Luisa Giari

• Professor
• Researcher at University of Ferrara

Over the past decades, stable isotopes have been infrequently used to characterise host-parasite trophic relationships. This is because we have not yet identified consistent patterns in stable isotope values between parasites and their host tissues across species, which are crucial for understanding host-parasite dynamics. To address this, we initi...

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a globally prevalent contaminant of concern recognised for its persistence and detrimental effects on both wildlife and humans. While PFOA has been established as a disruptor of thyroid function, limited data exist regarding its impact on thyroid morphology. The kidney of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) harbours n...

Species co-occurrences and interspecific associations between intensity of infection were studied in helminth communities of three populations of brown trout, Salmo trutta, from northern Italy. Of the eight helminth species, only four were common enough to be included in the analyses: Pomphorhynchus laevis, Acanthocephalus anguillae, Echinorhynchus...

Fish, comprising over 27,000 species, represent the oldest vertebrate group and possess both innate and adaptive immune systems. The susceptibility of most wild fish to parasitic infections and related diseases is well-established. Among all vertebrates, the digestive tract creates a remarkably favorable and nutrient-rich environment, which, in tur...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants, with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) being a prominent member. PFOA poses a risk to aquatic ecosystems and human health due to its presence in water, environmental persistence, and bioaccumulation. Since rodlet cells (RCs) have emerged as potential biomarkers for ch...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances can be referred to as the most critical group of contaminants of emerging concern. They can accumulate in high concentration in the kidney and are known to potentially affect its function. Nonetheless, there is a lack of knowledge about their morphopathological effect on the glomerular filtration barrier. Since p...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are resistant to breakdown and are now considered ubiquitous and concerning contaminants. Although scientific and legislative interest in these compounds has greatly increased in recent decades, our knowledge about their environmental fate and their effects on organisms is still incomplete, especially thos...

Given the abundance, heterogeneity and ubiquity of parasitic organisms, understanding how they influence biodiversity, evolution, health and ecosystem functionality is crucial, especially currently when anthropogenic pressures are altering host–parasite balances. This review describes the features, roles and impacts of metazoan parasites of fish oc...

Carp kidney is comprised of nephrons, hemopoietic tissue, and also hormonally-active thyroid follicles. Given this anatomical trait, it has been used to assess the thyroid disrupting potential of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a widespread and feared per- poly-fluoroalkyl substance and a persistent organic pollutant capable of interfering with the...

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic contaminants of global concern for environmental and public health. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is an important PFAS, and considerable attention has been paid to its hepatotoxicity and reproductive and developmental impact, while potential nephrotoxic effects are largely ignored, especiall...

Defence mechanisms of fish can be divided into specific and non-specific that act in concert and are often interdependent. Most fish in both wild and cultured populations are vulnerable to metazoan parasites. Endoparasitic helminths include several species of digeneans, cestodes, nematodes, and acanthocephalans. Although they may occur in large num...

Liver perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) pathophysiology and related morphofunction disturbances were studied in common carp at the cellular and subcellular level and with box-counting fractal analysis of ultrathin sections to assess the effect of PFOA exposure on hepatocyte structure complexity and heterogeneity. Three experimental groups were investig...

Anguillicola crassus, a haematophagous nematode infecting the eel swim bladder, was introduced into Europe from Asia in the early 1980s with imported Anguilla japonica. It spread rapidly after establishment in the native European eel Anguilla anguilla. A long-term dataset shows the dynamics of A. crassus in eels of the Comacchio Lagoon from 1997 to...

Amphipods are a key component of aquatic ecosystems due to their distribution, abundance and ecological role. They also serve as hosts for many micro- and macro-parasites. The importance of parasites and the necessity to include them in ecological studies has been increasingly recognized in the last two decades by ecologists and conservation biolog...

The resilience of biological communities is of central importance in ecology, but is difficult to investigate in nature. Parasite communities in individual hosts provide good model systems, as they allow a level of replication usually not possible with free-living communities. Here, using temporal data (2005–2017) on the communities of endohelminth...

