the marmosets also known as zaris ( / ˈmɑːrməˌzɛts , - ˌsɛts / ) are 22 new world monkey species of the genera callithrix , cebuella , callibella , and mico .

all four genera are part of the biological family callitrichidae .

the term marmoset is also used in reference to the goeldi 's marmoset , callimico goeldii , which is closely related .

most marmosets are about 20 centimetres ( 8 in ) long .

relative to other monkeys , they show some apparently primitive features : they have claws rather than nails , and tactile hairs on their wrists .

they lack wisdom teeth , and their brain layout seems to be relatively primitive .

their body temperature is unusually variable , changing by up to 4 °c ( 7 °f ) in a day .

marmosets are native to south america and have been found in bolivia , brazil , colombia , ecuador , paraguay , and peru .

they have also been spotted in central america and mexico .

they are also raised in captivity as pets .

according to recent research , marmosets exhibit germline chimerism , which is not known to occur in nature in any primates other than callitrichids .

ninety-five percent of marmoset fraternal twins trade blood through chorionic fusions , making them hematopoietic chimeras .

marmoset

independently created descriptive categories of marmoset development . further effort to define marmoset developmental stages was continued by
peruse the key components that make marmoset toolbag an essential part of your workflow .
manicoré marmoset . a synonym of m . marcai . see garbino ( 2014 )
description of the de castro leão et al . ( 2009 ) marmoset development timeline
———— , 1968 . comparative studies on vocalization in marmoset monkeys ( hapalidae ) .
( the golden lion marmoset ) and related species : a review . in :
———— , 1968 . comparative studies on vocalizations in marmoset monkeys ( hapalidae ) .
———— , 1975b . the behavior of marmoset monkeys ( callithricidae ) . in :
thanks ! a marmoset representative will contact you shortly with more information about your request .
variations in male parenting behavior and physiology in the common marmoset . - pubmed - ncbi
common marmoset parent is shown with a 1 - month old infant . marmoset interactions within the family unit have an important role during neurodevelopment . picture credit : jordana lenon , wnprc .
reading marmoset behavior ' semantics ' under particular social context by multi - parameters correlation analysis .
social play behavior of the common marmoset ( callithrix jacchus erxl . , 1777 ) in captivity
marmoset’s software utilizes the end user’s email address as their marmoset id . no passwords or license keys are required , simply log into the software with your id to get yourself up and running !
dettling ac , feldon j , pryce cr . repeated parental deprivation in the infant common marmoset (
save big on all marmoset products this summer and take advantage of discounts up to 50 % . →
marmosets and tamarins in biological and biomedical research : proceedings of workshop organised by european marmoset research group .
social play behavior of the common marmoset ( callithrix jacchus erxl . , 1777 ) in captivity | springerlink
———— , 1970a . maintenance , breeding , and development of marmoset monkeys ( callithricidae ) in captivity .
sax rohmer ' s fictional dr . fu manchu has a pet marmoset , often perched on his shoulder .
the common marmoset has its own set of vocalizations . learning to recognize the individual sounds takes patience and a careful ear . individual sounds have been identified for the common marmoset and are named according to how they sound :
fritschy jm , garey lj . quantitative changes in morphological parameters in the developing visual cortex of the marmoset monkey .
reading marmoset behavior ' semantics ' under particular social context by multi - parameters correlation analysis . - pubmed - ncbi
although standardized delineation and staging of marmoset behavioral and physiological development is important , the ability to quantify and assess maturation over time is an even more powerful tool , especially as marmoset monkeys become evermore popular vehicles for modeling biomedical diseases .
marmoset hexels 3 on itch . io ! | 25 % kick - off sale ( may 7 – may 13 )
. . . and we’re live ! our reel , marmoset : origins is finally released . check it out here :
fritschy jm , garey lj . postnatal development of quantitative morphological parameters in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the marmoset monkey .
fritschy jm , garey lj . postnatal development of dendrites of relay neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the marmoset (
kaplan g , rogers lj . head - cocking as a form of exploration in the common marmoset and its development .
stevenson mf , poole tb . an ethogram of the common marmoset ( calithrix jacchus jacchus ) : general behavioural repertoire .
reports of timelines of marmoset development aimed at identifying milestones and rating maturational changes began appearing in the early 1990 ' s .
hendrickson a , troilo d , possin d , springer a . development of the neural retina and its vasculature in the marmoset
jones cb . quantitative analysis of marmoset vocal communication . in : pryce cr , scott l , schnell c , editors .
callithrix comes from ancient greek and means
beautiful fur
. marmoset , from thefrench marmouset , is of uncertain etymology .
the common marmoset has been studied in captivity for more than 30 years and in the wild for more than 20 . while this means we know a great deal about marmoset behavior , we still have a lot to learn . common marmoset behavior shares much in common with that of other primates , but like all species , marmosets also have their own species - typical behavioral characteristics .
create impressive images with our refreshed renderer , vibrant videos with our new animation tools , and tantalizing webgl presentations with marmoset viewer .
marmoset viewer is available now . current users can download the latest version of toolbag to add viewer export functionality , free of charge . new users can put marmoset viewer to the test by downloading the 30 day trial or buying a full license of toolbag .
pistorio al , vintch b , wang x . acoustic analysis of vocal development in a new world primate , the common marmoset (
aitkin lm , merzenich mm , irvine dr , clarey jc , nelson je . frequency representation in auditory cortex of the common marmoset (
springer ad , troilo d , possin d , hendrickson ae . foveal cone density shows a rapid postnatal maturation in the marmoset monkey .
on november 2 , 1979 , joan embery from thesan diego zoo brought a marmoset to the tonight show . in one of the most memorable moments in tonight show history , the marmoset climbed atop johnny carson ' s head , and urinated on it . [ 10 ]
listed below are some important common marmoset behaviors . these behaviors will be useful not only for observing marmoset behavior such as from using the callicam to observe a family of common marmosets at the wisconsin primate research center , but will also help in understanding behavior of other primates .
) is the smallest “true” marmoset and lives in the rainforests of the amazon river’s upper tributaries . the length of the head and body of the pygmy marmoset is about 14 cm ( 6 inches ) , and the tail is somewhat longer . adults weigh only about 90 grams ( 3 ounces ) , whereas other species of the family attain 600 grams ( 1 . 3 pounds ) or more . the common marmoset (
nishijima k , saitoh r , tanaka s , ohsato - suzuki m , ohno t , kitajima s . life span of common marmoset (
ross cn , power ml , artavia jm , tardif sd . relation of food intake behaviors and obesity development in young common marmoset monkeys .
thomson ja , kalishman j , golos tg , durning m , harris cp , hearn jp . pluripotent cell lines derived from common marmoset (
piloerection : during piloerection , a marmoset will cause its body hair to stand on end or its body hair will erect over a specific area ( such as the tail ) . this type of behavior is found in many primates , as well as many other animals . piloerection allows the marmoset to give the impression of larger body size . a marmoset may piloerect during aggressive and sexual interactions or when encountering a strange object .
want marmoset to feature your mixtape for free swag and music licensing credit ? this is how you let us know we can share your mixtape .
before considering common marmoset behavior in detail , we need to understand about primate social groups and the influence of living in social groups on behavior .
kishi n , sato k , sasaki e , okano h . common marmoset as a new model animal for neuroscience research and genome editing technology .
tardif s , power m , oftedal o , power r , layne d . lactation , maternal behavior and infant growth in common marmoset monkeys (
the american leftist poet genevieve taggardcompared a human ' s back and forth pacing to a marmoset in her poem
interior
. [ 9 ]
tardif et al . ( 2002 ) scale was the first to formally use behavioral tasks to quantify marmoset development . the scale is useful for prediction of marmoset neonate survival in the first week of life . as such , it does not allow for comprehensive maturation analysis overtime , limiting its application .
once your order is complete and you’ve received your order confirmation email , run toolbag 3 and log in on the welcome screen using your marmoset id .
hendrickson a , troilo d , djajadi h , possin d , springer a . expression of synaptic and phototransduction markers during photoreceptor development in the marmoset monkey
okano h , hikishima k , iriki a , sasaki e . the common marmoset as a novel animal model system for biomedical and neuroscience research applications .
power ml , ross cn , schulkin j , ziegler te , tardif sd . metabolic consequences of the early onset of obesity in common marmoset monkeys .
tardif s , jaquish c , layne d , bales k , power m , power r , oftedal o . growth variation in common marmoset monkeys (
tardif sd , mansfield kg , ratnam r , ross cn , ziegler te . the marmoset as a model of aging and age - related diseases .
, 1975 . the social structure of a marmoset monkey group . ph . d . diss . , state univ . of new york at stony brook .
based on this analysis the assessment scales discussed above are appropriate tools for marmoset evaluation with specific limitations due to their specific sensitivity aimed to a relatively restricted age group or neurodevelopmental sphere . together , these assessment methods are powerful devices to systematically evaluate marmoset neurobehavioral development sensory - motor as well as socio - emotional spheres .
important : in order for the upgrade discount to be granted , you must enter the same email address / marmoset id currently assigned to your toolbag 2 license .
no plugin required ! marmoset viewer runs on thousands of devices and a variety of browsers , with support for windows , os x , ios and android operating systems .
was formerly thought to be an evolutionary intermediate between marmosets and the other new world monkeys , molecular genetics now indicate that it is a member of the marmoset family .
abbott dh , barnett dk , colman rj , yamamoto me , schultz - darken nj . aspects of common marmoset basic biology and life history important for biomedical research .
braun k , schultz - darken n , schneider m , moore cf , emborg me . development of a novel postnatal neurobehavioral scale for evaluation of common marmoset monkeys .
newman jd , kenkel wm , aronoff ec , bock na , zametkin mr , silva ac . a combined histological and mri brain atlas of the common marmoset monkey ,
caring for infants is a particularly large investment in time and energy for the marmoset . the
family structure
of the marmoset social group is important for successful infant rearing as large groups rear more infants than smaller ones . while infant marmosets develop in a relatively short time , and thus the length of time involved in infant care by marmosets may seem less than observed in other primates , the intensity of marmoset infant care is more than is observed in most other primate species ( expect in tamarins ) .
, the epic new fest helping filmmakers create their debut feature film ! winners will receive music by marmoset — for the best soundtrack ever . read on and enter today !
