Vertebrates tissue samples

Figure 8. Calcium values in vertebrate bone and soft tissue samples versus 6 Ca in dietary source (Skulan and DePaolo 1999). Bone values are systematically about 1.3%o lower than source values. Soft tissue values are more variable. All of the values are hypothesized to reflect the balance between Ca dietary intake and exchange with bone calcium (Fig. 9). The soft tissue values are variable largely because the residence time of Ca in the tissues is short. The high value of the egg white reflects Rayleigh-type distillation the egg white loses light Ca to the shell as the shell forms. The small amount of Ca left in the egg white is highly fractionated. The low 6 Ca value of the seal muscle is interpreted as a sign of distress the seal may have had a dietary Ca deficiency for several days or longer before it died, and hence was deriving most of its Ca from bone dissolution.

The smallest vertebrates are homogenized whole and most laiger animals can be dissected and different tissues removed for storage in 1.5-ml Eppendorf microtubes at — 70° until homogenized. Heart, kidneys, or liver are sufficient to score more than 20 proteins testes, spleen, brain, and muscle can be sampled for tissue-specific enzymes. Additionally, blood, muscle, and/or saliva from most vertebrates can be conveniently sampled without killing the animal. During all sample preparation steps, keep tubes on crushed ice. 

Helps et al. (2004) slaughtered two female cattle, followed by one male, and then four female cattle and collected swab samples from the split vertebral-column surfaces. Real-time polymerase chain reaction protocols were followed to determine the extent to which tissue from the male carcass accumulated in the splitting saw and was disseminated to subsequent female carcasses. Under simulated abattoir conditions (i.e., washing the saw for 5 s between carcasses and washing the carcasses before collecting samples), these researchers reported that 0.01% of the tissue recovered from the split vertebral-column surface of the final female carcass in the sequence was from the male carcass and that 10% of the tissue remaining in the housing of the saw was from the male carcass. It was concluded from that study that "should a BSE-positive carcass be... 

Table 5.3 presents the GC and 5mC levels of the 42 vertebrate genomes studied by Jabbari et al. (1997), as well as those reported in the literature for 45 additional species. c values (haploid genome sizes) and the tissues from which DNAs were extracted are also indicated. It should be noted that, even in the sample of Table 5.3, the largest studied so far, vertebrate classes are not represented in a balanced way, fishes and mammals being, by far, predominant. 

The influence of the medium and temperature on a state of water bound in a spongy component of human bones healthy and affected by osteoporosis was analyzed using NMR and other methods (Gun ko et al. 2006i). Two samples of human vertebral bone tissue were from healthy bone (man of 37 year old, sample M37) and bone affected by osteoporosis (man of 61 year old, sample M61). The bone mineral density (as a planimetric x-ray shadow density estimated from the XRD data obtained with a Hologic QDK-4500A apparatus) of a central part of the vertebral body in the vertical projection of the M37 sample is higher by 46% than that of M61. 

A vertebral bone specimen with attached pedicles, laminae and processes was obtained by excision of bovine cervical bone. All soft tissues were removed from the specimen. The spinous process of the sample was detached from the point where laminae meet process and cut into several small pieces of about 30 mm in length. Fig. la shows the dimension of a process sample which is about 38 mm x 30 mm. The cross section of the sample shown in Fig. lb reveals two approximately 3 mm thick cortical layers with a cancellous core. The sample is larger than a typical pedicle but the cancellous core is similar to that of pedicle with a maximum core thickness of 5 mm. 

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