio variou dependendo da espécie. Provavelmente os agentes estressores ambientais avaliados atuam com intensidades diferentes. O nível de degradação ambiental e a concentração de mercúrio causariam a deterioração precoce dos indivíduos com maiores valores de AF. Isso resulta em uma relação inversa entre esses estresses e a AF das populações. Indivíduos com vestígios de autotomia caudal tiveram maiores valores de AF, o que pode ser um indicativo de que indivíduos com menor aptidão efetuam mais autotomia caudal do que aqueles com maior aptidão. Lagartos com evidências de autotomia também tiveram maior tamanho corpóreo, provavelmente devido a estes estarem expostos a mais tempo aos riscos de predação. Não encontramos diferenciação entre as espécies na frequência de autotomia caudal sendo esta talvez melhor explicada por fatores ambientais como a intensidade de predação. Os índices de AF para caracteres múltiplos se mostraram mais eficientes do que a AF de caracteres individuais nas comparações entre indivíduos vivendo em populações com diferentes níveis de estresse e entre indivíduos com e sem autotomia caudal / The study of developmental instability (DI) in organisms may be a useful tool to identify early signals of environmental stress. Variations in DI also influence the organisms fitness. The variation between the symmetry of the left and right sides, manifested as fluctuating asymmetry (FA), is widely used as a measure of DI. We screened the available scientific literature on asymmetry in reptiles and identified the following trends: environmental disturbances increase FA in populations, females tend to select males with symmetrical sexual traits, thermal instability during egg development can produce individuals with a higher asymmetry, occurrence of injuries is more frequent in asymmetrical individuals for a particular side, and there is a negative correlation between asymmetry and locomotor performance. There was no study on reptiles asymmetry at South America, considering our screening criteria. In this study, we used meristic and metrics bilateral traits to identify FA in populations of five species of Cnemidophorus lizards (C. abaetensis, C. lacertoides, C. littoralis, C. nativo, C. ocellifer) spread at 15 restinga areas along Brazilian east coast. The FA of individuals was higher at higher Cnemidophorus populations density, it was lower at restingas with higher environmental disturbance, and its relation to mercury concentration varied depending on the species. Probably the evaluated environmental stressors act with different intensities. The level of environmental disturbance and mercury concentration should cause earlier deterioration of individuals with higher FA. This results in an inverse relationship between these stressors and FA in populations. Individuals with autotomized tail had higher FA, which may indicate that individuals with lower fitness perform more tail autotomy than those with higher fitness. Lizards with tail autotomy also had higher body size, probably because older lizards have had more encounters with predator. We found no differentiation among species on tail autotomy frequency. Perhaps tail autotomy is better explained by environmental factors such as intensity of predation. The multiple traits FA indexes were more efficient than single traits index to compare individuals in different levels of environmental stress and to compare individuals with and without tail autotomy

Essa tese discute as realizações culturais e práticas religiosas dos antigos moradores do povoado Canela, especialmente durante os festejos ao Divino Espírito Santo, como lugares de memória que se transformam de acordo com as influências da Igreja e imposições da urbanidade, desencadeando novas formas de manifestação da fé e mudanças nas tradições, costumes, valores, modo de vida e identidade da comunidade. Pelo estudo das interpretações em cultura e religiosidade, essas expressões e representações são densamente descritas, tendo como referências as marcas discursivas textuais – orais e imagéticas – dessa comunidade ribeirinha transferida para a cidade de Palmas quando seu território foi submerso para formação da represa da Usina Hidrelétrica de Lajeado, no Tocantins. A pesquisa etnográfica, com aporte teórico-metodológico da antropologia visual, se baseou na abordagem direta e observação participante. Os dados foram descritos e interpretados a partir do material coletado em levantamento documental, entrevistas, relatos de vida, registros fotográficos e gravações audiovisuais. Justapondo narrativas da memória e história às observações registradas e ao material produzido durante a Festa do Divino no ano de 2010, as interpretações possibilitaram estabelecer a tese de que a religiosidade popular praticada pela comunidade Canela se caracteriza pela marginalidade resistente às imposições da Igreja e da sociedade, ampliando suas práticas de devoção ao santo às manifestações de afetividade familiar e ao resgate e manutenção das memórias do passado, constituindo-se como Catolicismo Marginal. / This thesis presents the cultural activities and religious practice of the Canela settlement native people, most specifically those carried out during the Holy Ghost festivities, like memory places that undergo change in response to the influence of the Church and the demands of urban life, in a chain of events that bring about new ways of manifesting their faith as well as other collateral changes to tradition, habits, values, way of living and the common identity of the community. Through a thorough examination of interpretations of culture and religiosity, those expressions and representations are heavily described, keeping as a reference the textual discursive marks – either oral and imagistic – of this riverside community, forcefully transferred to the city of Palmas when their homeland was drowned due to the implementation of Lajeado Hydroelectric Power Plant, in the Brazilian state of Tocantins. Etnographic research, corroborated by theoretical and methodological input from visual anthropology, was based on straightforward approaches and participative observation. Data have been described and interpreted from what has been collected during documental assessments, interviews, life story telling, photo records and audiovisual recordings. When narratives of memory and history are put side by side with the observations and other material produced during the Holy Ghost Festivity of 2010, one shall posit the popular religiosity practiced by the Canela community is deeply marked by traits of marginalization, mostly due to their resistance against the demands of both Church and general society, in a process that ends up to broaden this people’s practices of devotion to the saint, as to englobe familial affection and their effort to rescue and maintain memories from the past, thus constituting a Marginal Catholicism.

Scar-free wound healing and regeneration are uncommon phenomena permitting the near complete restoration of damaged tissues, organs and structures. Although rare in mammals, many lizards are able to undergo scarless healing and regeneration following loss of the tail. This study investigated the spontaneous and intrinsic capacity of the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) tail to undergo scar-free wound healing and regeneration following two different forms of tail loss: autotomy, a voluntary and evolved mechanism of tail shedding at fracture planes; and surgical amputation, involuntary loss of the tail outside the fracture planes. Furthermore, I investigated the ability of the regenerate tail to regenerate by amputating a regenerate tail (previously lost by autotomy). To investigate these phenomena I imaged wound healing and regenereating tails daily (following autotomy and amputation) to document gross morphological changes. I used histochemistry to document tissue structure and immunohistochemistry to determine the tissue/cellular location of my five proteins of interest (PCNA, MMP-9, WE6, α-sma, TGF-β3). Each of these proteins of interest has been previously documented during wound healing and/or regeneration in other wound healing/regeneration model organisms (e.g. mice, urodeles, lizards, zebrafish). Scar-free wound healing and regeneration occurred following autotomy, amputation of the original tail and amputation of the regenerate tail, indicating that the leopard gecko tail has an instrinsic scar-free wound healing and regenerative capacity that is independent of the mode of tail loss (autotomy or amputation). Furthermore immunohistochemistry revealed a conserved sequence and location of the expression of the five proteins of interest following both forms of tail loss. These results provide the basis for further studies investigating scar-free wound healing and regeneration in a novel amniote model, the leopard gecko. / NSERC