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The average lifespan of a ferret is from 7 - 8 years while some live up to 10 or even 12 years. To reach this "golden age", it is better that you take note of the following tips so you can extend your beloved ferret's life.
Step 1: Provide a well-balanced diet. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out, I know. But because humans have a tendency to take common things for granted, we make an assumption that what is good to other pets can also be good to our ferrets. Ferret owners should buy food that contains at least 35% protein, 20% fat and less than 3% fiber. They are carnivores so keep them on a high-protein diet, high-fat diet and a low fiber diet. Avoid feeding them unhealthy foods. What may be good to humans are not necessarily appropriate for ferrets even when your intention is good. Do not forget to provide supplemental vitamins - A, D and E which are important in metabolizing what they ate and C for avoiding scurvy. Access to fresh water is also a must. With all these, there's a higher chance that your pet ferrets will live up to their maximum life span.
Step 2: Sanitary Living Conditions When using cages, bigger cages provide more comfort to ferrets. Do not forget to add important accessories such as a litterbox with a very low entrance; a water bottle and a clip-on dish water; food container, blankets and linoleum. Don't forget the toys! Just make sure that they are harmless. By nature, ferrets prioritize darkness, privacy and a soft nest with a snug fit. External conditions must be considered such as hot weather. In summer, it is important to remember that ferrets be housed in the coolest area possible, an air-conditioned room or at least, in a well-ventilated room. They have low heat tolerance and may lead to heat stroke if unattended in a warm place. Ferrets love to play with their owners and have a lot of fun. They are so energetic that putting them in a cage for a long time may affect his behavior, may get sick and eventually die. So providing them proper housing can keep him healthy and happy.
Step 3: Proper Veterinary Check ups Regular veterinary check ups, vaccinations and other disease prevention measures can help not just in prolonging your ferret's life but making sure they have healthier lives. Finding a good vet can contribute to the well-being of your pet ferret. How can you find a reliable vet? Ask recommendations from shelters and ferret clubs or organizations. You can also search the internet and your local phone book. Though the internet is a good source, the professional help of a veterinarian can make a huge difference. With a good veterinarian, diseases can be detected while still in early stages and progression can be slowed down. If your vet is not available, take note of 24-hour animal hospitals near your place in cases of emergencies. Check ahead of time if they have experience with ferrets.
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A Study of Some of the Effects of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Cannabis sativa on the Visual Cortex of Adult Wistar Rats
TEXT
Introduction
Hallucination, in the broadest sense, is the subjective perception of an object or event when no such stimulus or situation is present1,2 . In a stricter sense, it is defined as a perception in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external Stimuli, which have qualities of real perception located in external objective space2. It can occur in any sensory modality: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive, nociceptive, thermoceptive and chronoceptive3. A mild form of it is called disturbance, and can occur in any of the senses. Hallucination may be benevolent (i.e. telling someone good things about himself or malicious(i.e. cursing someone) and occurs in both healthy and sick individuals4. The most common modality of hallucination is visual which includes the phenomena of seeing things which are not present. Different causes of visual hallucination have been classified as psychobiochemical, (a disturbance of neurotransmitters), psychophysiological (a disturbance of brain structure) and psychological/psychodynamic (e.g. meaningful experience intruding into consciousness5. Manford and Andermann (1998)6 summarized three pathophysiological mechanisms of visual hallucination as thus:
- i. irritation of the visual cortex, both the primary (Brodmann's Area 17) and association (Brodmann's Areas 18 and 19)
- ii. deafferentation of visual system which may lead to cortical release phenomenon and
- iii. effects on reticular activating system
A lesion of any nature and from any source on the visual system, especially involving the visual cortex will result in visual hallucination. Studies have shown that drugs and plant extracts have association with visual hallucination. One of the important plants which have been attributed with visual hallucination is Cannabis sativa 7 .