Plastic debris occurring in freshwater environments, which can either come from the surrounding terrestrial areas or transported from upstream, has been identified as one of the main sources and routes of plastic pollution in marine systems. The ocean is the final destination of land- based microplastic sources, but compared to marine environments,...

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) poses particular concern as an emerging pollutant in both surface and ground waters. Fish, as a natural inhabitant of these waters and being highly representative of vertebrates, represents an ideal animal model to assess the toxic effects of PFOA. Hereby, liver microscopic texture was comparatively evaluated in indivi...

We evaluated the histology of the spiral intestine of the blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus), a small shark distributed in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea basin. Entire digestive tracts of 10 G. melastomus were studied using histochemical, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural methods. Our studies identified a unique, large granu...

Background: The Northern pike, Esox lucius, is a large, long-lived, top-predator fish species and occupies a broad range of aquatic environments. This species is on its way to becoming an important model organism and has the potential to contribute new knowledge and a better understanding of ecology and evolutionary biology. Very few studies have...

This investigation aims to fill gaps in our understanding of the intestinal immune cells of elasmobranchs. Whole digestive tracts of fifteen thornback ray Raja clavata were provided by a trawl fleet from the Gulf of Asinara (Sardinia, western Mediterranean Sea). Histochemical, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural observations were conducted on t...

The ultrastructure and morphometrics of pigmented macrophages (PMs) were assessed in the spleen of European sea bass experimentally dosed with Cd and Hg. PMs occurred either as solitary cells or as variably structured aggregations, defined as macrophage aggregates (MAs). Light microscopy revealed a high degree of morphological heterogeneity amongst...

We aimed to evaluate the effects of environmental doses of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) on bioconcentration and gene expression in common carp. Adult male and female carp were exposed to environmental (200ng/L) and experimental (2mg/L) doses of PFOA for 56 days. Carp exposed to 200ng/L had levels of PFOA below the level of detection in all tissue...

Rodlet cells (RC) are characterized by a distinctive cell cortex and conspicuous inclusions named “rodlets.” These cells are particularly abundant and large in size in intestine of eels. Histochemical, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural investigations were carried out on European eel Anguilla anguilla and Common carp Cyprinus carpio from North...

The histopathology and ultrastructure of the intestine of mullets, Liza ramada and Liza saliens, from Comacchio lagoons (northern Italy) naturally infected with myxozoans and helminths were investigated and described. Sixty-two (80.5%) of 77 mullets harboured one or more of the following parasites species: Myxobolus mugchelo (Myxozoa), Neoechinorhy...

An operator-neutral, objective method was implemented to comparatively assess liver pathology in 30 specimens of common carp (Cyprinus carpio): 20 after experimental flow-through exposure to two perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) dosages (10 fish exposed to 200 ng l⁻¹ and 10 fish exposed to 2 mg l⁻¹) for 56 days and 10 unexposed (negative control). The...

This paper provides histological and ultrastructural data on Myxobolus mugchelo (Myxozoa), a parasite of the intestinal wall of thinlip mullet Liza ramada from the Comacchio lagoons (Northern Adriatic Sea, Italy). About 80% of the examined mullets were infected with this myxozoan. In histological sections, the plasmodia appeared rounded to ovoid an...

Histopathological lesions due to third-larval stage of nematode Brevimulticaecum sp. within the liver of a subpopulation of 31 Gymnotus inaequilabiatus from the Pantanal Region (Brazil) were studied with histochemical and immunohistochemical methods. In 93.5% of fish, livers harboured nematode larvae and the intensity of infection ranged from 8 to...

Several early warning systems for the monitoring of water quality are based on the assessment of valve opening/closing in bivalves. Tests were conducted to assess the sensitivity of the mussel Anodonta woodiana, installed on the Mosselmonitor, to seven contaminants and evaluate the usefulness of these sensors for detecting pollution events in the P...

Immunohistochemical, immunofluorescence and ultrastructural studies were conducted on a sub-population of 20 wels catfish Silurus glanis from a tributary of the River Po (Northern Italy). Fish were examined for the presence of ecto- and endo-parasites; in the intestine of 5 fish, 11 specimens of cestode Glanitaenia osculata were noted and was the o...

