Table 1.
Abbreviated dolphin clinical record.
Table 2.
List of primers used.
Fig 1.
Optimal in vitro stimulant and concentration is cytokine-specific.
RQ values obtained from the cohort dolphins for each cytokine are pooled and graphed by stimulus. Bars indicate geometric mean with 95% confidence intervals. Stars indicate a statistically significant difference from stimulus indicated in parentheses (C: Con A, 10: 10 μg/mL PHA) by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. *: p ≤ 00332, **: p ≤ 0.0021, ***: p ≤ 0.0002.
Fig 2.
Baseline MSCGT is comparable between dolphins for most cytokines tested.
RQ values obtained for each cytokine are shown assorted by each dolphin and stimulus. Error bars depict geometric mean with 95% confidence interval. The error bars for the n = 2 data from dolphin C are often cut off due to their relative size compared with the other data sets. Stars indicate a statistically significant difference from dolphin indicated in parentheses (A: dolphin A, C: dolphin C, D, dolphin D) by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. *: p ≤ 00332, ***: p ≤ 0.0002.
Fig 3.
Higher IL-6 and IL-12p40 MSCGT in older dolphins with chronic disease.
RQ values for each cytokine and stimulus were pooled into two groups. Three to four samples from dolphin A were pooled with 4 samples from dolphin D. Similarly, 5 samples from dolphin B were pooled with one to two samples from dolphin C. A, C, E, G: RQ values are plotted against sampling date. Shaded area indicates range from 0.5–2 RQ considered no different from mock. B, D, F, H: Bars indicate geometric mean with 95% confidence interval for the same data points as in A, C, E and G. Stars indicate a statistically significant difference between the groups by two-tailed Mann-Whitney test. *: p ≤ 00332, **: p ≤ 0.0021.
Fig 4.
Hierarchical clustering of cytokine responses.
MeanRQ values for each cytokine are plotted in heat maps. (A) MeanRQ values for each cytokine were averaged across the four stimulation conditions. Data were clustered by cytokine and dolphin. (B-E) MeanRQ values are plotted for each dolphin. Data were clustered by cytokine. (B) Dolphin A; (C) dolphin B; (D) dolphin D; (E) dolphin C. MeanRQ values log2 transformed before plotting. Hierarchical clustering conducted using Genesis Software (http://genome.tugraz.at/genesisclient/genesisclient_description.shtml). The Log2 legend is to the right of (A); the scale for (A) is on the left and the scale for B-E on the right.
Fig 5.
Overlay of abnormal and normal data from each dolphin.
A minimum-to-maximum bar represents the range of RQ values obtained for each cytokine from each dolphin’s normal samples. The mean of RQ values from the normal samples is represented by a horizontal line. Overlaid bullet points indicate RQ values from abnormal samples. RQ values were log2 transformed and analyzed one-way ANOVA. Stars indicate a statistically significant difference between normal samples from cohort dolphins and the abnormal dolphin E samples by Sidak’s multiple comparisons test. *: p ≤ 00332, **: p ≤ 0.0021.