Use of serum amyloid A in equine medicine and surgery

Serum amyloid A (SAA) has become an indispensable part of the management of equine patients in general practice and specialized hospital settings. Although several proteins possess acute phase properties in horses, the usefulness of SAA exceeds that of other acute phase proteins. This is due to the highly desirable kinetics of the equine SAA response. SAA concentrations exhibit a rapid and pronounced increase in response to inflammation and a rapid decline after the resolution of inflammation. This facilitates the detection of inflammatory disease and real-time monitoring of inflammatory activity. SAA may be used in all stages of patient management: (1) before diagnosis (to rule in/rule out inflammatory disease), (2) at the time of diagnosis (to assess the severity of inflammation and assist in prognostication), and (3) after diagnosis (to monitor changes in inflammatory activity in response to therapy, with relapse of disease, or with infectious/inflammatory complications). By assessing other acute phase reactants in addition to SAA, clinicians can succinctly stage inflammation. White blood cell counts and serum iron concentration change within hours of an inflammatory insult, SAA within a day, and fibrinogen within 2–3 days; the interrelationship of these markers thus indicates the duration and activity of the inflammatory condition. Much research on the equine SAA response and clinical use has been conducted in the last decade. This is the prerequisite for the evidence-based use of this analyte. However, still today, most published studies involve a fairly low number of horses. To obtain solid evidence for use of SAA, future studies should be designed with larger sample sizes.     

农杆菌浸润瞬时表达分析番木瓜miR162a的研究

农杆菌浸润瞬时表达方法不仅在蛋白互作、鉴定基因沉默抑制子及基因功能研究方面得到广泛应用,目前还应用在小RNA的研究中.在对植物microRNA的研究中,农杆菌浸润方法通过将将转基因导入农杆菌浸润本生烟瞬时表达,可以快速、稳定地对植物microRNA进行检测和鉴定,样品在几天内就可分析完成,比获得稳定遗传的转基因有优势.笔者借鉴国外拟南芥microRNA瞬时表达分析的方法,克隆了番木瓜的miR62a前体序列连接到双元表达载体pSuper1300上构建成35S::cpa-miR162a质粒,导人农杆菌GV3101后浸润本生烟,浸润后48 h提取本生烟叶片总RNA后通过miRNA northern blot检测到miR162a,而本生烟和番木瓜自身则无法检测到低丰度的miR162a.本文介绍的农杆菌浸润瞬时表达方法能够在体外加工产生成熟的miRNA,该技术有助于对microRNA的结构-功能的相关性及靶标验证进一步研究.     

肌肉注射硫酸安普霉素在猪体内的药代动力学和生物利用度研究

对6头健康猪单剂量静脉注射、肌肉注射国产硫酸安普霉素,研究其在猪体内的药代动力学和生物利用度.用微生物法测定血清药物浓度,结果平均回收率为99.03%,血清最低检测浓度为0.05μg/ml,日内日间变异系数为2.2%～5.1%,且血清浓度在0.05～3μg/ml范围呈良好线性关系(r＝0.9965).对猪静注、肌注硫酸安普霉素20mg/kg后,经MCPKP药代动力学计算机程序处理,体内药物运转符合开放型二室模型,肌肉注射0.856h后达峰药浓度Cmax为36.09±1.22μg/ml;t1/2分别为1.58±0.67h、1.06±0.11h,CLB分别为0.15L/kg/h、0.17 L/kg/h,V1分别为0.71L/kg、0.1L/kg,绝对生物利用度为AUC i.m/AUC i.v＝88.47%±3.32%,上述药代动力学数据为动物临床用药提供有价值的理论依据.     

应用TaqMan-MGB探针进行松材线虫的实时荧光定量检测技术研究

 松材线虫是国际公认的最重要的检疫性有害生物之一,也是我国2类检疫危险性有害生物,我国口岸多次从货物的木质包装中截获该线虫。由于松材线虫与拟松材线虫在形态上极其相似,难以区分,幼虫更无法用于鉴定。传统的形态学鉴定、生化以及其他分子技术等方法存在费时、准确度不高、灵敏度低等缺点,不易形成标准。我们设计筛选一对引物以及一条MGB探针,对松材线虫进行实时荧光PCR检测。建立了一条从1 pg到10⁴pg标准曲线,相关系数r=0.965。该检测方法省时、准确、快速、无污染。     

重庆地区柑桔衰退病毒多态性研究

柑桔衰退病毒(CTV)存在着复杂的株系分化现象.在使用弱毒株交叉保护防治柑桔衰退病时需要对田间病毒株系组成进行分析,并对选用的株系进行单蚜分离纯化.作者运用限制性片段长度多态性和单链构象多态性对田间获得的168个CTV样品和2个蚜传毒株的外壳蛋白基因进行分析,了解重庆市田间CTV组群构成情况,发现田间CTV以多株系混合发生为主,其中主要是CP/HinfⅠRFLP第1、3和6组群,约占总数的90%,并以强毒株混合感染为主.甜橙中CP/HinfⅠRFLP的组群构成最为复杂.单头褐色桔蚜从柚类至甜橙传播CTV的效率低(不足1%),该蚜的取食可改变CTV的株系组成.     

