Travers, Martinez, Dion 1

Josh Travers, Ike Martinez, Caitlyn Dion

Professor Anne Laarman
AVS 305
12/5/2015
Nanuqsaurus Anatomy and Physiology
Jurassic world has enough problems as it is, let alone the fact that it has dinosaurs that are
displaying issues with their digestive functions. While it may be easy to take a pet to the
veterinarian, this is a totally different situation. Autopsies were taken of the ten dinosaurs under
scrutiny and the digestive issues came to the surface. The Nanuqsaurus for instance is dealing
with issues concerning its gastric juice secretion, peptidase secretion, and dead enterocytes that
are leading to halted transport functions in these cells. To understand how these issues apply to
the dinosaur, first a little understanding of the dinosaur itself is in order.
The Nanuqsaurus is a carnivorous tyrannosaur that occupied northern Larimidia, a region
that is now Alaska ("Nanuqsaurus." Nanuqsaurus). Due to its northern environment, it is
presumed that this tyrannosaur endured a colder climate than any other tyrannosaur in history,
and is therefore suitably nicknamed the polar bear dinosaur. The Nanuqsaurus is estimated to
be approximately six meters in length, about half the length of Tyrannosaurus rex, which is
appropriate as an adaption to the high latitude habitat ("Nanuqsaurus." Wikipedia). This colder,
high latitude habitat, would create a very unpredictable feeding pattern. Presumably a scarce
feeding pattern during the winter months with a higher onslaught of prey in the summer, which
paired together may induce seasonal digestive differences. However where that is a promising
hypothesis, there is not enough information to conclude it. Some of these differences in prey
availability may explain some of the issues reported by the autopsies.

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The three main digestive issues are as follows. Analysis of the stomach revealed that
production of gastric juices is limited. Although the stomach does secrete HCl, it only secretes
enough to cause a pH drop for short bursts at a time. The musculature and endocrine functions of
the stomach appear and function as expected. While amylase and lipase are produced at normal
levels by the pancreas, enzymatic analysis revealed that the secretion of peptidase is highly
limited. The small intestine has some abnormalities as well. Morphologically, it appears normal,
but closer inspection of the villi revealed that approximately 60% of the enterocytes lining the
villi are dead. While epithelial integrity is unaffected, transport functions in these cells has
ceased entirely.
Gastric juices play a vital role in healthy digestion and feed efficiency of an animal. The
gastric juices include, hydrochloric acid, mucus, intrinsic factor, pepsinogen and rennin. The
regulations of these gastric juices are broken down into 3 phases. Cephalic, gastric and intestinal,
cephalic phase is the response to sight, smell or taste of feed. This phase induces a
parasympathetic stimulation to the stomach; this in turn stimulates gastric secretions. Food, but
especially protein stimulates the secretion of gastrin and histamine, those two hormones together
stimulate the parietal cell and secrete hydrochloric acid. Cholecystokinin, gastric inhibitory
polypeptide and secretin inhibit hydrochloric acid. The hormones are released from the duodenal
epithelium when food is present in the duodenum. Moving on into the actual situation of the
Nanuqsaurus, now that you have a little further information regarding gastric secretions. Our
dinosaur is reported to have low amount of gastric juices, as well as a low amount of HCl being
secreted. The solution that weve come up with is to up the feed intake substantially. The
limitation of gastric juices is due to the lack of feed in the diet as described early in this
paragraph. If the feed is increased then the release of mucus and the pepsinogen will also be

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increased because there is more substance to be broken down and digested. The duodenum will
also have more food in it, stimulating a more frequent release of HCl that will help maintain the
PH in the stomach. If there is a sufficient amount of feed being supplied and the dinosaur
exhibits a lack of appetite, then we would revert to gastric leptin levels. Data suggests that gastric
leptin could function in the short-term system to control feeding behavior and is secreted in the
stomach lumen by chief cells and into the stomach circulation by a special type of endocrine cell
(Cinti). Another alternative is to supplement with the mycotoxin zearalenone, which has been
shown to lower stomach ph (Santos). Similar mycotoxins are also available such as ochratoxin A.
By supplementing these mycotoxins into the diet instead of increasing feed, the issue may be
resolved at a lower feed cost depending on the dinosaurs normal diet. In a business scenario, the
cheapest, and most effective practice would be the ideal choice, however with the little
information we have on the previous diet that is hard to determine.
A protease, (peptidase) is an enzyme that performs proteolysis, which begins protein
catabolism by hydrolysis of the peptide bonds that link amino acids in a polypeptide chain. The
enzymatic analysis revealed that our dinosaur has a limitation of peptidase being secreted.
Peptidase is secreted from the duodenum, and similar to HCl, when the duodenum doesnt have
an appropriate amount of feed in it the proper enzymes arent produced. When there arent
peptidases present, amino acids are unable to be absorbed from the proteins so therefore the
animal isnt receiving the full dietary potential. To solve this we need to supply a diet that is less
in fats and higher in protein. If this is done then the Nanuqsaurus should be able to properly
catabolize proteins.
Microvilli are microscopic cellular membrane protrusions that increase the surface area
of cells and minimize any increase in volume, that are responsible for absorption, secretion and

