scholarly journals Changes in Milk Carbohydrates and Electrolytes during Early Lactation in the Tammar Wallaby, Macropus eugenii

1984 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Messer ◽  
M Griffiths ◽  
B Green

Milk samples were collected from 13 tammar wallabies immediately post partum and from a further 10 animals at various times up to 3 weeks after birth.

1987 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
MichaeI Messer ◽  
Christine Elliott

a-Lactalbumin was isolated from milk of M. eugenii and its concentration in milk samples taken at various times during lactation (0-40 we.eks post partum) was determined by single radial immunodiffusion using rabbit antiserum to the purified protein. The a-lactalbumin concentration remained almost constant throughout lactation even though the concentration of total lactose (free �lactose plus lactose contained in oligosaccharides) feli to zero after 34 weeks post partum. This fall in lactose was accompanied by a rise in the free galactose and glucose concentrations and marked increases in UDPgalactose hydrolase, nucleotide pyrophosphatase, alkaline phosphatase and acid fj-galactosidase activities. It is suggested that the in vitro hydrolysis of UDP-galactose was due to nucleotide pyrophosphatase and that this enzyme may also playa role in vivo late in lactation by making UDP-galactose unavailable for the synthesis of lactose. Alternatively, lactose and lactose-containing oligosaccharides might be degraded by the acid fj-galactosidase during or after secretion.


2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Rose ◽  
A. D. Shetewi ◽  
K. Flowers

This is the first study of milk composition in any member of the wallaby genus Thylogale. Milk samples (n = 44) were collected after oxytocin injection from 12 females carrying pouch young aged 2–30 weeks followed by sampling of the mothers until weaning by Week 39. The lactation period could be partitioned into early (Weeks 2–20), mid (Weeks 21–30) and late (>30 weeks) stages. Although milk concentrations changed little during lactation the energy content increased almost 4-fold from 540 ± 39 kJ (100 mL)–1 (mean ± s.e.) to 1908 ± 102 kJ (100 mL)–1. Carbohydrate concentrations decreased from 13.3 ± 0.1 g (100 mL)–1 (early lactation) to 10.9 ± 0.9 g (100 mL)–1 in mid-lactation, falling to 4.8 ± 0.9 g (100 mL)–1 in late lactation. Lipid increased from 6.3 ± 1.1 g (100 mL)–1 to 12.5 ± 4.1 g (100 mL)–1, reaching 31.4 ± 5.0 g (100 mL)–1 in late lactation. Protein increased from 3.3 ± 0.1 g (100 mL)–1 to 9.7 ± 1.6 g (100 mL)–1 in mid-lactation to 14.0 ± 1.5 g (100 mL)–1 in late lactation. This relatively high level of lipid and protein in late lactation may be the cause of the more rapid growth and, hence, shorter pouch life of the Tasmanian pademelon (Thylogale billardierii) compared with the well studied tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii).


1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 243 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Basden ◽  
D. W. Cooper ◽  
E. M. Deane

A study has been made of the development of four lymphoid tissues from birth to maturity in the tammar wallaby Macropus eugenii —the cervical and thoracic thymus, lymph nodes and gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). The development of these tissues in the tammar wallaby is similar to that in two other marsupials, the quokka Setonix brachyurus and the Virginian opossum Didelphis virginiana. Lymphocytes were first detected in the cervical thymus of the tammar at Day 2 post partum and in the thoracic thymus at Day 6. They were subsequently detected in lymph nodes at Day 4 and in the spleen by Day 12 but were not apparent in the GALT until around Day 90 post partum. By Day 21, the cervical thymus had developed distinct areas of cortex and medulla and Hassall’s corpuscles were apparent. The maturation of other tissues followed with Hassall’s corpuscles in the thoracic thymus by Day 30 and nodules and germinal centres in the lymph nodes by Day 90. Measurement of immunoglobulin G concentrations in the serum of young animals indicated a rise in titre around Day 90 post partum, correlating with the apparent maturation of the lymphoid tissues.


1990 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
TP Fletcher ◽  
G Shaw ◽  
MB Renfree

Female tammar wallabies were treated with the dopamine agonist bromocriptine at the end of pregnancy to suppress the peripartum pulse of plasma prolactin. The animals were subsequently observed, and a series of blood samples taken to define the hormonal profiles before and immediately after parturition. Birth was observed in 4/5 control animals and occurred in 8/9 bromocriptine-treated animals. The peripartum peak in plasma PGFM concentrations was not affected by bromocriptine although the pulse of prolactin normally seen at parturition was completely abolished. The timing of luteolysis was apparently unaffected, as plasma progesterone concentrations fell similarly in both treated and control animals immediately after parturition. However, all of the neonates of the bromocriptine-treated animals died within 24 h, possibly because of a failure to establish lactation. Subsequent onset of post-partum oestrus was delayed or absent both in control and in bromocriptine-treated animals, suggesting that the frequent blood sampling and disturbances in the peripartum period interfered with these endocrine processes. It is concluded that both prolactin and prostaglandin can induce luteolysis in the pregnant wallaby, but that the normal sequence of events results from a signal of fetal origin inducing a prostaglandin release from the uterus, which in turn releases a pulse of prolactin that induces a progesterone decline.


