Table 2. Comparison of rumen papillae measurements of adult male deer with different begging behaviour
Figure 1. Western blots showing the abundance of UT-B2 urea transporter and MCT1 short-chain fatty acid transporter proteins in male adult deer rumen. (A) Comparison was made between signals obtained for 50 kDa UT-B2 and 43 kDa MCT1 in four animals from the November and January groups. (B) Densitometric analysis of these signals showed that there was no significant change for either UT-B2 or MCT1. Data shown as mean ± standard error. Key: NS = not significant.
Figure 2. Western blots showing the ruminal abundance of UT-B2 urea transporter and MCT1 short-chain fatty acid transporter proteins in male adult deer with different begging behaviour. (A)Comparison was made between signals obtained for 50 kDa UT-B2 and 43 kDa MCT1 in three rare beggars (M1-M3) and three consistent beggars(M4-M6) . There were also two samples from other consistent beggars – one juvenile male (J1) and one adult female(F1) . Coomassie staining for all 8 protein samples is also shown. (B) Densitometric analysis of these signals showed that there was no significant change for MCT1, but that UT-B2 abundance was significantly increased in consistent beggar male adults. Data shown as mean ± standard error. Key: NS = not significant.
Figure 3. Immunolocalization studies showing the location of MCT1 and UT-B2 transporters in adult male deer rumen. (A) MCT1 protein (strong brown staining) was localized to the stratum basale layer (marked by arrowhead) in the M5 consistent beggar male adult deer. The absence of the primary anti-MCT1 antibody prevented any such staining (see inset). (B) UT-B2 protein (weak brown staining) was also localized to the stratum basale layer (again marked by arrowhead) in the M4 consistent beggar male adult deer. The absence of the primary hUTBc19 antibody prevented any such staining (see inset). In each image, the scale bar represents 100µm.
Figure 4. Immunolocalization studies showing the location of MCT1 transporters in various deer rumen. Moderate or strong stratum basale staining was observed in the rare acceptor adult males(M1-M3) . Strong or very strong MCT1 staining was observed in the consistent acceptor adult males (M4-M6) , again in the stratum basale layers. Finally, similar strong staining was also observed in the juvenile male (J1) and adult female(F1) rumen. Scale bar represents 50µm.
Figure 5. Immunolocalization studies showing the location of UT-B2 transporters in various deer rumen. No obvious UT-B2 staining was observed in the rare acceptor adult males (M1-M3) . In contrast weak-to-moderate UT-B2 staining was observed in the consistent acceptor adult males (M4-M6) , always in the stratum basale layer. Moderate UT-B2 staining was also observed in the stratum basale in the juvenile male (J1) and adult female (F1) rumen. Scale bar represents 50µm.