' t hart ba , abbott dh , nakamura k , fuchs e . the marmoset monkey : a multi - purpose preclinical and translational model of human biology and disease .
citation : voelkl b , huber l ( 2007 ) imitation as faithful copying of a novel technique in marmoset monkeys . plos one 2 ( 7 ) : e611 . urltoken
enter the email address you used to create your marmoset account . we will locate your account information and send you an e - mail with a link to reset your password .
toolbag makes getting to work easier than ever with unity and unreal engine export . share your art with the world by blasting off renders and marmoset viewer scenes directly to artstation .
marmosets , for example , are considerably smaller than spider monkeys and howler monkeys but have a slightly longer pregnancy ( howler monkeys 139 days , “true” marmoset s 130–150 days ) .
cite this page as : cawthon lang ka . 2005 may 18 . primate factsheets : common marmoset ( callithrix jacchus ) behavior . < urltoken > . accessed 2018 july 9 .
eslamboli a , baker hf , ridley rm , annett le . sensorimotor deficits in a unilateral intrastriatal 6 - ohda partial lesion model of parkinson ' s disease in marmoset monkeys .
tomioka i , maeda t , shimada h , kawai k , okada y , igarashi h , et al . okano h . generating induced pluripotent stem cells from common marmoset (
marmoset s , for example , are considerably smaller than spider monkeys and howler monkeys but have a slightly longer pregnancy ( howler monkeys 139 days , “true” marmosets 130–150 days ) . …
observing primate behavior can be both challenging and rewarding . for group living primates , like the common marmoset , social interactions among group members provide an ideal setting for learning primate behavior .
when resting , the marmoset may be awake and alert . during these times the monkey may be sitting or lying on its stomach with its tail in a relaxed and uncoiled position .
verhave ps , vanwersch ra , van helden hp , smit ab , philippens ih . two new test methods to quantify motor deficits in a marmoset model for parkinson ' s disease .
sometimes the position in which a monkey is standing , sitting , or even holding its tail , delivers information to another individual . some examples of body postures seen in the common marmoset include :
hikishima k , quallo mm , komaki y , yamada m , kawai k , momoshima s , et al . okano h . population - averaged standard template brain atlas for the common marmoset (
missler m , wolff jr , rothe h , heger w , merker hj , treiber a , et al . crook g . developmental biology of the common marmoset : proposal for a “postnatal staging”
the common marmoset , like many other primate species , is not particularly aggressive and fighting is rare . when aggression does occur , it is usually associated with both aggressive and submissive behaviors and vocalizations .
' t hart ba , van meurs m , brok hpm , massacesi l , bauer j , boon l , … laman jd . a new primate model for multiple sclerosis in the common marmoset .
oga t , aoi h , sasaki t , fujita i , ichinohe n . postnatal development of layer iii pyramidal cells in the primary visual , inferior temporal , and prefrontal cortices of the marmoset .
besides his own brand of hip hop and electronic beats , marmoset artist bosko also boasts productions credits for artists like kanye west , drake , and lil’ wayne . listen to bosko on our roster now :
missler m , eins s , merker hj , rothe h , wolff jr . pre - and postnatal development of the primary visual cortex of the common marmoset . i . a changing space for synaptogenesis .
one of the new monkeys is the callithrix manicorensis , or manicore marmoset . it has a silvery white upper body , a light gray cap on its head , yellow to orange underparts and a black tail .
the other , callithrix acariensis , or acari marmoset , has a snowy white upper body and underparts , a gray back with a stripe running to the knee and a black tail with a bright orange tip .
hikishima k , sawada k , murayama ay , komaki y , kawai k , sato n , et al . okano h . atlas of the developing brain of the marmoset monkey constructed using magnetic resonance histology .
this review aims to provide a historical perspective on the understanding of marmoset neurobehavior , analyze currently available data on marmoset physical and behavioral postnatal development , describe the methods used and discuss next steps to better understand and evaluate marmoset normal and abnormal postnatal neurodevelopment . normal variation exists between individuals and colonies , and aspects of later growth can be affected by variations in earlier development ( ross , power , artavia , & tardif , 2013 ; tardif et al . , 1998 ) . therefore , we also attempt to point out where there is a need to collect additional data on factors of variation to augment the existing developmental studies in order to better define the time points of normal marmoset neurobehavioral development . this will aid in designing studies so that true variation can be minimized in order to detect real differences when comparing genomic edited monkeys to ‘normal’ controls .
one of the funniest moments on johnny carson ! a marmoset gets relief on johnny carson on
the tonight show starring johnny carson
. youtube urltoken like urltoken dvds urltoken follow johnny carson on twitter at urltoken .
that marmoset physical and social development be divided into 7 distinct post - natal stages from birth through adulthood . data for this study was acquired using a questionnaire consisting of 106 questions regarding many aspects of marmoset development . the questionnaire consisted of four major physiological and behavioral developmental groupings , including feeding behavior , motor , visual , social , and sexual development . responses to the questionnaire were obtained from 18 experts who had maintained colonies of
the highly anticipated third version of marmoset toolbag is now available for mac and windows ! we’ve been working diligently to make sure that toolbag 3 exceeds expectations . check out some of the key features in the video below .
gnanalingham kk , smith la , hunter aj , jenner p , marsden cd . alterations in striatal and extrastriatal d - 1 and d - 2 dopamine receptors in the mptp - treated common marmoset : an autoradiographic study .
missler m , wolff a , merker hj , wolff jr . pre - and postnatal development of the primary visual cortex of the common marmoset . ii . formation , remodelling , and elimination of synapses as overlapping processes .
all marmoset customers receive complimentary email support for both trial and paid licenses . if you have any questions , feedback , or recommendations , we want to hear from you at support @ urltoken . marmosets don’t bite ( usually ) .
common marmoset ( callithrix jacchus ) monkeys are a resource for biomedical research and their use is predicted to increase due to the suitability of this species for transgenic approaches . identification of abnormal neurodevelopment due to genetic modification relies upon the comparison with validated patterns of normal behavior defined by unbiased methods . as scientists unfamiliar with nonhuman primate development are interested to apply genomic editing techniques in marmosets , it would be beneficial to the field that the investigators use validated methods of postnatal evaluation that are age and species appropriate . this review aims to analyze current available data on marmoset physical and behavioral postnatal development , describe the methods used and discuss next steps to better understand and evaluate marmoset normal and abnormal postnatal neurodevelopment
construct your scene in marmoset toolbag and export a high quality 3d presentation with the click of a button . toolbag automatically converts from a wide variety of content workflows into an optimized web - renderable package file for easy hosting and embedding .
ferrari , s . f . and lopes , m . a . 1992 . a new species of marmoset , genus callithrix erxleben 1777 ( callitrichidae , primates ) from western brazilian amazonia . goeldiana zool . ( 12 ) : 1–3 .
just as humans rest , so too must other primates . marmosets spend a large part of their day involved in this activity . a marmoset is said to be resting when it is not moving and is not engaged in any activity .
for all primates in the wild , searching for and consuming food takes up a large portion of the day . the common marmoset is no exception . in their natural habitat , a marmoset may devote up to 50 % of the day searching for and feeding on foods such as insects , fruits and tree gums and saps . like other forest - dwelling primates , marmosets do not come down to the ground to drink . instead they rely on water collected in the trees .
when engaged in play a marmoset often displays a
play face
with its mouth open and relaxed - - the teeth are obvious , but the lips are not retracted . the
play face
is observed in many primate species .
tail positions : in some primates , these are an important means of communication . for example , certain primates use an erect tail as an aggressive display . in the common marmoset , however , the tail is primarily used for balance during locomotion .
van roosmalen , m g . m . and van roosmalen , t . 2003 . the description of a new marmoset genus , callibella ( callitrichinae , primates ) , including its molecular phylogenetic status . neotrop . primates 11 ( 1 ) : 1–10 .
as a toolbag 2 license owner , you qualify for a discount on toolbag 3 . select the appropriate “upgrade” version from the menu and add it to your shopping cart . once you’re on the “checkout” page , enter your marmoset id in the appropriate text box .
leg stand
- when in this position the marmoset is standing on its hind legs . the hands may or may not be outstretched . this is used in response to a foreign object or unknown sound . this provides the animal with better visual perspective .
all marmoset software and asset packs are subject to the usage terms and conditions specified in the end user license agreement ( eula ) included with each product download . generally speaking these agreements don’t contain anything surprising , but please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions .
absolutely ! proceed through our web checkout entering your billing information as usual , and enter the license recipient’s name and email address in the appropriate “marmoset id” boxes . this will assign the license to the appropriate end user , while delivering the email receipt only to you .
a father common marmoset , callithrix jacchus , carries an infant while other family members show interest in the infant . photo by judith sparkles . [ color figure can be viewed in the online issue , which is available at www . interscience . wiley . com . ]
the monkey is mentioned in shakespeare ' stempest , when caliban says he will instruct his new master stephano
how to snare the nimble marmoset
( for eating ) , on the no - man island where the play takes place ( act 2 , scene 2 ) .
our polished design provides the perfect platform to integrate 3d into your portfolio . take full control of your art by hosting the content on your web server and adjusting presentation settings to suit your needs . marmoset viewer provides a unique layers view , for showing off texture and topology work .
silva jr . , j . s . and noronha , m . de a . 1998 . on a new species of bare - eared marmoset , genus callithrix erxleben , 1777 , from central amazonia , brazil ( primates : callitrichidae ) . goeldiana zool . ( 21 ) : 1–28 .
young primates are very dependent . marmosets are no exception . infants must be nursed , carried and watched until they are old enough to take care of themselves . for some primates , this may be an extensive period . in the common marmoset this period lasts approximately four to eight weeks .
when a marmoset is approaching or retreating from another monkey or object , their pace is often faster and may appear as a
bouncing gait
. marmosets move about by walking , running , climbing , leaping or jumping when they are not approaching or retreating from another object or monkey .
opening marmoset viewer . mview files is a breeze with the new stand - alone viewer application . now you can easily and securely share your 3d models with your co - workers and clients . the viewer application is free , installs automatically with toolbag 3 , and can be downloaded separately as well .