Histopathological, immunofluorescence and ultrastructural studies were conducted on the intestines of four fish species infected with different taxa of enteric helminths. Brown trout (Salmo trutta trutta), eel (Anguilla anguilla) and tench (Tinca tinca) obtained from Lake Piediluco (central Italy) were examined. Brown trout and eel were infected wi...

BackgroundA survey on endoparasitic helminths from freshwater fishes in the Pantanal Region (Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil) revealed the occurrence of third-larval stage of the nematode Brevimulticaecum sp. (Heterocheilidae) in most organs of Gymnotus inaequilabiatus (Gymnotidae) also known by the local name tuvira. The aim of the present study was to...

As sustainable remediation methods do not yet have a consolidated approach, a detailed assessment of the level of satisfaction for sustainability prospects is necessary. So, this study aims to evaluate the sustainability level of sustainable remediation methods according to the visions of decision makers in this field, in order to propose an optimi...

The combined use of guided quantitative expert analysis and of multivariate exploratory data analysis is reported as a robust, sensitive and sufficiently specific approach to study European sea bass gill secondary lamellar pathology after exposure to incremental doses of cadmium and terbuthylazine up to 48h. The following elementary pathological fi...

An operator-neutral method was implemented to objectively assess European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax (Linnaeus, 1758) gill pathology after experimental exposure to cadmium (Cd) and terbuthylazine (TBA) for 24 and 48 hours. An algorithm-derived local connected fractal dimension (LCFD) frequency measure was used in this comparative analysis. Canon...

Most individual fish in farmed and wild populations are infected with parasites. Upon dissection of fish, helminths from gut are often easily visible. Enteric helminths include several species of digeneans, cestodes, acanthocephalans and nematodes. Some insights into biology, morphology and histopathological effects of the main fish enteric helmint...

The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is a major warm-water fish species cultured in North and South Europe. Seventy-one A. anguilla collected between 2010 and 2015 from the Comacchio lagoons were examined. Fish were infected and damaged by larvae (L3) of the nematode Contracaecum rudolphii A, which were encapsulated within the thickness of the inte...

A size-age modelling technique is presented for assessing the vital rates, stock and recruitment of eel populations in semi-closed lagoons with fully monitored migration of silver eels. Data for yellow and silver European eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) were obtained in 2011 from the Comacchio lagoon (Italy). The analysis was performed in three steps:...

The objective of this study was to compare expert versus fractal analysis as new methods to evaluate branchial lamellar pathology in European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax (Linnaeus, 1758) experimentally exposed to cadmium and to terbuthylazine. In particular, guided expert quantitative and fractal analysis were performed on selected images from se...

A sub-population of 34 specimens of chub, Squalius cephalus, was sampled from the River Brenta (Northern Italy) and examined for ecto- and endo-parasites. Pomphorhynchus laevis was the only enteric helminth encountered. Immunofluorescence and ultrastructural studies were conducted on the intestines of chub. Near the site of parasite's attachment, m...

Endocrine disrupting (ED) chemicals act in very small amount and in subtle ways, adversely affecting reproduction of wildlife. The ED activity of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), an emerging pollutant ubiquitously found, was studied in adult common carp, Cyprinus carpio. The effects of waterborne 56-days exposure to PFOA were evaluated at 200 ng/l, a...

In vertebrates, the presence of enteric worms can induce structural changes to the alimentary canal impacting on the neuroendocrine system, altering the proper functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and affecting the occurrence and relative density of endocrine cells (ECs). This account represents the first immunohistochemistry and ultrastructur...

Background: The European perch, Perca fluviatilis L. is a common paratenic host of dioctophymatid nematodes belonging to the genus Eustrongylides. In this host, once infected oligochaetes, which serve as the first intermediate host, are ingested, Eustrongylides migrates through the intestine and is frequently encountered within the musculature, fr...

Granulomas caused by migration of larvae of a helminth parasite, Triaenophorus nodulosus, within the liver of perch (Perca fluviatilis) from Rimov Dam Lake (Czech Republic) were assessed by transmission electron microscopy. Lesions were found in the liver of 29 out of 34 perch examined (85.2%) and there were between 1 and 15 T. nodulosus larvae ide...

