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Animals
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Recent Progress in Anatomy and Pathology of Marine Mammals
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Recent Progress in Anatomy and Pathology of Marine Mammals

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 9546

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cinzia Centelleghe

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
Interests: marine mammal pathology and diseases; new techniques; cell culture techniques
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Jean Marie Graïc

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
Interests: marine mammals anatomy; neuroanatomy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine mammals are globally considered to be valuable bioindicators with enormous potential for public health monitoring. The protection of marine mammals, maintaining a lasting balance between human activities at sea and the conservation of animal populations, is a global priority. Marine mammals, at the top of the trophic chain and with a long lifespan, constitute excellent sentinels of marine health, providing valuable information on the wellbeing of the marine environment through the study of the pathology of these species. Monitoring marine mammals is crucial for the health assessment of both individuals and populations, as well as providing the scientific basis for analyzing the anthropogenic impact on marine ecosystems.

Beyond pathology, there are a number of anatomical and physiological features in marine mammals that have not been elucidated. These ask the question of how these mammals adapted to their environment, and their capacity to further adapt to future changes.

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge in marine mammals anatomy and pathology for the conservation of the numerous species that populate marine ecosystems.

Dr. Cinzia Centelleghe
Dr. Jean Marie Graïc
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • anatomy
  • pathology
  • marine mammals
  • cetacean
  • dolphin
  • whale
  • conservation
  • one-health

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 1345 KiB  
Communication
Isolation and Characterization of Cetacean Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles
by Valentina Moccia, Cinzia Centelleghe, Ilaria Giusti, Antonella Peruffo, Vincenza Dolo, Sandro Mazzariol and Valentina Zappulli
Animals 2023, 13(21), 3304; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13213304 - 24 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1377
Abstract
Cetaceans are of scientific interest because they are good candidates as environmental bioindicators. However, in vivo research is arduous and in vitro studies represent a rarely used valid alternative. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound structures playing roles in cell-to-cell communication. Despite being a [...] Read more.
Cetaceans are of scientific interest because they are good candidates as environmental bioindicators. However, in vivo research is arduous and in vitro studies represent a rarely used valid alternative. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound structures playing roles in cell-to-cell communication. Despite being a promising investigative tool in different fields of science, EVs have been poorly studied in cetaceans. To fill this gap, we describe the preliminary characterization of EVs isolated from a bottlenose dolphin and a Cuvier’s beaked whale cell line. EVs have been isolated with ultracentrifugation (UC) or size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and characterized with nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), Western blotting (WB), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). UC and SEC allowed the isolation of mainly small EVs (<200 nm). A higher number of particles were isolated through UC compared to SEC from both cell lines. At WB, all EVs expressed the EV-markers CD9 and integrin-β. Only EVs isolated with UC were positive for TSG101. In conclusion, we isolated for the first time EVs from a bottlenose dolphin and a Cuvier’s beaked whale cell line using two different techniques. Further studies on cell-derived EVs will be useful to deepen our knowledge on cetacean pathophysiology and health status assessment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Anatomy and Pathology of Marine Mammals)
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12 pages, 1261 KiB  
Article
Serum Protein Concentration and Serum Protein Fractions in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under Human Care Using Agarose Gel Electrophoresis
by Federico Bonsembiante, Alessia Giordano, Claudia Gili, Sandro Mazzariol, Michele Berlanda, Carlo Guglielmini, Silvia Bedin and Maria Elena Gelain
Animals 2023, 13(11), 1745; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13111745 - 24 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1210
Abstract
Serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) is the most used and reliable method to determine the percentage of serum protein subfractions. The interpretation of the kinetics of total proteins and albumin and globulin fractions is receiving increased attention in wild animals, as well as in [...] Read more.
Serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) is the most used and reliable method to determine the percentage of serum protein subfractions. The interpretation of the kinetics of total proteins and albumin and globulin fractions is receiving increased attention in wild animals, as well as in domestic animals, due to the possibility of identifying typical pathologic patterns. However, the interpretation of these data had to be performed in light of an appropriate method—and species- specific reference intervals (RIs). In marine mammals, as well as other non-domestic species, specific attention should also be given to the different environment (free ranging vs. human managed) and the associated different exposure to environmental stimuli. The aim of this report was to establish RIs for the serum protein fractions evaluated using agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) in bottlenose dolphins under human care. Peripheral blood samples were collected from 40 bottlenose dolphins during standard veterinary procedures to evaluate their health status. Total protein concentration was determined using the biuret method while AGE was performed using an automated system. A pooled dolphin’s serum sample was used to determine the intra-assay and inter-assay imprecision of AGE. The RIs were calculated using an Excel spreadsheet with the Reference Value Advisor set of macroinstructions. The intra and inter-assay imprecisions were 1.2% and 2.5%, respectively, for albumin; 2.9% and 5.7%, respectively, for α-globulins; 3.8% and 4.0%, respectively, for β-globulins; and 3.4% and 4.8%, respectively, for γ-globulins. The total protein, albumin, α-globulin, β-globulin, and γ-globulin concentrations were 65.5 ± 5.4 g/L, 45.5 ± 4.9 g/L, 8.0 ± 1.0 g/L, 5.0 ± 2.0 g/L, and 7.0 ± 2.0 g/L, respectively. We established the RIs for the total protein and serum protein fractions using AGE in bottlenose dolphins under human care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Anatomy and Pathology of Marine Mammals)
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11 pages, 722 KiB  
Article
Biological Variation and Reference Change Value of Routine Hematology Measurands in a Population of Managed Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
by Federico Bonsembiante, Carlo Guglielmini, Michele Berlanda, Pietro Fiocco, Barbara Biancani, Carla Genovese, Silvia Bedin and Maria Elena Gelain
Animals 2023, 13(8), 1313; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13081313 - 11 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1375
Abstract
Hematological analyses are particularly useful in assessing a dolphin’s health status. However, the creation of appropriate reference intervals for this species is difficult due to the low number of reference individuals. The implementation of individual reference intervals (iRIs) allows researchers to overcome this [...] Read more.
Hematological analyses are particularly useful in assessing a dolphin’s health status. However, the creation of appropriate reference intervals for this species is difficult due to the low number of reference individuals. The implementation of individual reference intervals (iRIs) allows researchers to overcome this limitation and, moreover, also consider the within-individual variability. The aims of this study were (1) to evaluate the biological variations in some hematological measurands, including erythrocytes (RBC), hematocrit (Hct), mean cellular volume and hemoglobin content (MCV and MCHC, respectively), RBC distribution width (RDW), leukocytes (WBC), and platelets (PLT); and (2) to calculate the index of individuality (IoI) and reference change value (RCV), which enable the production of iRIs, in healthy managed bottlenose dolphins. Seven dolphins were included, and the results of six hematological exams were analyzed for each animal. Analytical imprecision (CVa), within-dolphin variation (CVi), and between-dolphins variations (CVg) were calculated, and the IoI and RCV were derived for each measurand. All the hematological measurands had intermediate IoI except WBC, for which Iol was low. The calculated RCV ranged from 10.33% (MCV) to 186.51% (WBC). The results reveal that the majority of hematological measurands have an intermediate level of individuality in dolphins, and thus the application of iRIs is appropriate. The calculated RCV can also be applied to other managed dolphins and could be useful in interpreting serial CBC exams. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Anatomy and Pathology of Marine Mammals)
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13 pages, 4042 KiB  
Article
The Distinctive Forehead Cleft of the Risso’s Dolphin (Grampus griseus) Hardly Affects Biosonar Beam Formation
by Chong Wei, Lachlan G. Gill, Christine Erbe, Adam B. Smith and Wei-Cheng Yang
Animals 2022, 12(24), 3472; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12243472 - 08 Dec 2022
Viewed by 2267
Abstract
The Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) has a distinctive vertical crease (or cleft) along the anterior surface of the forehead. Previous studies have speculated that the cleft may contribute to biosonar beam formation. To explore this, we constructed 2D finite element models [...] Read more.
The Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) has a distinctive vertical crease (or cleft) along the anterior surface of the forehead. Previous studies have speculated that the cleft may contribute to biosonar beam formation. To explore this, we constructed 2D finite element models based on computer tomography data of the head of a naturally deceased Risso’s dolphin. The simulated acoustic near-field signals, far-field signals, and transmission beam patterns were compared to corresponding measurements from a live, echolocating Risso’s dolphin. To investigate the effect of the cleft, we filled the cleft with neighboring soft tissues in our model, creating a hypothetical “cleftless” forehead, as found in other odontocetes. We compared the acoustic pressure field and the beam pattern between the clefted and cleftless cases. Our results suggest that the cleft plays an insignificant role in forehead biosonar sound propagation and far-field beam formation. Furthermore, the cleft was not responsible for the bimodal click spectrum recorded and reported from this species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Anatomy and Pathology of Marine Mammals)
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Review

