動物學

現代社會中，睡眠剝奪已成為普遍問題，人們對其對免疫系統及整體健康的負面影響愈加關注。本研究使用特製的旋轉鼠籠讓小鼠連續72小時保持清醒，探討急性睡眠剝奪對小鼠免疫反應的影響。研究發現NK細胞與脾臟中的記憶CD8 T細胞比例明顯減少，顯示細胞毒性功能受損或記憶免疫反應下降。與此同時，抗炎細胞因子的表達增加，而促炎細胞因子和相關基因的表達則有顯著下調。此外，雖然觀察到B細胞比例有所增加，這可能是免疫系統在細胞免疫功能受損時，維持免疫穩態的反應。這些發現揭示了睡眠剝奪可能抑制免疫系統造成損害。本研究強調適量睡眠對維持免疫平衡的重要性，並指出睡眠不足可能促進慢性免疫問題的發展。在此基礎上，後續研究可探討短期睡眠剝奪與腫瘤及免疫系統的關聯，並延伸至長期剝奪的影響。

利用鏡檢大生熊蟲形態檢測蔬菜中硝酸鹽壓力，常有形態判別問題，本研究想利用其自體螢光開發新型檢測模式，利用硝酸鹽壓力下其活動與隱生比例差異與自體螢光強度關係，檢測硝酸鹽濃度。顯示其自體螢光最佳激發波長為488 nm，製作檢量線(R2=0.99)與自製裝置使用470nm波長激發以壓克力濾光(R2=0.97)可檢測0〜156 mg/L硝酸鹽，可改善鏡檢缺點，並嘗試應用，發現蔬菜硝酸鹽 (小白菜492mg/L)，超出其自體螢光檢測極限，且蔬菜萃取液會影響大生熊蟲自體螢光，目前能進行定性分析，後續將分析蔬菜中造成干擾物質，繼續評估其應用性。探討其螢光機制，利用組織切片，探討大生熊蟲自體螢光強度與表皮層厚度在隱生和活動狀態下，是否具有相關性，發現脫水樣本自體螢光強度與螢光面積較活動樣本無差異(p>0.05)，推測自體螢光強度會受到其隱生時體表收縮程度有關。

生物時鐘可對生物體的行為與生理造成影響，在探討晝夜節律特徵的差異時，過去研究常侷限於北美大陸的品系，缺少赤道及南半球品系的晝夜節律特徵探討。有鑒於黑腹果蠅在全球各大洲的廣泛分佈，因此我們以黑腹果蠅（近赤道與中高緯度品系）為材料，研究果蠅是否因緯度而有相異的晝夜節律特徵？結果顯示不同緯度的果蠅品系展現出相異的晝夜節律特徵。赤報品系在全暗狀態下仍維持原本光暗12小時的穩定節律，而南北半球的中高緯度品系則具有相似節律特徵，即在全暗狀態下的節律不對齊原本正常光源的穩定節律，其他如活動量、週期、及節律強度等皆有著品系間的差異。更進一步比對實驗中各個品系基因序列，研究發現per和tim在調控區段有許多SNP變異，顯示其與晝夜節律特徵的關係，有助於後續尋找更多造成晝夜節律特徵差異的可能遺傳變異並探討。

在現代社會高齡化的趨勢下，老化與衰弱成為引人注目的社會問題，近期也被認為是造成死亡的主要原因。本研究探討了不同年齡小鼠腎臟功能及分子機制的變化。結果顯示，老化小鼠腎絲球過濾率較差，腎損傷指標NGAL和KIM-1增加，顯示老化影響腎功能。此外，老化小鼠的抗氧化能力下降，CHOP蛋白顯著上升，顯示內質網壓力增加。急性腎損傷實驗進一步發現，老化小鼠的腎功能下降及組織損傷較年輕小鼠嚴重，且脂質代謝及粒線體生合成指標呈下降趨勢。這些變化是否由於適應性未折疊蛋白XBP1表現下降造成，仍須更進一步研究釐清。總結，本研究探討年輕與老化小鼠腎臟之分子機轉差異，有助於深入了解老化對腎臟功能的影響和造成急性腎損傷與衰弱症之關鍵因素。

In clinical practice, EEG is used to diagnose a number of neurological diseases and to diagnose epilepsy. But at present, the question of the nature of EEG has not been completely resolved and is of great scientific interest. There have been no studies at all on the non-invasive study of the electrical activity of the brain of the shark superorder, which belongs to the class of cartilaginous fish. By studying the electrical activity of the brain of various gnathostomes, it is possible to obtain an answer to the question of the emergence of rhythms from the point of view of phylogenesis and evolution, and by comparing their EEG with the human EEG, one can identify similar patterns that help in the study of reactions to various influences. During the work, for the first time, EEG indicators of spotted cat sharks, ECG, heart rate and respiratory rate of cat sharks and toads were obtained. In the future, it is planned to assemble a smaller neuroheadset for non-invasive studies of the electrical activity of the brain of small animals (sharks, toads, monitor lizards). This data can be used for evolutionary and medical research. *No animals were harmed during or after the experiments.

Examination of the predation behavior of polyclad flatworms is extremely rare. This study collects Paraplanocera oligoglena, the most common species in Taiwan. Tank-based feeding experiments reveal that Paraplanocera oligoglena can prey on several species of gastropods, such as sea snails and sea hares. Predation behavior encompasses attack, invasion and ingestion periods. This research pioneers the use of stained clam and static image analysis to observe the highly branched digestive system of flatworms. The sequentially bidirectional flow of gastrovascular cavity is first found in polyclad flatworms by the post-stain active tracking technique. Measuring peristalsis movement in inward and outward directions and segmented movement, the contraction frequencies are roughly the same in subsequent order of given branches. Confirmation is provided that the circular membrane-like muscles within the digestive tract are the main driving force for transporting and mixing food. The food dyeing technology used in this experiment also provides the possibility of future research on food chains in the wild.