Fractal analysis is a reliable method for describing, summarizing object complexity and heterogeneity and has been widely used in biology and medicine to deal with scale, size and shape management problems. The aim of present survey was to use fractal analysis as a complexity measure to characterize mast cells (MCs) degranulation in a rainbow trout...

A perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS) biomonitoring study was conducted in European eel (Anguilla anguilla) in Italy for the first time. Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) concentrations were assessed in the organs of 35 wild eels from two locations, the highly impacted Po River and the Comacchio Lagoon along t...

The composition and diversity of the helminth component communities in eels Anguilla anguilla were determined in three separate localities in Italy: an Adriatic coastal lagoon, Comacchio and two freshwater localities, the River Po and the Lake Piediluco. Data from Comacchio lagoon were analysed over 15 years to determine whether community compositi...

Freshwater ecosystems worldwide are experiencing native fish losses with severe threats to the conservation of freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and the debate on whether the cause is biotic or abiotic disturbance is still open. Temporal variation in fish assemblages was analysed over an 18 year period in 14 waterways of the lowlan...

Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural studies were conducted on the gills of gilthead seabream, Sparus aurata L., naturally infected with the copepod ectoparasite Ergasilus lizae (Krøyer, 1863) in order to assess pathology and the host immune cell response. Gills of 56 gilthead seabream were screened for ectoparasites; 36 specimens (64.3%) harbor...

Changes in the production of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), a 36 kd protein involved in protein synthesis, within intestinal epithelia can provide an early indication of deviations to normal functioning. Inhibition or stimulation of cell proliferation and PCNA can be determined through immunohistochemical staining of intestinal tissue....

A histochemical and ultrastructural investigation of the cellular inflammatory response within the intestines of tench Tinca tinca L. naturally infected with the caryophyllidean cestode Monobothrium wageneri was conducted and the data obtained compared to those in uninfected counterparts. Cestode infections within the intestines were evident throug...

Zebrafish, Danio rerio, has been a prominent model vertebrate for the study of chemical toxicity and human disease. Zebrafish hair cells (HCs) show significant structural, functional and molecular similarities to the mammalian inner ear HCs. We examined the effects of cisplatin, an anti-cancer drug, on HCs of the inner ear and on HCs and support ce...

An oil spill into the River Lambro occurred on 23 February 2010 and reached the Po River the following day. Breams captured here on 1 March 2010, along with a sample from a control site, were examined by light and electron microscopy. The main affected organs were skin and gill with slight or no damage to liver, kidney, and intestine. The gills exh...

Among the European cyprinids, tench, Tinca tinca (L.), and the pathological effects their cestodes may effect, have received very little or no attention. Most literature relating to Monobothrium wageneri Nybelin, 1922, a common intestinal cestode of tench, for example, has focused on aspects of its morphology rather than on aspects of the host-para...

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) intestinal strips (n = 10) were mounted in an isolated organ bath and the effect of incremental doses of compound 48/80 was recorded. Compound 48/80 induced concentration-related contraction in all the examined strips following a sigmoidal dose-response curve fit. Values for maximal contraction (E(max) , g cm(-2)...

Immunopathological and ultrastructural studies were conducted on the intestine of barbel Barbus barbus and sheatfish Silurus glanis that were naturally infected with the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis. Enteric helminths often cause inflammation of the digestive tract, inducing the recruitment of different types of immune cells at the site of...

Immunocytochemical, light microscopy and ultrastructural studies were conducted on gill of sea bream, Sparus aurata L., naturally parasitized with the important parasitic copepod Ergasilus sp. to assess pathology and cellular responses. Thirty-seven S. aurata were examined from a fish farm; 26 (70%) were parasitized, with infection intensity rangin...

Light and ultrastructure studies were carried out on gill of sea bream, Sparus aurata L., naturally infected with Ergasilus sieboldi (Copepoda) to assess pathology and host cell responses. Thirty S. aurata were examined, and 23 (74%) were infected, the intensity of infection ranging from 3 to 50 parasites per host. The copepod encircled gill lamell...

