Influence of weaning age on the villous height and disaccharidase activities in the porcine small intestine

Body weight gain after weaning is correlated with villous height and disaccharidase activity. This evidence suggests that the maintenance of the small intestinal structure and function after weaning is important for the growth of piglets. We demonstrated that the influence of weaning age was obtained by disaccharidase activities and villous height in eight sections of the porcine small intestine. Therefore, we designed three weaning ages (weaned at the ages of 14, 21 or 28 days) and the piglets were slaughtered after 7 or 14 days post‐weaning. The remaining suckling piglets were slaughtered at the age of 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Four piglets were slaughtered at each event; therefore, 44 piglets were used in this study. Villous height and disaccharidase activities were measured in each section of the small intestine. Early weaning such as that at 14 days had severe influence on villous and disaccharidase activities. In particular, weaning of 14‐day‐olds did not result in maltase activity at least 2 weeks post‐weaning. Accordingly, the weaning age of crossbred piglets is recommended to be at least 21 days or more on the basis of villous height and disaccharidase activity analyses.     

Serum level of apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage in dogs with histiocytic sarcoma and its association with the disease

Histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is a rare neoplasm of macrophages or dendritic cells with a poor prognosis in dogs. As the apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage (AIM) is characteristically expressed in canine macrophages, we hypothesised that AIM is involved in the development or progression of HS in dogs. In this study, AIM expression in the tumour region and serum AIM levels in dogs with HS was assessed. Additionally, the effects of AIM overexpression on HS cell viability were investigated using a HS cell line that was selected from five validated HS cell lines. Immunohistochemistry showed that AIM expression was observed in the cytoplasm of the HS cells. CD36, a candidate AIM receptor, was also observed on the cell membrane of HS cells. When the serum AIM level was detected in 36 dogs with HS and 10 healthy dogs via western blot analysis, the AIM levels in the HS dogs were significantly higher than those in the controls. AIM mRNA expression in the 5 HS cell lines varied but was higher than that in the other tumour-derived lines. Among the five HS cell lines, DH82 originally had lower AIM and the highest CD36 expression. When AIM was overexpressed in DH82, therein cell growth speed and invasion, apoptosis inhibition and phagocytic activity were strongly upregulated. These data suggest that elevated intra-tumour expression of AIM could induce the progression of HS cells in dogs. Moreover, elevated serum AIM levels in dogs with HS could serve as a biomarker of HS.     

Lectin binding pattern of gastric mucosa of pacific white-sided dolphin, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens

The stomach of the Pacific white-sided dolphin is divided into three parts: forestomach, proper gastric gland portion, and pyloric chamber. The histological features of the dolphin stomach are similar to those of terrestrial mammal stomachs, although the distribution of glycoconjugates in mucosal cells of the dolphin stomach is unknown. To learn about glycoconjugates in cetacean gastric mucosa, the glycoconjugate distribution in the mucous epithelium of the Pacific white-sided dolphin was studied using 21 lectins. Among the lectins tested, GSL-I and DBA specifically labelled the superficial layer of the forestomach epithelium. GSL-I, SBA, RCA-I, VVA, GSL-II, DSL, LEL, STL, s-WGA, WGA, PNA, and Jacalin labelled the luminal surface of the chief cells in the proper gastric gland. GSL-I, SBA, RCA-I, DSL, LEL, STL, s-WGA, PNA, and LCA labelled tubular structures in the cytoplasm of parietal cells. The surface portion of the pits in the pyloric chamber strongly reacted with RCA-I, GSL-II, WGA, PNA, LCA, PHA-L, and UEA-I, whereas the neck portion reacted weakly. Although lining one tubular portion, individual secretory cells in the pyloric gland displayed a heterogeneous reaction. This is the first report on the lectin histochemistry of a cetacean stomach and reveals GSL-I and DBA as specific marker lectins for the cornified stratified squamous epithelium cells of the Pacific white-sided dolphin. The stomachs of cetaceans and terrestrial mammals have similar histological features and mucous glycoconjugate content.     