ferrari , s . f . , sena , l . , schneider , m . p . c . and silva jr . , j . s . 2010 . rondon’s marmoset , mico rondoni sp . n . , from southwestern brazilian amazonia . int . j . primatol . 31 : 693–714 .
mittermeier , r . a . , schwarz , m . and ayres , j . m . 1992a . a new species of marmoset , genus callithrix erxleben 1777 ( callitrichidae , primates ) , from the rio maués region , state of amazonas , central brazilian amazonia . goeldiana zool . ( 14 ) : 1–17 .
. they also lack the ability to change their facial expressions . twin births are common . all other primate species usually give birth to only one child at a time . in addition , marmoset and tamarin infants are usually carried on their father ' s back and are generally only passed over to their mother for nursing .
we’ve teamed up with artstation to provide a complete hosting and presentation service . expose your work to artstation’s massive user base , and embed artstation - hosted viewer scenes on your portfolio . adding viewer content to artstation is as simple as creating an account and uploading your scene . visit artstation to see marmoset viewer in action .
through our analysis emerges that , regardless how the marmoset developmental stage is called , appropriate identification of behavioral milestones plus information on body weight can help match a subject with a corresponding developmental period . in that regard , specific assessment scales ( discussed in the next section ) can help recognize milestone achievement , beyond simple subject observation .
there is a very high mortality rate of the young pygmy marmoset monkeys . trying to provide enough milk for multiples can be tough . there is also the risk of them falling out of the nests or off the body of the mother . only about 25 % of the young will live to reach the age of maturity .
animals are restricted in locomotion by their body size , the habitat in which they live , and possibly by the strength of their tail . for example , a smaller primate ( like the common marmoset ) is able to run along the tops of branches using its tail for balance whereas a larger primate ( like the spider monkey ) must suspend itself below the branch with its arms and / or tail . unlike the spider monkey , the marmoset ' s tail is not prehensile ; it cannot be used as an additional limb , such as in hanging from a branch . very large primates ( like gorillas ) often spend most of their time on the ground .
evaluations of adult motor , cognitive , sensorial and emotional function ( eslamboli , baker , ridley , & annett , 2003 ; kendall et al . , 1998 ; ridley , hardy , maclean , & baker , 2001 ; takemoto , izumi , miwa , & nakamura , 2011 ; verhave , vanwersch , van helden , smit , & philip - pens , 2009 ) have been used and will be additionally important in assessment of marmoset neurodegenerative and psychological disease models . development of adult age - appropriate assessment scales will become a necessary tool to examine the onset of motor and non - motor pathology as well as the response to treatment when using marmoset models of neurodegenerative disease .
snakes live in the same trees as these monkeys do . some of them are very poisonous . they will kill their prey by paralyzing them with the venom and then eating them . others will coil around the body of the prey and suffocate them . both of these types of snakes live in the regions with the pygmy marmoset monkeys .
after being carried for a period of time , the infants are transferred from one group member to another . when infant transfer occurs , the infants will crawl from one individual to another . the marmoset accepting the infants will position itself so that the transfer is easier for the infants . if an infant is not being carried it will cry (
sexual behavior and reproductive parameters are often skewed in captivity compared to natural conditions and as such , data from laboratory settings often must be substantiated by observations and tests from wild animals . the common marmoset is no exception , though recently there have been advances in hormonal monitoring techniques resulting in data from wild common marmosets ( albuquerque et al . 2001 ) .
the diet of the pygmy marmoset is very different from most other species of monkeys . theirs consists of sap and gum . that is what they will survive on if they are able to do so . they need a diet that offers them high amounts of carbohydrates . they may consume plants , fruit , and insects if they can’t get enough sap or gum .
there are a few predators that the pygmy marmoset has in their natural environment . the specific ones will depend on the location where they live . raptors are a type of bird that can come into the canopies and consumes them . this includes eagles , hawks and more . they have excellent vision and sharp claws so it is almost impossible for them to escape .
missler et al . significantly advanced the field ' s ability to quantify marmoset maturation by proposing the first timeline that identified a wide range of subtle behaviors that had not been previously described in marmoset development . the description of the discrete changes allowed for comparison between normal and maladaptive marmoset physical and behavioral development . missler et al . strengthened the integrity of the timeline by relating developmental stages with previous reports of physiological changes such as synapse formation and elimination in the visual cortex as noted in the visual development section ( aitkin , merzenich , irvine , clarey , & nelson , 1986 ; fritschy & garey , 1986a , b , 1988 ) . developmental periods one and two are defined by accelerated synapse formation , period four is defined by rapid synaptic pruning and periods five through seven are characterized by a slow rate of synapse pruning . further physical development , including the sequence of dental maturation complemented the proposed developmental stages . eruption begins during the infant stage and ceases with the appearance of molar teeth during the juvenile stage . furthermore , the investigators related the stages of development with adult body proportions and adult facial expressions .
run toolbag 3 on the imaged drive , then activate your license on that machine by logging into toolbag 3 using your marmoset id and with the activation option “authorize everyone on this computer” enabled . once that image is deployed , this setting will make sure multiple user accounts per machine are authorized for use , and no manual activation is needed per client , per user account .
van roosmalen , m . g . m . , van roosmalen , t . , mittermeier , r . a . and fonseca , g . a . b . da . 1998 . a new and distinctive species of marmoset ( callitrichidae , primates ) from the lower rio aripuanã , state of amazonas , central brazilian amazonia . goeldiana zool . ( 22 ) : 1–27 .
they can be aggressive with each other if they need to . yet they will fight to their own death if they have to in order for them to defend themselves and others in the group . researchers still want to conduct more research in the area of the behavior of the pygmy marmoset . however , it is very difficult to do so without upsetting their natural environment .
advances in magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) have facilitated in vivo brain characterization of adult infant and even fetal marmoset monkeys . mri brain atlases are emerging with correlations with postmortem histological sections ( hikishima et al . , 2013 ; newman et al . , 2009 ) or population standardized templates ( hikishima et al . , 2011 ) . new research combining refined neurobehavioral assessment with novel brain imaging technology ( bock , hashim , kocharyan , & silva , 2011 ; bock , kocharyan , liu , & silva , 2009 ) and circulating molecular markers of gene expression ( hou et al . , 2015 ) are warranted to deepen and expand our understanding of marmoset neurobehavioral development or degeneration and will be key to the study of genetically modified monkey models of neurological disorders .
van roosmalen , m . g . m . , van roosmalen , t . , mittermeier , r . a . and rylands , a . b . 2000 . two new species of marmoset , genus callithrix erxleben , 1777 ( callitrichidae , primates ) , from the tapajós / madeira interfluvium , south central amazonia , brazil . neotrop . primates 8 ( 1 ) : 1–18 .
* marmoset ' s lifespan information is based in current peerreviewed literature ( abbott , barnett , colman , yamamoto , & schultz - darken , 2003 ; ross , davis , dobek , & tardif , 2012 ; tardif , mansfield , ratnam , ross , & ziegler , 2011b ) and a retrospective review of electronic health heath records at the wisconsin national primate research center ( wnprc ) . these records include 1 , 397 individual common marmosets housed at wnprc in the past 25 years . the oldest recorded age is 16 . 6 years . other marmoset colonies report life span at 12 . 4 years ( nishijima et al . , 2012 ) , 13 . 7 years ( lacreuse , mong , & hara , 2015 ; ross et al . , 2012 ) .
we do not have official reseller partners , nor do we offer specific reseller discounts , however volume discounts do apply ( see above ) . if you are a reseller looking to purchase on behalf of a client , please proceed through our web checkout and assign the licenses to the appropriate end user by entering their name and email address in the “marmoset id” boxes on the checkout page .
communication is big part of the social aspects for life as the pygmy marmoset . they use their vocal calls to chatter , to tell of danger , to encourage mating , and to encourage their young . they make clicking sounds in addition to loud calls . they can make short calls for those group members close by . they can also make long calls for those that are further away .
one of the ways that the pygmy marmoset defends itself against snakes and wild cats is to place its nest far out on the very thin and light branches . they are small and weigh next to nothing so they are secure there . yet these larger animals are too heavy for the branches to hold them . they aren’t going to put their own life on the line to get a meal .
izumi , tsuchida , and yamaguchi ( 2012 ) assessed early marmoset visual development in 58 infants that were family - reared and 37 infants that were hand - reared from a total of 46 litters . in general all infants had a similar onset of eye - closure reflex ( present at birth ) , head cocking ( at 12–14 days ) , or avoidance of impending collision ( around 3 weeks by closing eyes ) . interestingly while family reared marmosets had onset of visual tracking behavior at day 11 , the hand - reared group was significantly later ( > 3days later ) . the authors hypothesized that the presence of optical motion is necessary for this behavior to develop , as marmoset infants ride on caregivers and are in constant motion , compared to hand - reared infants who cling to a stationary surrogate .
at the time of publication the missler timeline ( 1992 ) was novel and became an essential resource to define the main developmental stages . a lingering concern is that as the data used for the analysis was acquired with a questionnaire , it may not have yielded the most accurate and unbiased results . additionally , the timeline excludes many behaviors associated with interactions between family members , which play a critical role in marmoset development .
in most primate species , the mother is the sole provider of care for the young . the common marmoset differs from most primates except mammals , lesser apes and its close relatives ( tamarins ) because the father and other group members , including older offspring , regularly carry young infants . the mother will also hold and carry the young , but she devotes much of her time and energy to nursing rather than just carrying .
experienced fathers show higher infant responsive behavioral scores than control males ( inexperienced nonfathers ) . uv indicates the test stimulus unfamiliar infant vocalization and ui indicates the test stimulus of a live unfamiliar infant . ( reprinted from zahed sr , et al . male parenting and response to infant stimuli in the common marmoset ( callithrix jacchus ) . american journal of primatology , 70 : 84–92 . © 2008 john wiley & sons . ) .