覓食對動物來說是至關重要的行為，而最佳覓食理論可解釋單獨覓食策略，其模型可計算獵物的獲益能力。前人研究蜈蚣捕食行為概分三部分:蜈蚣捕食行為順序、毒液作用效率、獵物密度對其捕食方式的影響。然而皆無討論蜈蚣依靠何種感官捕食、攻擊不同部位之優劣、獵物型質對蜈蚣捕食時間的影響，本研究以少棘蜈蚣、杜比亞和紅蟑為實驗物種，透過型質測量和捕食紀錄探討以上三點。結果顯示蜈蚣捕食獵物主要依靠觸覺且攻擊獵物腹面較優勢；紅蟑型質改變使蜈蚣搜索及處理時間有顯著不同，杜比亞差異卻不明顯；用最佳飲食模型算出杜比亞的獲益能力顯著高於紅蟑，故蜈蚣捕食杜比亞這類獵物能獲得更多好處。本研究可為蜈蚣的行為生態提供進一步的參考資料。

微塑膠在自然環境中普遍存在，甚至被生物攝取後進入食物鏈間傳遞。由於水蚤族群敏感性高，常作為監測水域環境變化的重要指標。我們以不同PVC濃度（0.01mg/L及0.1mg/L）為變因，探討微塑膠對於水蚤的生理、生殖及晝夜垂直遷徒(DVM)行為影響。結果發現0.01 mg/L、0.1 mg/L PVC濃度環境，皆不會影響蚤狀溞的存活率，但是會提高蚤狀溞的心率及降低趨光行為。而0.1 mg/L PVC濃度環境會使蚤狀溞提前進入生殖階段，子代數量明顯高於對照組，出生在0.01 mg/L 、0.1 mg/L PVC濃度環境的初生蚤體長有離散程度大的趨勢。蚤狀溞DVM屬於日間在深層、夜間在表層的Nocturnal migration 模式，但在具有PVC的環境中，夜晚有較高比例停留在深層，此一行為改變，也會反應在食物鏈後端掠食者上，最終甚至可能影響魚獲，若在水面增設燈光照明可以改善蚤狀溞夜晚停留在深層的現象。

Identifyingthespeciesorsexofabirdbasedonafeatherfoundinnatureisoftenchallenging,evenwith the help of reference books. However, determining the presence of a rare species in a habitat using an indirectpresenceindicator,suchasafeather,canhelpinimplementingspecificmeasuresforpreserving the species. The aim of this study is to investigate whether DNAgenotyping is better than specialized books when identifying bird feathers. Toanswerthisquestion,Icollectedfeathersinthewildand,withthehelpoftwobooks,triedtoidentify theirspeciesandsex.Then,assistedbyDrGwenaëlJacob(UNIFR),Iisolatedtwogenesinnineselected feathers. The investigated genes were the CHD gene for sexing and the COI gene for species identification.Todothis,theDNAwasfirstextractedfromthefeathers,purified,andamplifiedbyPCR. Subsequently,anelectrophoresis wasperformedtosexthe samples andcheckthatthe PCRamplification hadworkedproperly.Finally,thesamplesweresequencedbytheMicrosynthlaboratory(St-Gall),and the obtained sequences were entered into the NCBI database. Acomparisonoftheresultsobtainedwitheachofthetwodifferentmethodsshowsthattheidentification with specialized books was fairly successful. 56% of the species identification made with the books were indeed confirmed by genotyping. DNAanalysis provided a different result only for feather #16. However,33%ofgeneticidentificationfailed,eitherduetogeneticmaterialqualityorlaboratoryerrors. Asitwaspossibletoidentifythesexofonlyonesample(feather#14)withthebooks,itwasnotpossible tomakeatruecomparisonofthetwoapproaches.However,asgeneticsexingworkedwell(onefailure, feather #28), it can be inferred that genetic sexing is more effective than using books. This work demonstrated that DNAis not infallible and that sometimes books are equally effective in identifyingbirdspeciesfromafeather.However,insexingbird,DNAremainsmoreefficient.Thus,one can conclude that DNAgenotyping is not superior but rather complementary to specialized books for identifying bird feathers.

細胞核是真核細胞內最大且至關重要的細胞結構之一。其具體位置在各種細胞中可能有所不同。為了深入了解細胞核位置對於細胞功能的影響，我們選擇以果蠅幼蟲眼疊為研究對象，探究細胞核在神經系統發育過程中所扮演的角色。神經系統在生物體中扮演著極為關鍵的角色，包括神經元和神經膠細胞。如果失去神經膠細胞，將導致神經退化或死亡。在我們的研究中發現，神經膠細胞核在其發育過程中會發生大規模的內部移動。為了限制神經膠細胞核的移動，我們利用了果蠅作為研究動物，並應用了果蠅常用的 GAL4-UAS系統和GrabFP技術，這使得我們能夠限制神經膠細胞內細胞核的移動。我們的實驗成功證明，限制神經膠細胞核的移動會影響神經細胞的軸突發育，但不會影響神經細胞 R1-R8 聚叢的發育。未來，我們計劃將 GrabFP 技術應用於研究不同胞器在細胞內相對位置對其功能的影響。