Jump to: Research

32 pages, 2930 KiB  
Review
Neuroanatomy of the Cetacean Sensory Systems
by Steffen De Vreese, Ksenia Orekhova, Maria Morell, Tommaso Gerussi and Jean-Marie Graïc
Animals 2024, 14(1), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010066 - 23 Dec 2023
Viewed by 2077
Abstract
Cetaceans have undergone profound sensory adaptations in response to their aquatic environment during evolution. These adaptations are characterised by anatomo-functional changes in the classically defined sensory systems, shaping their neuroanatomy accordingly. This review offers a concise and up-to-date overview of our current understanding [...] Read more.
Cetaceans have undergone profound sensory adaptations in response to their aquatic environment during evolution. These adaptations are characterised by anatomo-functional changes in the classically defined sensory systems, shaping their neuroanatomy accordingly. This review offers a concise and up-to-date overview of our current understanding of the neuroanatomy associated with cetacean sensory systems. It encompasses a wide spectrum, ranging from the peripheral sensory cells responsible for detecting environmental cues, to the intricate structures within the central nervous system that process and interpret sensory information. Despite considerable progress in this field, numerous knowledge gaps persist, impeding a comprehensive and integrated understanding of their sensory adaptations, and through them, of their sensory perspective. By synthesising recent advances in neuroanatomical research, this review aims to shed light on the intricate sensory alterations that differentiate cetaceans from other mammals and allow them to thrive in the marine environment. Furthermore, it highlights pertinent knowledge gaps and invites future investigations to deepen our understanding of the complex processes in cetacean sensory ecology and anatomy, physiology and pathology in the scope of conservation biology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Anatomy and Pathology of Marine Mammals)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

1. Tentative paper: Interspecies retinal diversity and optic nerve anatomy in Odontoceti
Submitting authors: Michiel De Boeck and Jean-Marie Graïc

2. Tentative paper: Measurement of lumbar vertebral bone mineral density in Indo-Pacific finless porpoises using quantitative computed tomography
Submitting authors: Brian Chin Wing Kot

3. Tentative paper: Characterisation and prevalence of lungworm infection in stranded Indo-Pacific finless porpoises using virtopsy-led postmortem investigation
Submitting authors: Brian Chin Wing Kot
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