as we described before , the ppnas - m is based on an adaptation of the schneider rhesus monkey scale , consists of 34 additional tests in addition to those used in tardif et al . ( 2002 ) , and thus describes marmoset maturation beyond the early postnatal period ( braun et al . , 2015 ) . the ppnas - m both complements and expands upon the three marmoset developmental timelines of missler et al . ( 1992 ) , yamamoto ( 1993 ) , and de castro leão et al . ( 2009 ) for the infant stage . thus far it has only been utilized to assess maturation during the first month of life ; however , with some adjustment , the assessment method could be expanded to more age - appropriate behaviors that occur in the remaining months of infancy and into the juvenile stage . marmosets compared to rhesus monkeys and humans have relatively passive maternal care , which affects the persistence of infant behaviors that facilitate parental - infant interactions ( i . e . , grasping and rooting ) ( braun et al . , 2015 ; king et al . , 1974 ; rothe , 1973 ) . therefore , when using genetically modified marmosets as models for human diseases , it is critical to compare their achievement of developmental milestones to normal marmoset cohorts before interpreting the results to the human disease condition .
the first studies characterizing marmoset development involved early captive colonies established from animals exported from south america . in 1976 , principal countries exporting new - world nonhuman primates banned or severely restricted the trade , resulting in greater reliance of breeding colonies in captivity . epple ( 1974 , 1975a , b ) was a pioneer in establishing successful breeding colonies of callithricidae and was among the first to note certain behaviors and vocalizations of individual species of the callithrix genus .
there is no particular time of year for the pygmy marmoset to take part in mating . they can do so at any point in the year . they will be ready to mate as long a they have enough food and shelter around them . yet when their natural habit is being destroyed those things aren’t always there . this means that they are being destroyed in numbers and that it is also very slow for them to continue adding new offspring .
at some point during their careers . the questionnaire gathered information about infant suckling , nursing , first consumption of solid foods , carrier - related motor behaviors and grasping reflexes , development of visual system ( including head cocking ) and social interactions ( solitary and group play behaviors ) , including grooming , twin - fights , copulations , and genital displaying . based on the collected data , the investigators proposed a 7 - stage timeline to differentiate marmoset development ( see
there are many names that you may hear the pygmy marmoset called by . they are known as the pocket monkey , little lion , and the dwarf monkey . it is all one and the same though regardless of the terminology being used . they are the smallest of all the monkeys , and one of the very small primates in the world . they weigh less than 5 ounces when fully mature . there are 2 sub species that are known to exist .
an interesting aspect of the yamamoto timeline is that it characterized the actions of both the infant and caregivers regarding the infant ' s behavioral development and intensively analyzed behavior from two weeks through adolescence of marmoset development . it focused on both the amount of interaction and the type of interaction taking place between infants and caregivers , quantifying which caregiver the infants spends the most time on during the first stage of life , and also quantifying when the infant is able to “cope with rejection” from its carrier .
stevenson and poole ( 1976 ) published a comprehensive description of the behavior repertoire of common marmosets building on some of epple ' s descriptions . movements and action sequences were characterized into behavior patterns . the collected data were first analyzed by creating a descriptive ethogram of the species that included sitting and resting postures , locomotion patterns , facial expressions and head movements , scent - marking , interaction with objects , social acts involving contact , grooming , patterns involving piloerection , startle response , tail positions , and vocalizations . next the authors performed a detailed analysis of each behavior in different contexts ( i . e . , general activity patterns of adult pairs ; prey capture ; play between adults with young ; sexual behavior ; and intra - or inter - group aggressive behaviors . ) they qualified their results obtained in captivity , as a restricted environment and compared them to descriptions for various species in the wild . this was the first comprehensive report of marmoset behaviors and laid the foundation to assess marmoset development .
in that regard , for many age - related disorders , it is not clear when and what types of prodromal symptoms first appear . genomic edited monkeys present an opportunity to systematically study disease onset . discrete neurological changes that differentiate levels of immaturity and / or deficits may not be evident by behavior observation alone and may require additional assessments to detect , different from tests usually applied to fully grown adult animals . thus , there is a real need for tools to identify and quantify normal marmoset neurodevelopment .
following this premise , early marmoset development assessment scales were created to systematically evaluate subjects with discrete measures in order to identify differences between individuals and / or experimental groups . the scales are based on previously reported human and nonhuman primates assessment scales and adjusted to marmoset species typical behaviors . each scale provides different but complementary information . the early postnatal survival assessment ( tardif et al . , 2002 ) covers the first week of life , while the primate postnatal neurodevelopment assessment scale for marmosets ( ppnas - m ) assesses motor , cognitive , sensorial , and emotional measures in the first month of life ( braun , schultz - darken , schneider , moore , & emborg , 2015 ) . the motor development scale evaluates motor skills from birth to maturation of adult - like abilities ( wang , fang , & gong , 2014 ) , whereas the socio - emotional development assessment ( koshiba et al . , 2013 ) evaluates changes in peer sociality in marmosets 1–4 months of age . below we describe each assessment scale individually followed by a discussion on the assessments as complementary tools .
experienced fathers show a short latency to enter the infant’s cage and approach for all four stimuli : familiar infant ( fi ) , unfamiliar infant ( ui ) , familiar vocalization ( fv ) , and unfamiliar vocalization ( uv ) . fathers had a significantly shorter latency than control males ( inexperienced nonfathers ) . ( reprinted from zahed sr , et al . male parenting and response to infant stimuli in the common marmoset ( callithrix jacchus ) . american journal of primatology , 70 : 84–92 . © 2008 john wiley & sons . ) .
marmoset is a chrome app which lets you create gorgeous code snapshots within seconds . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - changelog : 1 . 5 : - new themes thanks to urltoken 1 . 4 : - added shortcut
ctrl - 0
to reset camera zoom . - don ' t consider right spaces at the end of lines .
beyond the initial post - birth days , the entire first month of life is identified as a critical period for neurodevelopment in nonhuman primates ( king et al . , 1974 ; missler et al . , 1992 ; tardif et al . , 2002 ) . aiming to characterize that developmental stage , our group ( braun et al . , 2015 ) created a primate postnatal neurobehavioral assessment scale for the marmoset monkey ( ppnas - m ) . the scale was adapted from the pnnas for rhesus macaques ( schneider & suomi , 1992 ) which was based on human infant assessment methods ( als et al . , 1977 ; bayley , 1963 ; brazelton & nugent , 1995 ) . twenty - four healthy infant marmosets from 12 different families housed in the marmoset colony at the wisconsin national primate research center were tested with this scale at approximately 15 and 30 days after birth . the ppnas - m consists of 41 non - invasive behavioral evaluations , which are grouped into five main testing categories : visual orienting , auditory and spatial orienting , reflexes , righting and body strength , and temperament tests . the infant assessments involve a 10 - min testing session .
ingram ' s research contributed greatly to the understanding of when infant marmoset behaviors emerged , occurred , or terminated , indicating a timeline for maturity . in her description , suckling decreased until 8 weeks of age at which point it was no longer present . infant carrying by parents and older siblings decreased to a minimum around 6 weeks of age , and rejections of infant approaches began to increase at that time , along with distance from parents . additionally , infants had a strong role ( 60 % ) in the maintenance of proximity to caregivers throughout the four - month observational period .
tardif et al . ( 2002 ) created an assessment method for the first week after birth aimed to quantify marmoset development and predict infant survival . the evaluations were adapted from a seven - task behavioral assessment of physical development by king , fobes , and fobes ( 1974 ) for neonatal behavior in squirrel monkeys and cotton - top tamarins . eighty - six marmoset monkeys from 42 litters ( number of families not indicated ) at the southwest national primate research center were tested during the first 24–36 hr post - birth . the evaluations include species - specific survival behaviors for infant common marmosets consisting of five motor skills , ( crawling within 2 min , clasping - righting abilities from two different orientations and ability to remain in contact with fur - covered cylinder during quick movement , grasping reflex to hold onto experimenter finger for 60 s when raised off substrate , and vertical orienting to 180 degrees on inclined fur - covered surface ) and two motor and sensory skills ( rooting by turning head and placing mouth on stimulus tip and auditory orienting to turn head in direction of jingled keys ) . the investigators correlated these tasks with infant weights , morphometric measurements , and infant survival to postnatal day 7 .
weight measurements correlated best with crawling scores , while longer knee - heel lengths correlated with perfect grasping scores . the investigators found that the particular combination of scores from crawling , the two righting tasks , and vertical orientation was the most accurate predictor of infant survival to 7 days . weight and size in itself did not predict infant survival in triplets , agreeing with missler et al . ( 1992 ) that low birth weight is not the only relevant factor in predicting early postnatal death in marmosets . as such , this scale is a valid method for assessment of neurodevelopment milestones at birth , which helps predict infant marmoset survival .
the total ppnas - m scores were significantly increased over time , achieving a mean of 51 . 4 % of the total possible score at day 15 and 74 . 2 % at day 30 . separate analysis of each of the five testing categories also showed significant increases over time . principal component analysis defined four item groups ( orientation , state control , motor maturity , and sensory sensitivity ) with five variables each . orientation and state control factors were highly similar at both ages and correlated highly with previous item groupings used with rhesus macaques . interestingly certain individual assessment tests , including reach and grasp , response to inversion , palmar and plantar grasping , head orientation in prone or supine positions , self - calming behavior and fearfulness did not show significant change from 15 to 30 days . as the scores for these tests were already high in the first testing session , it can be inferred that maturation for that specific challenge was already achieved prior to 15 days postnatal in a “normally” developed marmoset . overall , the ppnas - m provides a valuable battery of tests to measure dimensions of state modulation , arousal , orientation , attention , and neuromotor maturity during the critical first month of marmoset development . because the ppnas - m was based on human and nonhuman primate scales , it facilitates translational and interspecies comparisons .