Annual losses of approximately 5-10% of the juvenile stock of European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.) in the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea has been attributed to heavy infections of the gill monogenean Diplectanum aequans. Immunocytochemical, light and ultrastructural studies were carried out on seabass naturally parasitized with this mono...

Histochemical and ultrastructural investigations were conducted on the mucous cells of the intestine of brown trout, Salmo trutta L., naturally infected with the cestode Cyathocephalus truncatus (Pallas, 1781) and the acanthocephalan Echinorhynchus truttae Shrank, 1788. A subpopulation of 45 S. trutta were examined of which 15 specimens harboured E...

The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is a major warm water fish species cultured in North and South Europe. A total of 140 eels measuring 28–92 cm in total length (70.9 ± 14.7, mean ± SD cm), collected on 10 separate occasions during October 2005 to May 2006 from the Comacchio lagoons, were examined. Ninety-six (69%) harbored parasitic helminths. O...

Immunopathological and ultrastructural studies were carried out on the gut of 30 specimens of powan Coregonus lavaretus (L.) from Lake Piediluco, Italy. The digestive tracts of 10 (33.3%) of the powan were found to harbour an acanthocephalan Dentitruncus truttae (Sinzar 1955). The numerous trunk spines of D. truttae reduced the number of mucosal fo...

Scanning and transmission electron microscopic observations were made on the anterior and posterior lateral line system of larvae of the blind cavefish, Phreatichthys andruzzii. The investigations were conducted on 36 specimens belonging to three different ages of juvenile: 7, 14, and 28 days posthatching. The basic sensory unit of the mechanorecep...

Intraspecific and interspecific variability in rodlet cell size in various tissues of several species of freshwater and marine fish were documented. Differences were attributed mainly to fish species, although tissue type contributed significantly, providing evidence for the presence of rodlet cell morphotypes.

Immunopathological and ultrastructural studies were carried out on the gills of bream, Abramis brama, naturally infected with the copepod Ergasilus sieboldi and on the intestine of brown trout, Salmo trutta, infected with the acanthocephalan Echinorhynchus truttae. Infected gills showed extensive tissue damage due to copepod attachment, including h...

Fish serve as a good model for studying vertebrate immune systems because they have a relatively simple system. Descriptions of histopathological effects of helminth parasites on fish are few and far between with limited observations made on the identification of the inflammatory cells involved in the host reaction. Recently, two cell types found w...

This work deals with the damaging effects of mercury (Hg concentrations 251, 355, 501 microgl(-1)) on the structure and ultrastructure of gills, liver, intestine and kidney of farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L., 1758) acutely treated for 24 and 48 h. The histoarchitecture of the gills of exposed fish was highly modified due to severe...

Brown trout, Salmo trutta L., were infected with the acanthocephalan Dentitruncus truttae with the most affected areas being the anterior (near the pyloric caeca) and middle intestine. The parasite attached with a proboscis which usually penetrated the mucosa, lamina propria, stratum compactum, stratum granulosum and, sometimes, the muscularis laye...

The effect of a naturally acquired infection by three acanthocephalan parasites Dentitruncus truttae, Echinorhynchus truttae, and Polymorphus minutus on the reproductive potential of their intermediate host, Echinogammarus tibaldii (Amphipoda) from Lake Piediluco (Centre of Italy) was assessed. During May 2007, 1135 amphipods were collected from tw...

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) investigations on the holdfast elements, proboscis hooks, and trunk spines of Dentitruncus truttae (Acanthocephala, Palaeacanthocephala), an endoparasite of Salmo trutta (brown trout), provide more data about the surface of these taxonomic relevant structures. In both acanthocephalan sexes, the fully everted cylin...

The histopathology, ultrastructure, and immunohistochemistry of the alimentary canal of flounder Platichthys flesus (L.), naturally infected with the nematode Anisakis simplex s.l. (Rudolphi 1809) from the River Forth (Scotland), were investigated and described. Eight of the 16 flounders were infected with A. simplex s.l. larvae (L3); parasites wer...

