卷 473, 编号 1 (2017)

The eye optics and topographic distribution of ganglion cells were studied using whole mount preparations from European beaver Castor fiber L. The beaver eye optics provides emmetropia in air and hypermetropia in water. The optometrical measurements predict retinal resolution of the beaver eye around 17′ in air and 9′ in water. In air, retinal resolution corresponds to the real visual acuity, whereas in water, visual acuity is below the retinal resolution because of the non-precise focusing.

In the course of adaptation of the rat kidney collecting duct cells to hypo-osmotic medium, the organic anion transporter inhibitor probenecid reduced significantly the regulatory cell volume decrease in response to a hypotonic shock. Both probenecid and hypotonic shock delayed significantly the entry into a cell of the fluorescent dye calcein, which exists as anion at neutral pH. Thus, the organic osmolyte transport plays an important role in the regulatory decrease of the principal cell volume under the hypo-osmotic conditions.

The development of bony skull was studied in four species of Asian tree frogs (Rhacophoridae) with different life histories: biphasic development with free larval stage and direct development. In biphasic rhacophorids the sequence of the appearance of cranial bones generally followed the generalized pattern of craniogenesis, which was described for most studied anurans. In contrast, direct-developing species displayed some heterochronies in the formation of skull bones, namely, the accelerated formation of the anlagen of jaw and suspensorium bones. The obtained results support that the embryonization in amphibians is regularly accompanied by a heterochronic repatterning of craniogenesis, rather similar in different phyletic groups.

The variability of osteological characters has been investigated in cyprinid fish of the genus Oreoleuciscus (Potanin Altai osman) from the river Zavkhan; this fish species is endemic for water bodies of Central Asia. Multivariate analysis of 13 quantitative parameters of the size of the cerebral and visceral skull and the pectoral girdle and the construction of ontogenetic channels allowed the detection of morphologically distinct forms in the fluvial habitats. The result obtained provides additional proof of the possibility of sympatric diversification of fish in river ecosystems. One of the two fluvial forms discovered has been shown to be identical (with regard to the osteological characters) to a previously described herbivorous form of O. potanini from the standing water bodies of the Great Lakes Hollow (Western Mongolia).

Dependence of the population morbidity on the ground-level ozone concentration in the summer of 2010 was studied in a city with low urbanization (Vyatskie Polyany, Kirov oblast) and in Moscow. At a high air temperature and low ozone concentration, the population morbidity was not associated with these parameters in Vyatskie Polyany. When the average daily ground-level ozone concentration exceeded 60 μg/m³ for 13 successive days, the correlation coefficient between ozone concentration and the number of ambulance calls was statistically significant, r = 0.62. Heavy smoke from forest fires reduced ozone concentration, and the number of emergency calls did not increase. In Moscow, the incidence of respiratory diseases and population mortality were growing up at high ozone concentrations.

The genomes of the recently discovered yeast Saccharomyces eubayanus and traditional S. cerevisiae are known to be found in the yeast S. pastorianus (syn. S. carlsbergensis), which are essential for brewing. The cryotolerant yeast S. bayanus var. uvarum is of great importance for production of some wines. Based on ascospore viability and meiotic recombination of the control parental markers in hybrids, we have shown that there is no complete interspecies post-zygotic isolation between the yeasts S. eubayanus, S. bayanus var. bayanus and S. bayanus var. uvarum. The genetic data presented indicate that all of the three taxa belong to the same species.

We have studied the distribution of calcium-binding proteins in the magnocellular neurosecretory nuclei of nonapeptidergic neurosecretory nuclei of the preoptic–hypothalamic complex in a tortoise (Testudo horsfieldi) and a pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) using immunohistochemistry. We have found that different types of cells in the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei predominantly express calbindin and, to a lesser extent, calretinin, but not parvalbumin. The selective calbindin/calretinin control of the neurohormone secretion in these hypothalamic nuclei is an evolutionary conservative feature typical of reptiles and mammals.