holothuria forskali , the black sea cucumber or cotton-spinner , is a species of sea cucumber in the family holothuriidae .

it is found at shallow depths in the eastern atlantic ocean and the mediterranean sea .

it was placed in the subgenus panningothuria by rowe in 1969 and is the typetaxon of the subgenus .

sea cucumbers are marine invertebrates and are closely related to the sea urchins and starfish .

all these groups tend to be radially symmetric and have a water vascular system that operates by hydrostatic pressure , enabling them to move around by use of many suckers known as tube feet .

sea cucumbers are usually leathery , gherkin-shaped animals with a cluster of short tentacles at one end .

holothuria forskali

frédéric ducarme marked
file : holothuria forskali rab2011 l 4213 . jpg
as trusted on the
holothuria forskali chiaje , 1841
page .
frédéric ducarme marked
file : holothuria forskali rab2011 a 3274 . jpg
as trusted on the
holothuria forskali chiaje , 1841
page .
frédéric ducarme marked
file : holothuria forskali rab2011 h 3798 . jpg
as trusted on the
holothuria forskali chiaje , 1841
page .
frédéric ducarme marked
file : holothuria forskali krk2010 e dett 9555 . jpg
as trusted on the
holothuria forskali chiaje , 1841
page .
frédéric ducarme marked
file : holothuna forskali . jpg
as trusted on the
holothuria forskali chiaje , 1841
page .
instantaneous adhesion of cuvierian tubules in the sea cucumber holothuria forskali . - pubmed - ncbi
observations écologiques sur holothuria tubulosa , h . polii et h . forskali et comportement alimentaire de h . tubulosa
bay - nouailhat a . , may 2004 , description of holothuria forskali , available on line at urltoken consulted on 09 july 2018 .
full - scan maldi - tof mass spectrum analyses of the total saponin mixture extracted from artificial seawater conditioned with non - stressed holothuria forskali ( a ) and with stressed h . forskali ( b ) . asterisks correspond to the propylene glycol contamination .
the data on the qualitative and quantitative distribution of the species holothuria tubulosa and holothuria forskali as affected by bottom types and depth are presented . the material originates from the continental shelf of the adriatic sea collected during pipeta research cruises . biological material was collected with bottom trawl from the italian commercial trawler pipeta in the 1982 - 1995 period . for the estimation of the abundance of the species holothuria tubulosa and holothuria forskali standard
swept area
method was used . the total mass and the number of individuals of these species were obtained from 833 hauls ( 21 cruises ) of the bottom trawl over a surface area of 39808 . 191 km 2 of the adriatic bottom . obtained results are indicative regarding the fact that there are some differences in the horizontal and vertical distribution between the species holothuria tubulosa and holothuria forskali and that the abundance is affected by sediment type .
picton , b . e . & morrow , c . c . ( 2016 ) . holothuria forskali chiaje , 1841 . [ in ] encyclopedia of marine life of britain and ireland . urltoken accessed on 2018 - 07 - 09
localization of secondary metabolites in marine invertebrates : contribution of maldi msi for the study of saponins in cuvierian tubules of h . forskali
similar species : several other species of holothuria are known from the french atlantic coast and could possibly turn up in southern britain .
comparison of an average mass spectrum of the body wall of holothuria forskali obtained by direct maldi - msi analysis ( a ) and a mass spectrum of saponins after body wall extraction and purification by classical maldi - ms analysis ( b ) . saponin ions are marked by an asterisk ( see table 1 ) .
lc - ms / ms spectra of isomer ions detected at m / z 1125 in the body wall of holothuria forskali . ( a ) the saponin holothurinoside c [ see van dyck et al . ( van dyck et al . , 2009 ) for molecular structure elucidation ] . ( b ) the propylene glycol polymer .
full - scan maldi - tof mass spectrum analyses of the total saponin mixtures extracted from the outer ( a ) and inner ( b ) body wall of a relaxed individual and from the outer ( c ) and inner ( d ) body wall of a stressed individual of holothuria forskali . saponin signals are circled ; matrix and polymer contaminant signals are not circled .
integrated multi - trophic aquaculture ( imta ) systems combining finfish and sea cucumbers remain largely untested . integrating a deposit - feeding species into existing aquaculture units prerequires survival of the deposit feeder , waste diet consumption and bioremediation effect of feeding activity . the sea cucumber , holothuria forskali , was fed waste from cultured european seabass , dicentrarchus labrax , to determine palatability and impact of grazing by h . forskali . sea cucumbers readily consumed waste diet at amounts suitable to process biodeposition beneath commercial sea - based d . labrax farms . grazing by h . forskali significantly reduced total nitrogen content of d . labrax waste in short - term controlled feeding experiments ( unpaired t test , p < 0 . 05 ) and suppressed total carbon content of d . labrax waste in long - term controlled feeding experiments ( unpaired t test , p < 0 . 05 ) . survival , palatability and nutrient reduction results support investigation of h . forskali inclusion in imta systems focussed on bioremediation of finfish waste if limitations in understanding of growth potential , biology and life history are addressed .
holothuria forskali is a sea cucumber whose soft and somewhat cylindrical body can be from 15 to 40 cm in length . the surface is covered by numerous conical short outgrowths , generally white . the colour is variable , brown , black , yellowish with brown mottlings . the mouth , at one end of the tube - shaped body is surrounded by small oral tentacles used to collect the mud from which the sea cucumber extracts various nutrients . divers may frequently discover under the guise of strings of small muddy tubes , wastes of digestion of sea cucumbers . when attacked or disturbed , holothuria forskali may expel by the anus numerous white , long and sticking filaments which can be regenarated within a month . it lives on sandy or muddy bottoms and on urltoken / > it is found from surface to 70 m deep in the atlantic ocean , the english channel and the mediterranean sea .
transmission electron micrographs of a relaxed ( a ) and stressed ( b , c ) body wall of holothuria forskali . a and b correspond to an overall view of the epidermis and c shows details of pigment cell granules . c , cuticle ; cf , collagen fibrils ; dm , disintegrating material ; edg , electron dense granules ; mc , mucocyte ; n , nucleus ; pc , pigment cell ; v , vacuole ; vc , vacuolar cell .
molecular images highlighting the localization of saponin ions detected at m / z 1125 , 1141 , 1287 , 1303 , 1433 , 1449 , 1463 and 1479 , obtained with maldi - msi on relaxed and stressed body wall sections of holothuria forskali . green , saponin ions ; red , counterstain . optical images of the section before matrix deposit are presented in the first column . tree zones are delimited : epidermis ( upper ) , dermis ( middle ) and mesothelium ( lower ) .
( of holothuria catanensis grube , 1840 ) hansson , h . ( 2004 ) . north east atlantic taxa ( neat ) : nematoda . internet pdf ed . aug 1998 . , available online at urltoken [ details ] available for editors [ request ]
( of holothuria nigra peach , 1845 ) hansson , h . ( 2004 ) . north east atlantic taxa ( neat ) : nematoda . internet pdf ed . aug 1998 . , available online at urltoken [ details ] available for editors [ request ]
( of holothuria catanensis grube , 1840 ) grube , e . ( 1840 ) . actinien , echinodermen und würmer des adriatischen - und mittelmeers , nach eigenen sammlungen beschrieben von adolph eduard grube . koenigsberg . 92 pp . , available online at urltoken [ details ]
maldi - msi was used to localize saponins in the body wall of h . forskali . the first analyses were performed directly on frozen transverse body wall sections after matrix deposition . spectra from tissue direct analyses were acquired randomly across the sections to verify the possibility to detect ions from saponins . fig . 1 shows a comparison between a spectrum obtained after direct analysis of the tissue section and one from a previous work obtained by a classical maldi analysis after tissue extraction ( van dyck et al . , 2009 ) . the spectrum obtained from the tissue section presents the same profile , with a conservation of the relative abundance of the ions of the eight major saponins of h . forskali ( table 1 ) .
( of holothuria forskahli delle chiaje , 1824 ) della chiaje , s , 1823 [ 1824 ? ] . descrizione zoologica ed anatomica di alcune specie di oloturie . in : memorie su la storia e notomia degli animali senza vertebre del regno di napoli . volume 1 fratelli fernandes , napoli . pp . 77 - 116 , pls . 6 - 8 [ details ]
more than 100 triterpene glycosides ( saponins ) have been characterized in holothuroids in the past several decades . in particular , holothuria forskali contains 26 saponins in its cuvierian tubules and 12 in its body wall . this high diversity could be linked to a chemical defense mechanism , the most commonly accepted biological role for these secondary metabolites . we performed an integrated study of the body - wall saponins of h . forskali . the saponins are mainly localized in the epidermis and in the mesothelium of the body wall and appear to be released when the holothuroid is stressed . among the saponins present in the epidermis , one ( holothurinoside g ) was detected in the seawater surrounding non - stressed holothuroids and three others ( holohurinosides c and f , and desholothurin a ) were secreted when the animals were stressed . in addition , two new congeners ( detected at m / z 1301 and 1317 ) were also present in the immediate surroundings of stressed holothuroids . these new saponins do not originate from the epidermis and could come from an internal organ . quantities of secreted saponins were very low compared with the body wall and cuvierian tubules concentrations . at natural concentrations , saponins do not represent a threat to the health of predatory fish . the deterrent effect of saponins seems therefore to act as an aposematic signal , warning potential predators of the unpalatability of the holothuroid tissues .
( of holothuria catanensis grube , 1840 ) hansson , h . g . ( 2001 ) . echinodermata , in : costello , m . j . et al . ( ed . ) ( 2001 ) . european register of marine species : a check - list of the marine species in europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification . collection patrimoines naturels , . 50 : pp . 336 - 351 . ( look up in imis ) [ details ]
( of holothuria nigra peach , 1845 ) hansson , h . g . ( 2001 ) . echinodermata , in : costello , m . j . et al . ( ed . ) ( 2001 ) . european register of marine species : a check - list of the marine species in europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification . collection patrimoines naturels , . 50 : pp . 336 - 351 . ( look up in imis ) [ details ]
specimens of holothuria forskali ( delle chiaje 1823 ) were collected at a depth ranging from 20 to 30 m by scuba diving at the biological station of banyuls - sur - mer ( pyrénées - orientales , france ) . they were transported to the marine biology laboratory of the university of mons , where they were kept in a marine aquarium with closed circulation ( 13°c , 33‰ salinity ) . individuals used in the different experiments were in one of three physiological states : relaxed , non - stressed or stressed . relaxed animals were anaesthetized for 2 h in a 0 . 1 % solution of 1 - phenoxy - 2 - propanol ( sigma - aldrich , bornem , belgium ) in seawater . stressed individuals were mechanically stimulated for 4 h by repetitive hitting using a specific device . the device consisted of three loads hanging from a horizontal rotating bar and immersed in the tank containing the animal . loads were wrapped in parafilm in order to avoid injuries . non - stressed individuals were resting animals that were neither anaesthetized nor stressed . for the histological approach , both relaxed and stressed animals were used whereas only non - stressed and stressed animals were used for the detection of saponins released in seawater .
