| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SAITO Muneo CIEA, Chif, 室長 (50167417)
MATSUZAKI Tetsuya National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Head., 神経センター神経研究所, 室長 (30167647)
KOSAKA Mitsuo Nagasaki Univ., Institute of Tropical Medicine, Prof., 教授 (30079983)
SAKAI Akio Shinsyu Univ., School of Medicine, Associate Prof., 医学部・環境生理学, 助教授 (70020758)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥7,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥7,000,000)
Fiscal Year 1993: ¥3,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000)
Fiscal Year 1992: ¥3,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000)
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| Research Abstract |
This research consisted of a habitat survey, capture, laboratory rearing and reproduction and analysis of biological characteristics of pikas which inhabit the Himalayan region in China and in Nepal, as well as a study on their usefulness and limitations as animal models for studies on high altitude medicine and environmental physiology. This project was a collaborative study with the Shanghai Laboratory Animal Center(SLAC)of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In 1992, a study on rearing and reproduction at low altitudes of Ochotona curusoniae which lives at over 3,000 meters above sea level was continued in cooperation with Jin Mei-Lei of the SLAC. The Japanese side provide assistance including the special diet and therapeutic agents, maintenance of facilities and technical guidance.
In September, a team was sent to the Tibetan plateau to obtain pikas at 4,000 meters above sea level. The pika population of the region was relatively large and five O.curzoniae were captured. Biological data such as ECGs were obtained, and Emmonsia sp., a fungus which caused deaths of pikas in Shanghai, was detected from liver specimens.
In April, 1993, Bao Shi-Min and his colleagues from the SLAC captured 102 O.curzoniae at 3,900 meters above sea level in Tibet, and 78 of them (39 females and 39 males) were introduced in the SLAC where rearing and reproduction were attempted. However, 63 had died by October. The causes of death were infections with parasites, etc. in 18, the effects of high temperature and humidity in 33 and other factors in 12 animals. Necropsies showed that two of the dead females were pregnant.
In September, a team was sent to Nepal. It was impossible to reach the habitat because of bad weather, but a route for capture of pikas was assured through negotiations with local authorities.
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