Travers, Martinez, Dion 4

cellular adhesion. With the Nanuqsaurus, he has lost about 60% of the enterocytes that line the
villi, although there is no visual effect the transportation has been completely ceased. Arginine
and glutamine play important roles in tissue repair, cell replication and collagen synthesis which
impact animal growth and survival. (Cheng) After further research we found that there was a
substantial positive effect on the animals ran through a trial of Arginine and Glutamine. As the
glutamine is converted to arginine, the arginine helps in cell repair. Therefore if you were to
supplement the Nanuqsaurus with some glutamine in the diet, overtime that should replenish the
function of the Villi and the transport function should continue as normal again. In another study,
copper is shown as essential for normal cellular processes in most eukaryotic organisms but is
toxic in excess. Myo-inositol (MI) not only protected enterocytes from Cu-induced oxidative
damage but also increased the repair activity in primary enterocytes after challenge with Cu
(Jiang). Moreover, MI-mediated increases in antioxidant enzyme activities contributed to lipid
and protein oxidant repair.
Thanks to the evaluation of the Nanuqsaurus by the scientists performing the autopsy
revealed the issues in a very clear way. In fact the analysis of the issues themselves almost
proposed their own solutions. To maximize the health of the dinosaur in question, the caretakers
must incorporate the above practices and continue to evaluate the Nanuqsauruss wellbeing to
ensure that the diet itself is the cause of the problem as well as the solution. Perhaps once the
health of the ten dinosaurs exhibiting digestive concerns has been stabilized, Jurassic World can
focus on other problems of theirs, like keeping their dinosaurs from eating all their guests.

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Works Cited
Cinti, S., C. Maffeis, J. Oliver, A. Palou, A. Obrador, R. De Matteis, C. Pico, and E. Ceresi.
"Secretory Granules of Endocrine and Chief Cells of Human Stomach Mucosa Contain
Leptin." International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders : Journal of the
International Association for the Study of Obesity 24.6 (2000): 789-93. Agricola. Web. 17
Nov. 2015.
Cheng, Zhenyan, Delbert M., III Gatlin, and Alejandro Buentello. "Effects of Dietary Arginine
and Glutamine on Growth Performance, Immune Responses and Intestinal Structure of
Red Drum, Sciaenops Ocellatus [electronic Resource]." Aquaculture 319.1-2 (2011): 24752. Agricola. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Jiang, Wei-Dan, Shu-Hong Li, Lin Feng, Xiao-Qiu Zhou, Yang Liu, Jun Jiang, and Kai Hu. "In
Vitro Interceptive and Reparative Effects of Myo-inositol against Copper-induced
Oxidative Damage and Antioxidant System Disturbance in Primary Cultured Fish
Enterocytes [electronic Resource]." Aquatic Toxicology 132-133 (2013): 100-10.
Agricola. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
"Nanuqsaurus." Nanuqsaurus. N.p., 05 Dec. 2015. Web. 05 Dec. 2015. <http://www.prehistoricwildlife.com/species/n/nanuqsaurus.html>.
"Nanuqsaurus." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Dec. 2015. Web. 05 Dec. 2015.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanuqsaurus>.
Santos, R.R., J. Fink-Gremmels, A. Haritova, and S. Vermeulen. "Isotherm Modeling of Organic
Activated Bentonite and Humic Acid Polymer Used as Mycotoxin Adsorbents [electronic
Resource]." Food Additives & Contaminants 28.11 (2011): 1578-589. Agricola. Web. 17
Nov. 2015.