in holothuroids , there are no data on the mode of action of saponins as a defense mechanism . the aim of the present study was to perform an integrated study on the saponin mixture from the body wall of the holothuroid h . forskali . a mass spectrometry imaging approach was designed to localize saponins in the tissue , and a semi - quantitative experiment was performed to evaluate saponin concentrations in the tissues of the holothuroid . in addition , the release of saponins by the animal in its surroundings was investigated , and ecophysiological tests were performed on fish to better understand the role of these molecules in the defense of the holothuroid .
some recent studies have highlighted the large diversity of triterpene glycosides present in holothuroid tissues ( kobayashi et al . , 1991 ; kalinin et al . , 2008 ; maier , 2008 ) . in h . forskali , 26 different saponins have been described in the cuvierian tubules and 12 have been described in the body wall ( rodrigez et al . , 1991 ; van dyck et al . , 2009 ) . to understand the biological function of this molecular set , we have undertaken an integrated study about their precise localization in the body wall , their respective concentrations in and around the animals , and their effects on potential predatory fish .
although they look very different , sea cucumbers are related to sea urchins and starfish , and like them have numerous extensile tube - feet which can be modified for various purposes . in holothuria , those on the underside have suckers , and the animal walks and clings on with these ; it can climb vertical rock , but is most often seen on ledges and near - horizontal surfaces where sediment collects . the conical papillae on the back seem to be modified tube - feet with a sensory function ( my books are not entirely clear on this point ) . and around the mouth , highly specialised tube - feet form oral tentacles which are used for feeding .
i knew already that the crevice - living , suspension - feeding sea cucumbers are totally unidentifiable from drawings of ' pickled ' specimens , which show short thick tentacles at the end of a cylindrical body , while live animals have the body almost entirely concealed and the tentacles fully extended in a delicately - branched bushy mass . you only see the tentacles as they are illustrated , three - quarters retracted , if you disturb the animal , and then only for a second before they vanish into the mouth for safety . a narcotised holothuria also relaxes into an unlifelike posture with the mouth at the end of the body but the tentacles partially protruded outwards , and is carefully and misleadingly illustrated and described like that .
sea cucumbers contain triterpene glycosides called saponins . we investigated the complex saponin mixture extracted from the common mediterranean species holothuria forskali . two different body components were analyzed separately : the body wall ( which protects the animal and is moreover the most important organ in terms of surface and weight ) and the cuvierian tubules ( a defensive organ that can be expelled on predators in response to an attack ) . maldi / ms and maldi / ms / ms were used to detect saponins and describe their molecular structures . as isomers have been found in the cuvierian tubules , lc / ms and lc / ms / ms were performed to identify each saponin separately . twelve saponins have been detected in the body wall and 26 in the cuvierian tubules . all the saponins from the body wall are also present in the cuvierian tubules but the latter also contain 14 specific saponins . the presence of isomeric saponins complicated structure elucidation for the whole set but 16 saponins have been described tentatively . among these , 3 had already been reported in the literature as holothurinosides a and c , and desholothurin a . molecular structures have been proposed for the 13 others which , in the present work , have been provisionally named holothurinosides e , f , g , h , i , a 1 , c 1 , e 1 , f 1 , g 1 , h 1 and i 1 and desholothurin a 1 . the diversity and organ specificity of the saponins described here are much higher than what had been reported to date in any sea cucumber species .
saponins extracted from the body wall and the cuvierian tubules of h . forskali were quantified by different methods . the results indicate that the cuvierian tubules contain a proportionally larger quantity of saponins than the body wall ; although in terms of hemolytic activity , the two organs appear similar . elyakov et al . ( elyakov et al . , 1973 ) and kobayashi et al . ( kobayashi et al . , 1991 ) already reported high concentrations of saponins in the cuvierian tubules , concentrations that were usually higher than those in the body wall ( see also van dyck et al . , 2010a ) . in the present study , body wall saponin extracts were tested at different concentrations on the fish c . julis and s . ocellatus in order to evaluate their overall toxicity . there was clearly a threshold effect : the fish were unharmed by low concentrations of saponins , but when a certain concentration was reached , the effect was brutal and the fish died in a matter of minutes . this fatal saponin concentration corresponds to ∼30 % of the total saponin content of the body wall diluted in the 2 l tank . this is much more than the amount released by an animal stimulated for as long as 4 h , i . e . 0 . 6 % of the total saponin content of the body wall . therefore , at natural concentrations , body wall saponins diluted in seawater have no deleterious physiological effects on fish . this was also found to be the case for the species holothuria leucospilota . although its saponins were ichthyotoxic at high concentrations in closed circulation tanks ( yamanouchi , 1955 ) , they showed no adverse effects on fish in open systems ( hamel and mercier , 2000 ) and a fortiori in open water in the natural environment .
in order to look more closely at the differences between the body wall of relaxed and stressed individuals , light and transmission electron microscopy ( tem ) analyses were performed . fig . 5 shows tem pictures of the epidermal zone of a relaxed and a stressed body wall . both samples present the same epidermal organization , comprising support cells , mucus cells , vacuolar cells and pigment cells [ see also flammang and jangoux ( flammang and jangoux , 1992 ) and vandenspiegel et al . ( vandenspiegel et al . , 1995 ) for a description of the epidermis in h . forskali ] . the stressed individual was characterized by the presence of numerous electron - dense granules , measuring ∼0 . 8 μm in diameter , in the cytoplasm of pigment cells . these granules were clearly more numerous in the epidermis of relaxed individuals than in that of stressed animals ( no quantification was done , however ) . in the stressed tissue , the content of these electron - dense granules looked disorganized and many granules even appeared empty ( fig . 5c ) . this observation suggests that the content of these cells was released during the stressing period .
for the first time , saponins have been detected in the seawater surrounding individuals of h . forskali . kubanek et al . ( kubanek et al . , 2002 ) attempted to find triterpene glycosides in the water surrounding sponges but the detection threshold of their method was not low enough . in the present study , mass spectrometry techniques have allowed the detection of very low concentrations of saponins in conditioned seawater . only one saponin , holothurinoside g ( m / z 1449 ) , was detected in the surroundings of non - stressed holothuroids . when they were stressed , however , the animals secreted five other saponins including two new ones ( holothurinoside c and f , desholothurin a detected at m / z 1125 , 1433 and 1141 , respectively ; and the provisionally named holothurinosides m and l detected at m / z 1301 and 1317 , respectively ) . holothurinoside g could be a background prevention signal whereas the five other saponins could play more important defensive roles . an interesting point is the presence of the two new saponins , which have not been detected in the body wall or in the cuvierian tubules ( van dyck et al . , 2009 ) . these saponins seem to be stress - specific and could come from another part of the animal , e . g . the respiratory trees . indeed , when a holothuroid is stimulated , it contracts its body and expels water from the respiratory trees . the saponins coming from inside the animal and those secreted from body wall would then have been extracted and analyzed together in this study . it is likely that the previously described saponins are coming from the epidermis of the body wall because this corresponds to their tissue localization ( see molecular images in fig . 2 ) .
distribution from low intertidal to about 50 m depth , on rocks or stones , with a preference for vertical faces ; common around southwest . . .
( of stichopus selenkae barrois , 1882 ) barrois , t . ( 1882 ) . catalogue des crustaces podophthalmaires et des echinodermes recueillis a concarneau . catalogue des crustaces podophthalmaires et des echinodermes recueillis a concarneau . : unpaginated . , available online at urltoken [ details ]
hansson , h . g . ( 2001 ) . echinodermata , in : costello , m . j . et al . ( ed . ) ( 2001 ) . european register of marine species : a check - list of the marine species in europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification . collection patrimoines naturels , . 50 : pp . 336 - 351 . ( look up in imis ) [ details ]
southward , e . c . ; campbell , a . c . ( 2006 ) . [ echinoderms : keys and notes for the identification of british species ] . synopses of the british fauna ( new series ) , 56 . field studies council : shrewsbury , uk . isbn 1 - 85153 - 269 - 2 . 272 pp . ( look up in imis ) [ details ]
hansson , h . ( 2004 ) . north east atlantic taxa ( neat ) : nematoda . internet pdf ed . aug 1998 . , available online at urltoken [ details ] available for editors [ request ]
rowe , f . w . e . ( 1969 ) . a review of the family holothuriidae ( holothurioidea : aspidochirotida ) . bull . br . mus . ( nat . hist . ) ( zool . ) 18 ( 4 ) : 119 - 170 ( look up in imis ) [ details ]
( of stichopus selenkae barrois , 1882 ) hansson , h . ( 2004 ) . north east atlantic taxa ( neat ) : nematoda . internet pdf ed . aug 1998 . , available online at urltoken [ details ] available for editors [ request ]
( of stichopus selenkae barrois , 1882 ) hansson , h . g . ( 2001 ) . echinodermata , in : costello , m . j . et al . ( ed . ) ( 2001 ) . european register of marine species : a check - list of the marine species in europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification . collection patrimoines naturels , . 50 : pp . 336 - 351 . ( look up in imis ) [ details ]
mediterranean fish coris julis ( linnaeus 1758 ) and symphodus ocellatus forsskal 1775 were collected using a fishing net at a depth of 3 m by scuba diving at the station de recherche sous - marines et océanographiques ( stareso ) near calvi , corse , france . they were kept at the station in a marine aquarium with open circulation .
pieces of body wall from relaxed and stressed holothuroids were prepared for light and transmission electronic microscopy and for matrix - assisted laser desorption / ionization mass spectrometric imaging ( maldi - msi ) ( caprioli et al . , 1997 ) .