Cannabis sativa, commonly called Marijuana or Indian Hemp is an annual plant in the Cannabaceae family and a herb that has been used throughout recorded history by Man as a source of fibres, for its oil, as food, as a drug and medicine and for spiritual purposes8 . It has its action on the higher nerve centres and can produce an exhilarating intoxication with hallucination7 . Its psychoactive property made it a widely used street drug in Nigeria despite the legal implication of its possession and use. The World Drug Report 2006 (WDR 2006) published by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime 9 showed that the annual prevalence of cannabis use in Nigeria is about 13.8% as at year 20002 .It is to be noted that Annual Prevalence of Cannabis use is the percentage of youth and adult population (aged 15-64 years) who have consumed the drug once in the past survey year. Nigeria with this value, has the 9th highest prevalence of cannabis use in the whole world9 .
Methodology
600g of dried leaves of Cannabis sativa, obtained from the Kwara State Command of NDLEA was grinded with local mortar and pestle into powdery form. 100g of the power was soaked in 100ml of distilled water for 72hours and filtered after 72 hours with Whatman's No 1 filter paper to get 800mls of filtrate. The filtrate, was oven-dried at a temperature of 600c for 7 days to form a deep brown paste of 10g which was dissolved in 50mls of phosphate buffered saline to make a 200mg/ml aqueous solution of cannabis sativa.
Sixteen (16) adult Wistar Rats with average weight of 200g (weight range being 170g to 240g) were procured from the animal house of the Department of Zoology, University of Ilorin. They were of the two sexes with 8 rats being male and 8 female rats. Standard rat diet was purchased from Bendel Feeds, Taiwo Road, Ilorin.
The animals were reared in the animal holdings of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences of University of Ilorin. They were made to acclimatize for two (2) weeks before the commencement of administration of plant extracts. They were fed with standard rat diet which was purchased from Bendels feeds at once to avoid change in diet composition and also given tap water ad-libitum. They were given free assess to food and water. They were kept in standard laboratory wooden cages in groups of four (4) with male and female animals kept separately. They were generally cared for under standard laboratory conditions of good lighting, moderate temperature and adequate ventilation, and in a neat environment. They were weighed routinely everyday using Saltul Weighing balance.
The animals were divided into two (2) experimental and control groups A and B, each group of animals had four male and four female rats which were kept in separate apartments to prevent mating and pregnancy by the female animals. Animals in group A were treated with 300 mg/kg body weight/day (0.3ml) of Cannabis sativa for 21 days while group B animals were treated with phosphate buffered saline equal volume of the dose of each extracts (i.e. 0.3 ml) daily for 21 days. Administration of the extract and phosphate buffered saline was done orally with the aid of oro-gastric feeding tube at 07.00 hour each day.
The animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation 24 hours after the 21st day of administration. Brain tissue was carefully removed from the skull and occipital cortex quickly excised for tissue homogenate preparation while the whole brain tissue was fixed in 10% formol calcium for 72 hours, after which right occipital cortexes were excised separately for further histological processing. The excised left occipital cortex was put in mortar (Lao Style) after being weighed with sensitive weighing balance. 1ml of 0.25M (6.625%) sucrose solution was added and the tissues homogenized thoroughly well. Tissue homogenate was collected in 5ml Plain serum bottle for enzyme assay.
The data was analysed using the computerized statistical package SPSS version 17. Mean and Standard Error of Mean (SEM) values for each group was determined. The Mean values of experimental and control groups were compared using student's t-test at 95% confidence interval to determine the level of statistical significance between the mean values
Results
The animals were closely observed throughout the period of the investigation. During acclimatization, all animals appeared presumably normal with smoothly laid hairs on their back and pinkish eyes. They fed well throughout. From the first day of administration of the plant extract, animals in the experimental group appeared restless for a few hours after administration. They had hairs on their back standing out with pinkish and radiating eyes. They appeared dull and inactive as the day passed by and withdrew from feed and water. They appeared presumably normal in the last 12hours of the day averagely and fed more. On approaching the end of administration, the animals in the experimental groups, especially appeared more docile and less active. The Group B animals (control group animals) appeared to maintain the pre-administration observation status throughout the period of this investigation.
