Journal
BIOLOGY OPEN
Volume 9, Issue 11, Pages -Publisher
COMPANY BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/bio.054734
Keywords
Toothed whales; Beaked whales; Hypoxia; Beta amyloid; Phosphorylated tau
Categories
Funding
- National Project [Ministerio de Economi'a y Competitividad] [CGL2015-71498-P]
- Canary Islands Government, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacio'n y Universidades [PGC2018-101226-B-I00]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Hypoxia could be a possible risk factor for neurodegenerative alterations in cetaceans' brain. Among toothed whales, the beaked whales are particularly cryptic and routinely dive deeper than 1000 m for about 1 h in order to hunt squids and fishes. Samples of frontal cerebral and cerebellar cortex were collected from nine animals, representing six different species of the suborder Odontoceti. Immunohistochemical analysis employed anti-beta-amyloid (A beta) and anti-neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) antibodies. Six of nine (67%) animals showed positive immunolabeling for A beta and/or NFT. The most striking findings were intranuclear A beta immunopositivity in cerebral cortical neurons and NFT immunopositivity in cerebellar Purkinje neurons with granulovacuolar degeneration. A beta plaques were also observed in one elderly animal. Herein, we present immunohistopathological findings classic of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases in humans. Our findings could be linked to hypoxic phenomena, as they were more extensive in beaked whales. Despite their adaptations, cetaceans could be vulnerable to sustained and repetitive brain hypoxia.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available