pieces ∼3–4 mm in width were cut from the body wall and fixed for 3 h at 4°c in a 3 % solution of glutaraldehyde in cacodylate buffer ( 0 . 1 mol l –1 , ph 7 . 8 , adjusted to 1030 mosm l –1 with nacl ) . they were washed in the same buffer , post - fixed for 1 h with 1 % osmium tetroxide in the cacodylate buffer and then washed again . pieces were then dehydrated in graded ethanol and embedded in spurr resin . semi - thin ( 1 μm ) sections were realized for light microscopy using an ultramicrotome reichter om u2 ( leica microsystems gmbh , wetzlar , germany ) equipped with a glass knife and were stained with a 1 : 1 mixture of 1 % aqueous solution of methylene blue in 1 % sodium tetraborate and 1 % aqueous solution of azur ii . sections were observed with a zeiss axio - scope a1 microscope ( carl zeiss microimaging , göttingen , germany ) . ultra - thin sections ( 70 nm ) were obtained using a diamond knife mounted on an ultramicrotome leica ultracut uct ( leica microsystems ) and contrasted with uranyl acetate and lead citrate . sections were finally observed with a zeiss leo 906e transmission electron microscope ( carl zeiss nts gmbh , oberkochen , germany ) .
tissue cryosections ( 12 μm ) were obtained from frozen body - wall pieces using a cryostat ( leica microsystems ) and were deposited onto conductive glass slides coated with indium - tin oxide ( bruker daltonics , bremen , germany ) . α - cyano - 4 - hydroxycinnamic acid ( hcca ) , trifluoroacetic acid , acetonitrile and aniline ( ani ) were purchased from sigma - aldrich ( saint - quentin fallavier , france ) . a solid ionic hcca / ani matrix was used to image the saponins and was prepared following a previously established procedure ( lemaire et al . , 2006 ) . matrix solution was deposited using imageprep ( bruker daltonics ) . the images were acquired using an ultraflex ii maldi - tof / tof mass spectrometer ( bruker daltonics ) equipped with a smartbeam™ laser . images data were performed in positive reflectron mode , and maldi - ms spectra were acquired in the mass / charge ( m / z ) range of 800 to 3000 . a total of 300 spectra were acquired at each spot at a laser frequency of 100 hz . fleximaging™ 2 . 1 software ( bruker daltonics ) was used for molecular image reconstruction . standards for spectral calibration consisted of a mixed solution of peptides ranging between 900 and 3500 da .
the extraction and purification procedures were described in detail in a previous paper ( van dyck et al . , 2009 ) . they were repeated on several individuals . briefly , the homogenized tissue was extracted twice with ethanol : water ( 70 : 30 ) followed by filtration . the extract was then evaporated at low pressure in a double boiler at 30°c using a rotary evaporator ( laborota 4001 efficient , heidolph instruments gmbh , schwabach , germany ) . the dry extract was diluted in 90 % methanol and partitioned against n - hexane ( v / v ) . the water content of the hydromethanolic phase was adjusted to 20 % ( v / v ) and then to 40 % ( v / v ) , these solutions being partitioned against ch 2 cl 2 and chcl 3 , respectively . finally , the hydromethanolic solution was evaporated and dissolved in water in order to undergo chromatographic purification . the crude aqueous extract was placed on a column of amberlite xad - 4 ( sigma - aldrich , st louis , mo , usa ) . washing the column with water removed the inorganic salts and subsequent elution with methanol allowed us to recover saponins . the methanolic phase was then evaporated and the dry extract was diluted in water in order to undergo a last partitioning against isobutanol ( v / v ) . the butanolic fraction contained the purified saponins .
holothuroids ( stressed and non - stressed ) were incubated for 4 h in 1 l of artificial seawater ( asw ; 445 mmol l –1 nacl , 60 mmol l –1 mgcl 2 . 6h 2 o , 10 mmol l –1 kcl , 10 mmol l –1 cacl 2 , 2 . 4 mmol l –1 nahco 3 , 10 mmol l –1 hepes , ph 8 ) . the saponin extracts from the conditioned water were prepared using a shortened extraction and purification protocol . the conditioned asw was directly run through the column of the amberlite xad - 4 for the chromatography step . subsequent steps were identical to those described above .
all ms experiments were performed on a q - tof premier mass spectrometer ( waters , milford , ma , usa ) in the positive ion mode , either using the maldi or the electrospray ionization ( esi ) source . the maldi source was a nitrogen laser , operating at 337 nm with a maximum output of 500 mw delivered to the sample in 4 ns pulses at 20 hz repeating rate . all samples were prepared using a 10 mg ml –1 solution of α - cyano - 4 - hydroxycinnamic acid in acetone as the matrix . the matrix solution ( 1 μl ) was spotted onto a stainless steel target and air - dried . then , 1 μl of each butanolic fraction was applied onto the spots of matrix crystals and air - dried . finally , 1 μl droplets of a solution of nai ( 2 mg ml –1 in acetonitrile ) were added to the spots on the target plate . typical esi conditions were : capillary voltage , 3 . 1 kv ; cone voltage , 50 v ; source temperature , 120°c ; and desolvation temperature , 300°c . dry nitrogen was used as the esi gas .
for the recording of the single - stage maldi - or esi - ms spectra , the quadrupole ( rf - only mode ) was set to pass ions between m / z 50 and 1500 , and all ions were transmitted into the pusher region of the time - of - flight ( tof ) analyzer where they were mass - analyzed with a 1 s integration time . for the maldi - or esi - ms / ms collision induced dissociation ( cid ) experiments , the ions of interest were mass - selected by the quadrupole mass filter . the selected ions were then submitted to collision against argon in the t - wave collision cell ( pressure estimated at 90–100 pa ) and the laboratory frame kinetic energy was selected to afford intense enough product ion signals . all the ions exiting the collision cell , either the product ions or the non - dissociated precursor ions , were finally mass measured with the orthogonal - acceleration ( oa ) - tof analyzer . time - of - flight mass analyses were performed in the reflectron mode at a resolution of ∼10 , 000 .
for the online liquid chromatography ( lc ) - ms / ms analyses , a waters alliance 2695 liquid chromatography apparatus was used . the hplc device was coupled to the q - tof premier mass spectrometer ( waters ) and consisted of a vacuum degasser , a quaternary pump and an autosampler . sample volumes of 20 μl were injected . chromatographic separation was performed on a non - polar column ( symmetry c18 , 4 . 6×150 mm , 5 μm , waters ) at 27°c . the mobile phase ( 1 ml min –1 ) was a nonlinear gradient programmed from methanol ( eluent a ) and water ( eluent b ) . the gradient programmed was : 10 % of eluent a at start ; 0–6 min , 10 to 60 % a ; 6–13 min , 60 to 95 % a ; 13–15 min , back to 10 % a . the mobile phase flow ( 1 ml min –1 ) was splitted prior to injection in the esi source ( 200 μl min –1 ) .
in addition to the weighting of the dry saponin extract , two complementary techniques – measurement of hemolytic activity and estimation of carbohydrate content using the orcinol reaction ( van dyck et al . , 2010a ) – were used to estimate the saponin concentration of the various extracts ( i . e . from the body wall , from cuvierian tubules and from conditioned seawater ) .
the method was adapted from kalinin et al . ( kalinin et al . , 1996 ) and from mackie et al . ( mackie et al . , 1968 ) . citrated blood from cows was used in this experiment . erythrocytes were pelleted by centrifugation at 1000 g for 15 min , and were washed and centrifuged three times in cold pbs buffer ( 140 mmol l –1 nacl , 2 . 7 mmol l –1 kcl , 1 . 5 mmol l –1 kh 2 po 4 , 8 . 1 mmol l na 2 hpo 4 2h 2 o , ph 7 . 4 ) until the supernatant was clear and colorless . two milliliters of packed cells were then diluted to 100 ml with the same buffer . twenty microliters of each saponin extract was added to 1980 μl of the erythrocyte suspension in a microtube . the suspensions were mixed by inversion , incubated for 1 h at room temperature and then centrifuged . the extinction of the clear red supernatant was then measured at 540 nm using a labsystems multiscan ms spectrophotometer ( thermo scientific , erembodegem , belgium ) . a 10 mg ml –1 solution of plant saponins ( saponins from quillaja bark ; s 4521 , sigma - aldrich ) in pbs was serially diluted to make a standard curve .
this method was adapted from kabat and mayer ( kabat and mayer , 1967 ) . saponin extracts , a 1 . 6 % aqueous orcinol solution and a 60 % sulfuric acid solution were mixed in a 1 : 1 : 7 . 5 ( v / v ) proportion . the resulting solution was incubated in a water bath at 80°c for exactly 15 min and then cooled in tap water to stop the reaction , and its absorbance was measured at 540 nm . a 10 mg ml –1 solution of d - xylose ( merck , darmstadt , germany ) in water was serially diluted to make a standard curve .
considering these results , maldi imaging experiments were realized on transverse tissue sections through the body wall . for each experiment , a zone of ∼25 mm 2 was scanned with a resolution of 100×100 μm 2 by averaging 300 laser shots . fig . 2 presents the repartition of the eight saponin ions ( in green ) detected at m / z 1125 , 1141 , 1287 , 1303 , 1433 , 1449 , 1463 and 1479 , respectively , for a relaxed and a stressed animal . the localization of particular ions at m / z 1033 ( in red in fig . 2 ) , uniformly distributed and specific to the body wall , was used as a counterstain for a better visualization of saponins . this counterstain allows us not only to reduce the background noise in the molecular image , but also to achieve a certain ‘normalization’ for the analyses of the molecular map . in most of the molecular images , a dark zone where no ion was detected was present between the mesothelium and the rest of the dermis . no explanation has yet been found for this unionized zone . an optical image of the tissue section before matrix coating is presented in the first column of fig . 2 . particular regions are delimited corresponding to the epidermis ( upper box ) , the dermis ( middle box ) and the mesothelium ( lower box ) . this delimitation , however , is an approximation , as the limits between these different layers are not rectilinear .
the different saponin ions showed specific localizations within the body wall ( fig . 2 ) . moreover , their detection also varied with the physiological state of the tissue . in the body wall of relaxed holothuroids , saponins detected at m / z 1125 , 1433 and 1449 were present only in the epidermis , saponins detected at m / z 1303 were present exclusively in the mesothelium and those at m / z 1141 were located in both epithelia . the saponin at m / z 1287 was observed in the mesothelium as well as in the dermis at very localized points . finally , saponins detected at m / z 1463 and 1479 showed low signals with a lot of noise , but the ions at m / z 1463 were mainly observed in the epidermis whereas those at 1479 showed no particular localization . in the body wall of stressed holothuroids , differences in localization were observed for some saponins . saponin ions detected at m / z 1287 and 1303 appeared to be completely absent . the ions detected at m / z 1141 were exclusively observed in the epidermis . as for the other epidermal saponins , ions detected at m / z 1125 seemed to be less abundant compared with the relaxed tissue whereas ions at m / z 1433 , 1449 and 1463 seemed to be more abundant . finally , the saponin at m / z 1479 was detected with a poor signal and no specific localization . these results are summarized in table 2 .