Weights of the animals were monitored at 07.00 hour of every day and recorded. Before administration of the plant extract, all animals in both the experimental and control groups were steadily gaining weight. From the third day of administration, animals in the experimental group were observed to begin to lose weight. Their weights were stable the first and second day of administration (not increasing nor decreasing). Animals in the control group, however continued to have a steady weight gain. Statistical analysis of the weight changes indicated that there is no statistically significant difference in the weight changes of the animals in the experimental group, relative to those in the control group, as P >0.05. The average weight on selected days, mean, standard error of mean (SEM) and the level of significance at 95% confidence interval are represented on tables 1, 2 and 3.
There was an increase in the homogenate level of LDH in the experimental animal, compared to control animals, with a statistically significant difference in the average level of LDH (P<0.05). The results of the average LDH level with the Standard Error of Mean (SEM) and level of significance are represented in the tables 4 and 5. There was also an increase in the homogenate level of G6PDH with a statistically significant difference in the average level of G6PDH (P<0.05) in the animals in experimental group when compared with those in the control group. The results of the average G6PDH levels, standard error of mean (SEM) and level of significance are represented in the tables 6 and 7.
Sections of Visual Cortex stained with Haematoxyline and Eosin showed vacuolation of neurons, glial cells and pyramidal cells in experimental groups. Cell population, using stereological grid, appeared more numerous in sctions for control group B than in in sections for experimental group. Nissl bodies are widely affectted in Cresyl Fast Violet stained sections of experimental group of animals and this was evidenced with numerous perinuclear spaces and fewer proportions of neurons using stereological grid, in the sections. The Feulgen DNA sections showed dark-black DNA in experimental animals as against the proposed pink-red colouration by Feulgen and Rossenbeck seen in the control group.
Discussion
The plant extract appear to have an initial psycho stimulating effects on the animals by making them to be restless and more aggressive few hours immediately after administration. Several hours after administration of the plant extract, the animals went into inactivity but not sleeping. It could be said that the sedative effects of the extract began after the psycho stimulating effects have waned away, but the plant extract appeared to have no hypnotic effects.
The plant extract also appeared to have weight loosing effect. The average Weights on days 1, 8, 15 and 22 in the result (Table 1) showed a reduction over the days for experimental animals and an increase for control animals, though the average weight loss when compared, was not statistically significant. The plant extract also appeared to increase the activities of G6PDH and LDH in the neurons of the visual cortex respectively.
The increased levels of G6PDH suggests the generation of oxidative stress following administration of the plant extracts. G6PDH is a cytoplasmic enzyme that plays a protective role during oxidative stress in Eukaryotic animals, since they provide co-enzymes and substrates to the primary antioxidant enzymes10. By virtue of its ability to produce NADPH along with Glutathione reductase, G6PDH is conventionally regarded as a supporter of the antioxidant system11 . The antioxidant enzymes regulate free radical reactions by scavenging, repairing, quenching and chain-breaking reactions12,13 .
Oxidative stress occurs when the generation of free radicals increase or the capacity to scavenge free radicals and repair oxidatively modified macromolecules decreases or both14 . This imbalance leads to accumulation of oxidatively modified molecules predominantly end-products of superoxide (O2) and hydroxyl ion (OH-)15,16 . The reactive O2 Species (ROS) has been shown to mediate cell injury. Protection from ROS requires the maintenance of endogenous thiol pools, most importantly, reduced Glutathione (GSH) by NADPH17 . G6PDH affects the production of reduced form of cytosolic nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide phosphate co-enzyme (NAPDH), by controlling the step from Glucose-6-Phosphate to 6-phosphogluconate in the pentose pathway (which involves direct oxidation of glucose)18 . Salvemini et al (1996)19 demonstrated that G6PDH expression is enhanced by oxidative stress induced by agents that either increase the intracellular oxygen concentration or decrease Glutathione pool.
Elevated oxygen consumption and intracellular concentration during increased metabolic activity increases the electron leakage from the mitochondrial transport system and causes an increase in oxidative stress and generation of the free radicals with increasesd vulnerability to cellular damage 20.
