background: in the present study, the submandibularsalivary gland microscopic morphology of the adult africangiant pouched rat was investigated. this study was carried out toprovide the basic histology of this organ in the giant pouched rat,to accompany the dearth of information of its microscopicarchitecture in the available literature. this becomes of evenhigher importance when considering th...

The greater cane rats (Thryonomys swinderianus) and African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) are among the largest rodents in Africa, undergoing domestications for meat and research purposes. The aim of this study was to explore whether there are any quantitative anatomical gastrointestinal adaptations associated with their omnivorous or herbivorous diets. In the African giant rat, the...

A series of isothiazole dioxides was synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors of protein farnesyltransferase from the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness (Trypanosoma brucei). The most potent compound in the series inhibited the parasite enzyme with an IC(50) of 2 microM and blocked the growth of the bloodstream parasite in vitro with an ED(50) of 10 microM. The same compound inhibite...

BACKGROUND African mole-rats (Bathyergidae, Rodentia) exhibit a wide range of social structures, from solitary to eusocial. We previously found a lack of sex differences in the external genitalia and morphology of the perineal muscles associated with the phallus in the eusocial naked mole-rat. This was quite surprising, as the external genitalia and perineal muscles are sexually dimorphic in al...

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variation was examined in eight taxa of the African rodent family Bathyergidae, as well as in two taxa representative of the Old-World hystricognathid rodent families Petromyidae and Thryonomyidae. A total of 812 bp, constituting domains I-III of the 12S ribosomal rRNA gene, were compared for each taxon. The high levels of intrafamilial mtDNA sequence divergen...