Research
Research group:
Domestic animal structure and function – subunit avian
Research interests:
Our main research area is effects of estrogenic substances on reproductive morphology and physiology of female and male birds. During recent years this has expanded to cover also avian intestinal health, effects of various feed ingredients and methods to measure stress in laying hens (in collaboration with Dept of Animal Nutrition and Management). Another ongoing project is analysis of testicular morphology for reproductive toxicology, covering both birds and mammals. This project is performed in collaboration with Depts Clinical Sciences and Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health at SLU and Centre for Image Analysis, UU. The group also has a long history of working with carbonic anhydrase and its localization in various organs of many species. The latest was spider silk gland which provided one small piece of the puzzle how spiders form silk.
Projects:
I. Effects of phytoestrogen supplementation on eggshell formation and bone strength in laying hens.
II. Analysis of male reproductive tract morphology for reproductive toxicology
Group members:
Assoc prof Lena Holm, Prof emerita Yvonne Ridderstråle, Dr Anna Wistedt, PhD student Ellinor Spörndly Nees
Contact information:
Lena Holm, phone 018-672110, lena.holm@slu.se
Tools and techniques
Tool/technique:
Morphological techniques, light microscopy, image analysis, histochemical and immunohistochemical localization.
Description:
Sectioning of resin embedded samples, standard staining methods for resin and paraffin sections, histochemical localization of carbonic anhydrase and immunohistochemical localization of hormone receptors and various other proteins.
