Octodon degus is a desert rodent of northern Chile, adapted to survive with a limited supply of water. This rodent has a high degree of fecal dehydration, related to colon water absorption. With the hypothesis that aquaporins (AQPs) might be present in the colon epithelium of O. degus and involved in fluid absorption, we studied colon water absorption in vivo and the distribution of AQPs and Na...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder associated with progressive memory loss, severe dementia, and hallmark neuropathological markers, such as deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides in senile plaques and accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau proteins in neurofibrillary tangles. Recent evidence obtained from transgenic mouse models suggests that soluble, nonfibr...

The free-running circadian period is approximately 30 min shorter in adult male than in adult female Octodon degus. The sex difference emerges after puberty, resulting from a shortened free-running circadian period in males. Castration before puberty prevents the emergence of the sex difference, but it is not a function of circulating gonadal hormones as such, because castration later in life d...

We report results of PCR-DNA based detection of Trypanosoma cruzi in wild mammal reservoirs from a chagasic area of Chile. We analyzed 157 blood samples from wild mammals including the marsupial Thylamis elegans and the rodents Octodon degus, Phyllotis darwini, and Abrothrix olivaceus. In addition, 42 blood samples from goats (i.e., a peridomestic mammal) were analyzed. Blood samples were used ...

We evaluated the extent to which manipulation of early olfactory environment can influence social behaviours in the South American Hystricognath rodent Octodon degus. The early olfactory environment of newborn degus was manipulated by scenting all litter members with eucalyptol during the first month of life. The social behaviour of sexually mature animals (5-7 months old) towards conspecifics ...