Disease relevance of Seals, Earless

• These results indicate: 1) Northern elephant seal pups do not exhibit circulatory dehydration during 10 weeks of fasting; 2) Measurements of plasma or RBC metabolites (such as plasma glucose or RBC hemoglobin) may show variations or trends due not to metabolic regulation but rather to changes in circulatory water concentration [1].
• Dermatitis associated with Fusarium sp infection developed in 3 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and 3 gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) at the National Zoological Park in Washington DC [2].
• Using a virus neutralization technique, we found phocine distemper virus (PDV) antibody in 130 (83% of 157) harp seals (Phoca groenlandica) from the western North Atlantic sampled between 1988 and 1993 inclusive [3].
• Sera from four captive harp seals, which were Salmonella culture-negative and had no clinical or historical evidence of salmonellosis, were used as negative controls [4].
• The heart of the Harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) is described based on the dissection of six specimens of both sexes ranging in body weight from 23.2 to 46.4 kg [5].

High impact information on Seals, Earless

• Alleles at three polymorphic scnDNA loci (ALD-A, H2AF, and DQA) in the southern elephant seal were paraphyletic with respect to the allele from the closely related northern elephant seal, while the more numerous mtDNA alleles were monophyletic [6].
• Therefore, FM was estimated (by tritiated water dilution), and serum leptin and cortisol were measured in 40 northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) pups early (<1 wk postweaning) and late (6-8 wk postweaning) during their natural, postweaning fast [7].
• This study investigated glucose metabolism in fasting and developing neonatal elephant seals [8].
• The increase in cortisol concentration suggests that VP may possess corticotropin releasing hormone-like activity in elephant seals [9].
• Proliferative effects of estradiol, progesterone, and two CB congeners and their metabolites on gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) uterine myocytes in vitro [10].

Biological context of Seals, Earless

• These data suggest extensive glucose recycling via Cori cycle activity occurring in northern elephant seals, and we propose a possible justification for this recycling [8].
• Fasting and lactation effect fat-soluble vitamin A and E levels in blood and their distribution in tissue of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) [11].
• Pharmacokinetics of intravenously administered ketamine in southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) [12].
• The water and energy metabolism of 12 free-living gray seal pups during their postweaning fast was investigated using tritiated water for determination of rates of energy expenditure and water turnover and changes in body composition [13].
• A true physiologic difference in drug handling, possibly related to renal perfusion or tubal secretory efficiency could affect amoxicillin kinetics in these species, and longer administration intervals may be appropriate for elephant seals as compared to harbor seals when administering multiple dose amoxicillin therapy at 20 mg/kg [14].

Anatomical context of Seals, Earless

• The results from this study indicate that OCs may affect levels of thyroid hormones in free-ranging gray seal pups, and that more focus should be put on T3 when addressing the possible effects of OCs on thyroid hormone function and status in nonrodent species [15].
• In newborn harp seals the mean mass of the pineal gland was 273 mg (+/- 45 SEM, n = 11), containing 49 ng (median) melatonin [16].
• Unstimulated elephant seal platelets are discoid cells, with a microtubule coil, randomly dispersed alpha and dense granules, and glycogen granules [17].
• Body water loss and turnover rate were measured in fasting newly weaned grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) pups without access to water for 52 days, by use of bolus injections of deuterated water [18].
• A single-administration birth control vaccine based on liposome delivery of porcine zona pellucida antigens reduced pup production in grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) by about 90% [19].

Associations of Seals, Earless with chemical compounds

• Effects of prolonged fasting on plasma cortisol and TH in postweaned northern elephant seal pups [20].
• Gonadotrophin and progesterone concentrations in placentae of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) [21].
• Microcoulometric determination of total organochlorine pesticide and polychlorinated biphenyl residues in grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) blubber [22].
• Acutely elevated vasopressin increases circulating concentrations of cortisol and aldosterone in fasting northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) pups [9].
• Between 1976 and 1978, 248 harp seals were sampled from 5 locations in the Northwest Atlantic and Arctic for organochlorine (OC) residue analysis in tissue [23].

Gene context of Seals, Earless

• Isolation of two cytochrome P450 cDNAs, CYP1A1 and CYP1A2, from harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) and grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) [24].
• An unusual gram-positive, catalase-negative, facultatively anaerobic, coccus-shaped organism that originated from a juvenile elephant seal was characterized by phenotypic and molecular taxonomic methods [25].
• 1H NMR solution-state study of elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) myoglobin (Mb) and hemoglobin (Hb) establishes the temperature-dependent chemical shifts of the proximal histidyl N(delta)H signal, which reflects the respective intracellular and vascular PO2 in vivo [26].
• The levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD), dibenzofurans (PCDF), biphenyls (PCB) and compounds of the DDT group were determined in individual seal blubber and brain samples from ten male and one female harp seals caught in the Greenland Sea [27].
• Studies on contaminants in walrus are limited to Foxe Basin and northern Québec stocks, while migratory harp seals have only been studied recently at one location [28].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Seals, Earless

• Serum immunoglobulin G (IgG; indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), as well as sexual and adrenal steroid hormones' concentrations (radioimmunoassay) were determined in 63 (male and female) Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonine) at different developmental stages (weaned pups, juveniles and adults) [29].
• Ketamine immobilization of northern elephant seals [30].
• BACKGROUND: Sick, injured, or orphaned juvenile northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustisrostris) treated at rehabilitation centers frequently present with abnormalities in blood sodium, potassium, chloride, BUN, and glucose concentrations, and HCT [31].

References