Toxicokinetics of selenium in the slider turtle, Trachemys scripta

Red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans)

Cellular mechanisms of sex determination in the red-eared slider turtle, Trachemys scripta

In all vertebrates sex determination is the step at which development of a testis or ovary is initiated in the bipotential gonad. Although Mus musculus and the red-eared slider turtle, Trachemys scripta, use different mechanisms to initiate organogenesis of the testis (the Y-linked gene, Sry, in the mouse vs. the incubation temperature of the egg in the turtle), the structure of the adult testi...

Temperature-dependent sex determination in the red-eared slider turtle, Trachemys scripta.

Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) in the red-eared slider turtle, Trachemys scripta, has been the subject of a variety of past studies. Incubation temperature appears to affect sex determination in a dose-dependent fashion. This suggests that temperature could be affecting a dosage-sensitive element in the sex-determination cascade. Sex determination in T. scripta is sensitive to es...

Effects of exogenous corticosterone on locomotor activity in the red-eared slider turtle, Trachemys scripta elegans.

We investigated the effects of exogenous corticosterone on the locomotor activity of captive red-eared slider turtles, Trachemys scripta elegans. An increase in plasma corticosterone often increases locomotor activity in mammals and birds, but there are no reported findings for turtles. In this study turtles implanted with corticosterone-filled Silastic((R)) implants showed a significant increa...

Spectral sensitivity of the photointrinsic iris in the red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans)

Our goal in this study was to examine the red-eared slider turtle for a photomechanical response (PMR) and define its spectral sensitivity. Pupils of enucleated eyes constricted to light by ∼11%, which was one-third the response measured in alert behaving turtles at ∼33%. Rates of constriction in enucleated eyes that were measured by time constants (1.44-3.70 min) were similar to those measured...