利用菜青虫细胞检测几种有机溶剂和有机磷农药的毒力

用MTT法研究了5种有机溶剂对菜青虫细胞生长的影响及3种有机磷农药对细胞的毒力。并用微量点滴法测定了3种农药对菜青虫3龄幼虫的毒力。结果表明,5种有机溶剂除二甲苯外,其余4种二甲亚砜、乙醇、丙酮、乙酸乙酯对菜青虫细胞低浓度处理时均无很大毒性。1％浓度处理16小时后细胞存活率仍分别可达99.8％、98％、97.2％、91％。分别用菜青虫细胞测得3种有机磷农药的LC_(50)为:甲基对硫磷,106μs/ml;克线磷,147μg/ml;水胺硫磷,183μg/ml。用微量点滴法测得3种有机磷农药对菜青虫3龄幼虫的LD_(50)分别为:甲基对硫磷,0.458μg/头,克线磷,45.012μg/头;水胺硫磷,0.505μg/头。     

Production and evaluation of monoclonal antibodies for the detection of beet mild yellowing luteovirus and related strains

A sugar-beet-infecting isolate of beet mild yellowing luteovirus (BMYV), and aBrassica-infecting isolate of beet western yellows luteovirus (BWYV) were used to produce monoclonal antibodies for epidemiological studies with BMYV and related field strains. Thirty-four monoclonal antibodies were tested for their reaction with 9 luteoviruses in triple-antibody-sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. One (MAFF 24) is now routinely used in the UK for detecting BMYV and BWYV in plants and aphids, although it does not discriminate between them. Heterologous reactions were detected between some of the monoclonal antibodies and potato leafroll virus (PLRV), bean leafroll virus (BLRV) and barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV-RPV). 38% of antibodies raised to BWYV reacted with PLRV compared with 4% of those raised to BMYV. Monoclonal antibodies were produced which distinguished a sugar-beet-infecting isolate of BMYV with differing host range and serological properties from the commonly-occurring field strain.     

Comparison of antibody values in sera of pigs vaccinated with a subunit or an attenuated vaccine against classical swine fever

Ten pigs, aged 85 days, were vaccinated with a subunit vaccine containing 32 g of classical swine fever virus glycoprotein E2 (gp E2) (group 1), and a further 10 pigs were vaccinated with a C strain vaccine (10^4±0.15 TCID₅₀/ml), produced by amplification in minipig kidney (MPK) cell culture (group 2). Nine non-vaccinated pigs served as a control group (group 3). Serum samples were collected before (day 0) and at 4, 10, 21 and 28 days after vaccination and were analysed by two commercially available enzyme immunoassays and by a neutralizing peroxidase-linked assay (NPLA). At the same times, peripheral blood was taken for determining the total leukocyte count and the body temperature was taken daily. Antibodies were not detected in serum samples collected before vaccination (day 0), and no side-effects that could be connected with vaccination were observed during the trial. Ten days after vaccination 6/10 pigs vaccinated with the subunit vaccine were seropositive. On days 21 and 28, the ratios of serologically positive to vaccinated pigs were 9/10 and 10/10, respectively. Four of the ten pigs that were vaccinated with the C strain vaccine were positive on day 21 and 9/10 on day 28. However, the results of the NPLA showed that only 4/10 pigs had an antibody titre >1:32 at the end of the trial in both the vaccinated groups, even though the subunit vaccine initiated an earlier and higher level of neutralizing antibodies than the vaccine produced from the C strain. Challenge was performed 28 days after vaccination on four randomly selected pigs from both vaccinated groups. The pigs survived the challenge without showing any clinical signs of classical swine fever (CSF), while two nonvaccinated control pigs died on the 10th and 12th days after infection.     

In vitro analysis of antiangiogenic activity of fungi isolated from clinical cases of equine keratomycosis

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this project was to explore the possibility that fungal organisms produce metabolites that inhibit angiogenesis. Procedures Fungal cultures were obtained from cases of keratomycosis, grown in Sabouraud's dextrose broth, and sterile filtered for use in experiments. The Matrigel assay was used to screen the filtrate samples for antiangiogenic activity. Matrigel is a basement membrane matrix that supports the differentiation of human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVE) cells into a capillary-like network of tubules. HUVE cells were cultured using standard techniques and passaged at confluence, with all cells being used at passage 3-6. HUVE cells (40 000 cells) were pipetted into each well of a 24-well tissue-culture plate coated with Matrigel. An aliquot of fungal media filtrate was added to each well and the plates allowed to incubate for 18 h, at which time they were evaluated for tubule formation. RESULTS: Two fungal isolates showed inhibition of tubule formation. The addition of 100, 200 and 400 &mgr;L of the fungal media filtrate from the first isolate (Fusarium sp. 99A34574) produced a consistent and dose-dependent inhibition of tubule formation. The second isolate (Aspergillus sp. 271599) did not show inhibition of tubule formation with 100 or 200 &mgr;L added to the wells, however, it did show inhibition at 400 &mgr;L/well. The remaining three isolates did not cause inhibition at any concentration. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that certain fungal organisms produce metabolites that inhibit tubule formation in vitro, and that these metabolites may play a significant role in altering the host vascular response to fungal infections of the cornea.