to confirm the results obtained by maldi - msi , saponins were extracted from the outer part ( corresponding mainly to the epidermis and the outer part of the dermis ) and from the inner part ( rest of the dermis and mesothelium ) of the body wall for the two conditions . this aim of this experiment was to verify whether the saponin ion distribution showed by msi was also observable with classical maldi - tof mass spectrometry methods . fig . 3 presents the mass spectra of the different tissue extractions . the results from both techniques are clearly strongly correlated . indeed , ions that were absent from the molecular image were not detected in the corresponding mass spectrum and vice versa . for example , fig . 3a ( outer part of the relaxed body wall ) shows the presence of mainly those saponins detected at m / z 1125 , 1141 , 1433 and 1449 , confirming the maldi - msi results ( fig . 2 ) . in the spectrum corresponding to the inner part of the stressed body wall ( fig . 3d ) , no saponin ions were detected , in agreement with the results shown in fig . 2 , except for the saponins detected at m / z 1449 , which presented a very low signal . particular attention was paid on the interpretation of the spectra because some contaminant ions , such as the matrix ions detected at m / z 1289 or the propylene glycol ions at m / z 1125 , 1183 and 1241 , were often detected and could be misinterpreted as saponin ions ( fig . 3 ) . as shown in fig . 4 , the ions detected at m / z 1125 could correspond to the propylene glycol or to the holothurinoside c , but ms / ms analyses allowed verification of the origin of the ions in each spectrum .
in order to verify whether saponins were secreted by the holothuroids , saponin extractions were realized directly on asw conditioned by holothuroids . two different water samples were extracted : asw conditioned either by a non - stressed or by a stressed animal . indeed , starting with the idea that saponins might play a role in the defense of the holothuroid , one might think that saponins could be actively released outside the animal when it is stressed .
only one saponin , represented by the ions detected at m / z 1449 , was detected in seawater when the animal was not stressed ( fig . 6a ) . this saponin corresponds to holothurinoside g described in van dyck et al . ( van dyck et al . , 2009 ) . when the animal was stressed , it secreted three other known saponins ( ions detected at m / z 1125 , 1141 and 1433 , corresponding to holothurinoside c , desholothurin a and holothurinoside f , respectively ) ( rodrigez et al . , 1991 ; van dyck et al . , 2009 ) and two new congeners detected at m / z 1301 and 1317 ( fig . 6b ) . maldi - ms / ms analyses were performed to confirm that the detected ions corresponded to the known saponins and to propose a molecular structure for the two new ones ( fig . 7 ) . these saponins have been provisionally named holothurinosides m and l ( m / z 1301 and 1317 , respectively ) according to the nomenclature of rodrigez et al . ( rodrigez et al . , 1991 ) and van dyck et al . ( van dyck et al . , 2009 ) . an lc - ms analysis has also been performed and confirmed that no saponin isomers were present . the intensity of the peaks in fig . 6b indicated that saponins are not detected in the same amount in seawater . holothurinoside c ( m / z 1125 ) seemed to be the most abundant saponin followed by holothurinosides f and g . desholothurin a and the two new saponins were secreted in lower quantities .
a semi - quantitative analysis was performed on saponin extracts from asw conditioned by the stressed holothuroids and also on saponin extracts from the body wall and cuvierian tubules ( table 3 ) . saponin yield ( i . e . ratio of mass of final butanolic extract after drying to tissue wet mass ) was calculated for the tissue extracts . in addition , two complementary methods were used based on the structures and properties of saponins . on the one hand , the orcinol reaction evaluated the glycoside content of the different extracts ; on the other hand , the measurement of the hemolytic activity of these extracts reflected the effectiveness of the saponin mixtures to lyse the erythrocytes of cow blood . the spectrophotometric measurements obtained with these tests were converted respectively to milligrams of glycoside by gram of tissue and to milligram equivalents of plant saponins by gram of tissue , using the standard curves and the wet masses of the body compartments . for the asw extracts , only the hemolytic activity was measured as it appeared to be the most sensitive method . the concentration of saponins in the asw was relatively low compared with that in the tissue extracts , the absorbance measured for the conditioned seawater being close to the detection threshold of the spectrophotometer . comparison of these data with those measured for body wall saponins indicates that the volume of seawater ( 1 l ) used in the experiments with stressed holothuroids contained ∼0 . 6 % of the total saponin content of the body wall . for the tissue extracts , there was high inter - individual variability . it must also be noted that only a limited number of extracts were investigated and the extracts for which the yield was calculated were not the same as those to which the other methods were applied . however , the results presented in table 3 show different ratios ( varying from 6 to 1 ) between the concentration of saponins in cuvierian tubules and in the body wall . this suggests that although the saponin content of the cuvierian tubules seemed to be higher than the one of the body wall , the overall toxicity per gram of tissue would be similar for the two organs .
toxicity tests were performed in order to observe the direct effect of saponins on the fish c . julis and s . ocellatus . for the first experiment , fish were incubated in increasing quantities of saponins and their respiration rate , estimated by the frequency of opercular openings , was recorded . for both species , a strong but short reaction – the opercular movements increased briefly and the fish swam vigorously and randomly all over the tank – was observed just after the addition of saponins , suggesting that saponins are rapidly detected . ten minutes after the addition of saponin , however , the fish swam quietly again and the frequency of opercular openings returned to values close to the initial ones ( table 4 ) . after the last saponin addition ( cumulative volume of 1000 μl of extract corresponding to ∼30 % of the total saponin content of the body wall ) , the reactions changed . fish seemed to be excited , swimming randomly and showing an increased respiration rate until they died in just a few minutes ( c . julis , 10 . 8±2 . 4 min , n = 5 ; s . ocellatus , 7 . 6±2 . 7 min , n = 5 ) . for the second experiment , a unique quantity of extract was added to the tank and the reactions and respiration rates of the fish were observed during 2 h . for volumes of saponin extracts ranging from 200 to 900 μl , fish were still alive after 2 h and their opercular opening frequency remained constant during the experiment ( data not shown ) . increasing the quantity of saponin did not appear to have an influence on the fish respiration rate ( fig . 8 ) . for the highest quantity of saponin extract ( 1000 μl ) , fish died rapidly after their placement in the tank .
molecular structure of the two new saponins detected at m / z 1301 and 1317 , named holothurinosides m and l , respectively .
respiration rate ( mean±s . d . opercular opening frequency , n = 5 ) of fish ( coris julis and symphodus ocellatus ) placed in 2 l tanks after a 2 h exposure to a fixed saponin concentration .
then why are saponins released in seawater ? padove cohen et al . reported recently that the responses of fish to sponge triterpene glycosides ( formoside and ectyoplasides a and b ) are receptor mediated ( padove cohen et al . , 2008 ) , i . e . fish can smell and / or taste these molecules . holothuroid triterpene glycosides are structurally close to those of sponges and one might expect that the same kind of receptor - mediated chemodetection exists between fish and holothuroids . this is corroborated by the fact that , in our toxicity tests , the fish readily detected the addition of saponins in their tank even if they were added at low concentrations . saponins may therefore act as a chemical aposematic signal to warn predators of the noxiousness or , at least , the unpalatability of the holothuroid tissues ( eisner and grant , 1980 ; camazine , 1985 ) .
we thank m . boulvin , a . desmons and p . postiau for technical assistance . s . v . d . , g . c . and m . t . benefited from a fria doctoral grant ( belgium ) . p . f . and p . g . are senior research associate and research associate , respectively , of the fund for scientific research of belgium ( frs - fnrs ) .
p . g . thanks the frs - fnrs for financial support in the acquisition of the waters q - tof premier mass spectrometer and for continuing support . i . f . and m . w . acknowledge funding from centre national de la recherche scientifique ( cnrs ) , ministère de l ' education nationale , de l ' enseignement supérieur et de la recherche , agence nationale de la recherche ( anr pcv to i . f . ) , institut du cancer ( inca to i . f . ) . work supported by a frfc grant no . 2 . 4535 . 10 . this study is a contribution of the centre interuniversitaire de biologie marine ( cibim ) .
glycosides of marine invertebrates – i . a comparative study of the glycosides fraction of pacific sea cucumbers
triterpene glycosides from sea cucumbers ( holothurioidea , echinodermata ) . biological activities and function
chemical defense in platyphora kollari baly and leptinostarsa behrensi harold ( coleoptera : chrysomelidae ) . hypotheses on the origin and evolution of leaf beetles toxins
echinodermata . progress in molecular and subcellular biology 39 . subseries , marine molecular biotechnology
thank you for your interest in spreading the word on journal of experimental biology .
note : we only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it , and that it is not junk mail . we do not capture any email address .
message body ( your name ) thought you would like to see the journal of experimental biology web site .
photo credit : t . - c . francis pan some oyster larvae grow faster than others , but now donal t . manahan and colleagues reveal that the fastest growers are marked out by their high protein synthesis rates .
“one of the underappreciated benefits of fellowships is the act of applying for them , because you have to write and articulate your ideas . ”
in our latest early - career interview , we chat to simon sponberg , assistant professor at the georgia institute of technology , usa . he shares the story of his career , beginning with how he combined a love of physics and biology by studying how geckos stick to walls .
a new review from craig p . mcgowan and clint e . collins looks at the ecology , biomechanics and evolution of bipedal hopping in mammals , with a focus on why bipedal hopping has arisen in multiple clades of mammals .
photo credit : ari friedlaender not all orca species prey on aquatic mammals , so how do delphinids know when they are at risk ? a new study shows that pilot whales and risso’s dolphins flee from a subset of orca calls that share acoustic characteristics with other mammal alarm calls , including human screams . this article was featured in science magazine .
at the heart of prelights is the community of early - career researchers who select and highlight interesting preprints in various fields . we are now ready to grow our team of prelighters who are passionate about preprints and enjoy writing and communicating science . find out more here and apply by the extended deadline , 20 july 2018 .
doctype html public
- / / w3c / / dtd html 4 . 0 transitional / / en
as an amateur marine life enthusiast , i am continually frustrated by the lack of readily available information on the animals i see . when my ' popular ' books fail me , i do not have access to experts , or to a specialist library where i can hunt through monographs and journals . it can be years before i come across the perfectly well - known answer to a simple question . the result is that i often have to work out the possible or probable answer for myself from observation and guesswork , and hope that eventually a reference or chance acquaintance will confirm it .
, provoked several such questions a while ago . one has now been answered ; the answers to the others remain speculative .