Following this arrangement, the plant extract, serving as oxidase stress induced agents, has been shown to mediate cell injury by either increasing the intracellular oxygen concentration and so producing more of the ROS or decreasing Glutathione pool, response to which G6PDH levels (a supporter of the antioxidant system) increased. G6PDH levels in the visual cortex homogenate of animals treated with Cannabis is the mean value of 1.298mmol/L which is significant statistically compared with G6PDH level of mean values of 0.724mmol/L in the control group animals.
LDH is present in almost all tissues of the body and is used to detect tissue alterations in the body21 .It is responsible for the convertion of pyruvate to lactate and is the key enzyme in anaerobic breakdown of glucose to pyruvate during glycolysis. Because of its wide distribution throughout the body, cellular damage causes an elevation in the total serum and tissue levels of LHD, such that when there is an injury to the tissue, the cells increase in LDH and thus releasing it into the bloodstream, where it is identified in higher than normal values22 .
Elevated oxygen consumption during increased metabolic activity with increased electron leakage from mitochondrial transport system and increased oxidative stress and generation of free radicals which damage cellular components has increased the levels of LDH in the tissue homogenates of animals in the experimental group in this work. Mean LDH levels in the Cannabis treated group of 16100u/L is statistically significant when compared with the control group (mean LDH of 5940u/L).
In this study, increase in the G6PDH and LDH levels in the experimental groups suggests that some amount of cellular damage has occurred in the visual cortex of the animals in the group. The increased levels of the enzymes also suggest that neurons in the visual cortex metabolized carbohydrate via both the Pentose Phosphate Pathway which is an aerobic pathway and the Glycolytic (Anaerobic) pathway. The rate of metabolism appeared to be more via the aerobic Pentose Phosphate Pathway. The increased G6PDH activities in the animals treated with the plant extract suggest there is production of ribose – 5 –phosphate in the Pentose Phosphate Pathway, which is used in the synthesis of nucleotides and nucleic acid.
Sections for visual cortex, were mounted on light microscope and studied critically. Sections from experimental animals showed vacoulations in neurons, glial cells and pyramidal cells in H and E stained slides, showing that there are cell death in neurons of the animals. Slides from these animals were sparsely stained showing that there were few neurons to take up the stain (H and E). Wider perinucleus space and reduced neuron proportion in CFV stained slides from experimental animals showed widely affected nissl substance in the animals. The abnormal dark-black DNA in slides from experimental group animals, as against the normal pink-red colouration23 , seen in slides from the control group animals, indicated that the extract affect the nuclear substance, although what is responsible for this could not be explained as of now.
Conclusion
From this study, it has been demonstrated that aqueous leaf extract of Cannabis has deleterious effects on the visual cortex of adult wistar rats. Biochemically, the leaf extract cause cellular damage through mediation of oxidative stress and release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with more effects in the cannabis treatment group. Histologically, sections of the visual cortex showed vacuolations and perinuclear spaces, widely affected nissl substance as evidenced by reduced proportion of cells and abnormal coloration of DNA in groups of animals treated with Cannabis sativa. Hence, the use of this plant for its hallucinogenic effect and for other reasons by Man should be done with great cautions, as there is a high vulnerability of toxicity.
About the Author
Authors: *A. A Tijani and **A. M Adekilekun
* Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences
College of Health Sciences, Osun State University, Osogbo.
**School of Basic Midwifery, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital
Ilorin, Kwara State.
Name of Department and Institution in which the work was done:
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences
College of Health Science, University of Ilorin.
Name and Address of Corresponding Author:
A.A Tijani, jidekilekun3@yahoo.com, 08038063582
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences
College of Health Sciences, Osun State University, Osogbo.
What is the max diameter that a bottle can fit in the Winwood Hydrologist carbon fiber bottle cage?
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Bottles made for bikes are a standard diameter but will vary somewhat in height. The only time you may have a problem with fit is using a bottle not made for cycling.
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