1983 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. H. Tyndale-Biscoe ◽  
L. A. Hinds ◽  
C. A. Horn ◽  
G. Jenkin

Concentrations of progesterone, prolactin, LH and 13,14 dihydro-15-keto-prostaglandin F2α (PGFM) were measured in plasma of eight tammar wallabies at 8-hourly intervals during the end of pregnancy and post-partum oestrus initiated by removing the pouch young, and during the end of the oestrous cycle, similarly initiated. In the non-pregnant cycle oestrus occurred 29·7 ± 0·7 (mean ±s.e.m.) days after initiation of the cycle, was preceded by a slow decline in progesterone concentration from 1·6 nmol/l to less than 0·64nmol/l and was followed by a preovulatory peak of LH 5·3± 3·9 h later. In the pregnant cycle birth occurred 26·1±0·2 days after removing the pouch young and was followed 8·0 ± 2·1 h later by oestrus and 16·0± 2·5 h by an LH peak. The latter events thus occurred 3·2 days earlier in the pregnant than in the non-pregnant cycle. Parturition coincided with a very rapid decline in progesterone and a transient high peak of prolactin. In two females sampled less than 25 min after parturition there was a transient peak of PGFM but in all others the concentrations of PGFM remained basal throughout. It is suggested that the fetus and/or placenta is involved in both the premature decline in progesterone and the initiation of parturition and that onset of oestrus and ovulation, being a consequence of a decline in progesterone, are therefore also determined by the fetus.


1982 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart W Green ◽  
Marilyn B Renfree

Samples of whey proteins from the milk of tammar wallabies, Macropus eugenii, were examined by acrylamide gel electrophoresis at all stages of lactation up to 280 days post partum. Whey albumin, ,B-globulin and y-globulin fractions had similar electrophoretic mobility to that of the equivalent serum protein fractions, but the proteins in the IX-globulin and pre-albumin regions differed markedly. The IX-globulins are presumed polymorphic because individuals at the same stage of lactation showed great variability in these electrophoretic regions: up to five polymorphic bands were recognized. Milk proteins changed qualitatively throughout lactation, and in particular the concentration of the pre-albumin and IX-globulin fractions increased from approximately day 180 to the end of lactation. Total protein concentration of both whole milk and whey approximately doubled in the second half of lactation compared to the first half, reaching maximum mean values of 114 � 47 and 96 � 50 g 1- 1 , respectively. Whole milk contained consistently more protein than whey, presumably due to the casein it contains.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien B. B. P. Paris ◽  
David A. Taggart ◽  
Monica C. J. Paris ◽  
Peter D. Temple-Smith ◽  
Marilyn B. Renfree

The distribution of spermatozoa and seminal plug in the reproductive tract and the timing of ovulation were examined at various times in a naturally mated monovular macropodid marsupial, namely the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii). After the first post partum (p.p.) mating, 28 females were isolated and their reproductive tracts dissected at 0.5, 6, 18, 36 and 40 h post coitum (p.c.). Each tract was ligated into 13 major anatomical sections and spermatozoa and eggs were recovered by flushing. Mating was possibly delayed by handling and occurred 21.7 ± 2.5 h p.p. in these animals. Copulation lasted 7.8 ± 0.7 min. Within 0.5 h after a single mating, the tract contained 25.8 ± 10.2 × 106 spermatozoa and 21.6 ± 8.8 g of seminal plug, 96% and 70% of which was lost within 6 h p.c. respectively. Spermatozoa reached the uterus, isthmus and ampulla of the oviduct on the side of the developing follicle within 0.5, 6 and 18 h p.c., respectively, and a uterine population of 26.1 ± 12.103 spermatozoa was maintained for over 40 h. Sperm numbers were reduced at the cervix (up to 57-fold) and uterotubule junction (eight-fold) and only one in approximately 7500 ejaculated spermatozoa (3.4 ± 0.9 × 103) reached the oviduct on the follicle side. Differential transport of spermatozoa was not observed. Although the numbers of spermatozoa were reduced in the parturient uterus, they were highly variable and were not significantly different to those in the non-parturient uterus. Ovulation and recovery of sperm-covered eggs from the isthmus occurred 36–41 h p.c. (49–72 h p.p.). In contrast with the polyovular dasyurid and didelphid marsupials, the tammar wallaby ejaculates large numbers of spermatozoa, but transport is relatively inefficient and sperm storage in the tract before ovulation is limited.


1989 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 309 ◽  
Author(s):  
EA Crisp ◽  
PE Cowan ◽  
M Messer

Milk samples (186) were obtained at various stages of lactation from 27 common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula). Qualitative and quantitative changes in the milk carbohydrates during early and mid-lactation were similar to those previously seen in other marsupials; the principal carbohydrate was lactose early in lactation and higher oligosaccharides in mid-lactation, and the hexose concentration reached a peak during mid-lactation. However, the late-lactation milk was unusual in that the carbohydrate was mainly lactose and its concentration remained relatively high (3.5 to 5.5%). In contrast to earlier findings on the milk of the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii), little or no nucleotide pyrophosphatase, beta-galactosidase and alkaline phosphatase activities were detected late in lactation.


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