School of Anatomical Sciences

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https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/32118
The School of Anatomical Sciences was established as the Department of Anatomy in 1919. The School currently comprises of three academic divisions: Morphological Anatomy Structural Biology (Histology) Biological Anthropology The School's academic and technical staff work together to instruct undergraduate students registered primarily through the Faculty of Health Sciences on the structure and development of the human body, in addition to human biology and cell biology to students registered in the Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Health Science programmes. The current research activities of the School are broad, covering the fields of Biological Anthropology, Comparative Neurosciences, Adult Neurogenesis, and Cell, Reproductive and Developmental Biology. The School houses two significant skeletal collections of human as well as non-human material. The Raymond Dart Collection of Human Skeletons, initiated in the early 1920's, houses one of the largest human skeletal collections in the world, and the Comparative Collection contains an extensive collection of non-human anatomical and skeletal specimens. The Hunterian Museum is an active teaching museum possessing numerous anatomical specimens.

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    Dataset from:Combination antiretroviral therapy (Atripla) in diabetes exacerbates diabetogenic effects on hippocampal microstructure, neurogenesis, and cytokines levels in male Sprague Dawley rats
    (2021-11-25) Johnson, Jaclyn Asouzu; Ndou, Robert; Mbajiorgu, Ejikeme F; Our appreciation goes to our co-workers, Dr Eguavoen Idemudia and Vaughan Perry for excellent collaborative efforts. And special appreciation goes to Mrs Hasina Ali for her technical and laboratory assistance.
    Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has effectively reduced the scourge of HIV infection. However, with the increasing incidence of diabetes, HIV/AIDS-diabetes co-morbidity has become prevalent in society with chronic cART therapy in diabetes. Therefore, this study investigated the neuronal effects of cART and type two diabetes (T2D) on the levels of cytokines, lipid peroxidation, histomorphology and neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups: DB (diabetic rats), DAV (diabetic rats treated with cART (efavirenz, emtricitabine, and tenofovir), AV (normal rats treated with cART) and NC group (with no treatment). Following ninety days treatment, the rats were terminated, and the brains excised. Immunoassay (IL-1α, IL-6, TNFα and MDA), immunohistochemical (Ki67 and DCX) and Cresyl violet histomorphology analysis were carried out on brain homogenate and sections, respectively. In comparison to the control, the results show that cART significantly elevated IL-1α, IL-6, TNFα and MDA levels but had no effect on FBG, NFBG and glucose tolerance. While DB and DAV significantly reduced body weight ,glucose tolerance, IL-1α, IL-6, TNFα and MDA levels. Hippocampal neuronal density was reduced in cART (in DG), diabetes group (in CA1 and DG only) and in cART therapy in diabetes (in all hippocampal regions). Also, the expression of Ki67 and DCX were reduced in diabetic both the DB and DAV groups. Furthermore, increase in DG neuronal nuclei of DB and DAV is significantly corelated to FBG, NFBG, AUC, and inversely corelated to neuronal density and neurogenesis. These findings indicate that cART treatment in diabetes maintains diabetic effects of impairing cytokine and inducing oxidative stress, but it cumulates in exacerbated neurotoxicity by significantly reducing DCX compared to DB and reduction in the density and nuclei size of CA3 hippocampal neurons, unlike cART or diabetes independently.