The pathological changes induced by an infection of Diphyllobothrium dendriticum (Nitzsch, 1824) plerocercoids in powan, Coregonus lavaretus (L.), from Loch Lomond, Scotland, were assessed using immunohistochemical and ultrastructural techniques. In a sample of 26 powan, the occurrence of encysted plerocercoids of D. dendriticum on the outer surfac...

European minnows, Phoxinus phoxinus L., are commonly infected with Diplostomum phoxini Faust, 1918 metacercariae. A sub-sample of 34 minnows collected from the River Endrick, Stirlingshire, Scotland revealed that 50% of the population were infected (n = 17), with the cerebellum, medulla oblongata and the optic lobe regions of the minnow brain beari...

Specimens of farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L., 1758) were exposed to different cadmium (Cd) concentrations (4.47, 5.63, 7.08 and 8.91 mg l(-1)) for 24 and 48 h. The effects of Cd on numbers of some cell types and structures (i.e., chloride cells, CCs; macrophage aggregates, MAs; rodlet cells, RCs) and on structure and ultrastructur...

The spatial distribution and histopathological changes induced by metacercariae of the digenean trematode Diplostomum phoxini (Faust, 1918) in the brains of European minnows Phoxinus phoxinus (L.) from the River Endrick, Scotland, were studied by light and electron microscopy. Post-mortem examination of a sample of 34 minnows revealed that 50% (n =...

This preliminary work was designed to study, using routine procedures for light and transmission electron microscopy, the presence of rodlet cells (RCs) in or near the sensory systems of 12 adult specimens (4.0 +/- 1.2 cm, LT +/- SD) of zebrafish, Danio rerio Hamilton, 1822. Rodlet cells, characterized by a distinctive cell cortex (range, 0.4-1.5 m...

The mortality of juvenile European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), in the spring of the last 5 years in the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea has been attributed to heavy infections of the gill monogenean Diplectanum aequans (Wagener 1857) Diesing 1858. The histopathological examination of 38 sets of gills from hosts measuring 16.46 +/- 0.26...

The effects of acute exposure to the herbicide terbuthylazine (3.55, 5.01 and 7.08 mg l(-1)) on the cells of farmed European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax L., were investigated by means of light and electron microscopy. In gills of treated fish, the number of chloride cells (CCs) and rodlet cells (RCs) increased significantly within 24 h and 48 h,...

The effect of osmotic shock was investigated mainly in the chloride cells (CCs) and rodlet cells (RCs) of gills, and RCs of intestine and kidney of the European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax obtained from a farm in the northern Adriatic Sea. During the experiment, fish were abruptly transferred from sea water to a salinity of 15 (15 SW) or to fresh...

A histopathological and immunohistochemical study on the intestines of 45 specimens of farmed rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), from Loch Awe, Scotland, revealed a number of cellular deviations in individuals naturally infected with the pseudophyllidean cestode Eubothrium crassum (Bloch, 1779). Twenty-five individuals (55.5%) were infec...

Histopathological, ultrastructural and immunohistochemical investigations were conducted on 26 specimens of powan Coregonus lavaretus (L.) from Loch Lomond (Scotland). The hearts of all 26 powan (15 females and 11 males) investigated harboured metacercariae of the digenean trematode Ichthyocotylurus erraticus (Rudolphi, 1809). The vast majority of...

Immunohistochemical tests were applied to sections of intestine of uninfected and Pomphorhynchus laevis Muller-infected chub, Leuciscus cephalus (L.) using 15 different antisera. Nerve cell bodies and fibres immunoreactive (IR) to the anti-bombesin, -Cholecystokinin-8 (CCK-8), -galanin, -Gastrin-Releasing Peptide (-GRP), -Nitric Oxide Synthase (-NO...

Galanin is a brain-gut neuropeptide present in the central and peripheral nervous systems of vertebrates. In the present survey, the galaninergic and the diffuse endocrine systems of the alimentary canal of the river lamprey, Lampetra fluviatilis, and the white sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, were studied by immunohistochemistry. The results sho...