Lizard generation

In an effort to test the system and to generate preliminary data on the toxicity of munition compounds to reptiles, acute oral toxicity studies on TNT, DNT, and RDX were conducted using Western fence lizards (S. occidentalis) [60], All three compounds were administered via gavage in a com oil vehicle. Table 7.1 shows the median lethal dose (LD50) for lizards orally exposed to these common munition compounds. Based on these data, RDX is relatively more toxic to fence lizards than TNT and DNT. Males appear more sensitive to RDX than females, while females are more sensitive to DNT than males, although generalizations on the relative sensitivity of males and females should be approached with caution. Overall, these data suggest that RDX is most toxic, and DNT and TNT are less toxic. 

Maderson, P. F. A., Flaxman, B. A., Roth, S. I., and Szalo, G., 1972, Ultra-structural contributions to the identification of cell types in the lizard epidermal generation, J. Morph., 136 191. 

Until very recently, research into the involvement of cholesterol oxidation products in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis was mainly driven by the marked pro-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic effects that some members of this class of compounds exhibit (Poli et al. 2009 Vejux and Lizard 2009), whereas no attention was paid to possible anti-inflammatory or antiapoptotic signals generated by oxysterols. Nevertheless, an increased body of literature confirms the capability of oxysterols to interact with different nuclear receptors, which are known to play a main role in driving the anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic cellnlar responses, thus suggesting a possible involvement of oxysterols even in these pathways. 

In the hairy attachment system of the gekkonid lizards, van der Waals interactions are responsible for the generation of attractive forces (Hiller 1968 Autumn et al. 2000, 2002). Experiments, in which the force-displacement curves were determined for individual spatulae by atomic force microscopy, show that these smallest elements of the gecko s attachment system generate forces of about 10 nN O Fig. 54.5). An estimate of adhesion energy (y)... 

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