CONTRAST AGENT Gd‐EOB‐DTPA (EOB·Primovist®) FOR LOW‐FIELD MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING OF CANINE FOCAL LIVER LESIONS

Contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with a new liver‐specific contrast agent gadolinium‐ethoxybenzyl‐diethylenetriamine penta‐acetic acid (Gd‐EOB‐DTPA; EOB·Primovist®) was studied in 14 normal beagles and 9 dogs with focal liver lesions. Gd‐EOB‐DTPA accumulates in normally functioning hepatocytes 20 min after injection. As with Gd‐DTPA, it is also possible to perform a dynamic multiphasic examination of the liver with Gd‐EOB‐DTPA, including an arterial phase and a portal venous phase. First, a reliable protocol was developed and the appropriate timings for the dynamic study and the parenchymal phase in normal dogs using Gd‐EOB‐DTPA were determined. Second, the patterns of these images were evaluated in patient dogs with hepatic masses. The optimal time of arterial imaging was from 15 s after injection, and the optimal time for portal venous imaging was from 40 s after injection. Meanwhile, the optimal time to observe changes during the hepatobiliary phase was from 20 min after injection. In patient dogs, 11 lesions were diagnosed as malignant tumors; all were hypointense to the surrounding normal liver parenchyma during the hepatobiliary phase. Even with a low‐field MR imaging unit, the sequences afforded images adequate to visualize the liver parenchyma and to detect tumors within an appropriate scan time. Contrast‐enhanced MR imaging with Gd‐EOB‐DTPA provides good demarcation on low‐field MR imaging for diagnosing canine focal liver lesions.     

Nasunin from eggplant consists of cis-trans isomers of delphinidin 3-[4-(p-coumaroyl)-L-rhamnosyl (1-->6)glucopyranoside]-5-glucopyranoside

Two major anthocyanins were isolated from the acidified methanolic extract of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) by column chromatography and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography. These anthocyanins were interconvertible under room light illumination condition. By means of tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, their structures were identified and elucidated as delphinidin 3-[4-(cis-p-coumaroyl)-l-rhamnosyl(1-->6)glucopyranoside]-5-glucopyranoside (compound 1) and delphinidin 3-[4-(trans-p-coumaroyl)-l-rhamnosyl-(1-->6)glucopyranoside]-5-glucopyranoside (compound 2), respectively. The results indicated that nasunin comprised cis and trans isomers of the p-coumaric acid moiety in its structure.     

Annual variation of potential predation impacts on larval and juvenile marbled sole <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae</Emphasis> by sand shrimp <Emphasis Type="Italic">Crangon uritai</Emphasis> in Hakodate Bay,Hokkaido

An investigation was conducted to evaluate the annual variation in potential predation impact (PPI) on larval and juvenile Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae by Crangon uritai in Hakodate Bay using predator-prey size relationships. Laboratory experiments were designed to estimate the favorable prey size of C. uritai through back-calculation of body length (BL) of P. yokohamae from sagittal otolith diameter observed in the stomachs of C. uritai. The most favorable prey-predator size ratio (BL of P. yokohamae-total length (TL) of C. uritai) class was 0.15–0.19, and ranged from 0.12–0.31. There was a significant positive correlation between the BL increase of P. yokohamae and the bottom water temperature in the field, such that BLs stagnated during the cold year of 1999 from April to June, and increased during the warm year of 2002. In contrast, no significant correlation was found between the TL increase of C. uritai and the bottom water temperature. Moreover, there were no significant differences in the mean TL of C. uritai between months (April–June) or years (1998–2002). Variation of PPI depended on the relationships between the growth rates of P. yokohamae and bottom water temperature. Therefore, the warm year of 2002 resulted in higher potential predation impact (PPI≥20), and it was at least 20 days shorter than that of the cold year of 1999. These results suggest that increased bottom water temperature in the nursery area was one of the most important factors for cumulative predation loss.     

Effect of co‐culture with intact embryos on development of bovine separated blastomeres

To improve embryo development in bovine separated blastomeres, we evaluated applicability of co‐culture with intact embryos. The morphological quality of blastocysts derived from separated blastomeres and rate of blastocyst formation were only slightly increased when the cells were co‐cultured with intact embryos, which did not provide significant differences when statistically analyzed. However, the cell count of inner cell mass (ICM), trophectoderm (TE) and total number of cells in Day 8 blastocysts were significantly higher when the cells were co‐cultured with the intact embryos than those with the cells cultured individually (P < 0.05). Transfer of four monozygotic pairs of blastocysts derived from the cells co‐cultured with intact embryos led to three pregnancies even when the blastomeres were produced by in vitro maturation and in vitro fertilization of oocytes collected by ovum pick‐up from elite cows. These results suggest that co‐culturing with intact embryos may enhance development of bovine separated blastomere.     

Quantitative analysis of Staphylococcus aureus in skimmed milk powder by real-time PCR

A large-scale outbreak of food poisoning caused by consumption of skimmed milk powder contaminated with staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) occurred in Japan. No viable Staphylococcus aureus was detected in the skimmed milk powder, however, sea and nuc genes of S. aureus were detected in it by PCR. The number of S. aureus in skimmed milk powder was estimated by quantitative real-time PCR.