Antiviral Effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiaeβ‐glucan to Swine Influenza Virus by Increased Production of Interferon‐γ and Nitric Oxide

The aim of these experiments was to investigate the potential antiviral effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiaeβ‐glucan on the pneumonia induced by swine influenza virus (SIV). Forty colostrum‐deprived 5‐day‐old piglets were randomly divided into four groups of 10. The 20 pigs in groups 1 and 2 were administered Saccharomyces cerevisiaeβ‐glucan orally (50 mg/day/pig; En‐Bio Technology Co., Ltd) for 3 days before SIV infection and those in groups 3 and 4 were given culture medium/diluent alone. Groups 1 and 3 were inoculated intranasally with 3 ml of tissue culture fluid containing 2 × 10⁶ tissue culture infective doses 50% (TCID₅₀)/ml of SIV and those in groups 2 and 4 were exposed in the same manner to uninfected cell culture supernatant. The microscopic lung lesions induced by SIV infection (group 1 pigs) were significantly more severe than those induced by infection in animals pre‐administered β‐glucan (group 3) (P < 0.05). Significantly more SIV nucleic acid was detected in the lungs of pigs experimentally infected with SIV only (group 1) at 5, 7 and 10 days post‐inoculation (dpi) compared with lungs from pigs pre‐administered β‐glucan and infected with SIV (group 3) (P < 0.05). The concentrations of interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and nitric oxide (NO) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from pigs pre‐administered β‐glucan and infected with SIV (group 3) were significantly higher than for any other group at 7 and 10 dpi for IFN‐γ, and at 5, 7 and 10 dpi for NO (P < 0.05). Saccharomyces cerevisiaeβ‐glucan reduced the pulmonary lesion score and viral replication rate in SIV‐infected pigs. These findings support the potential application of β‐glucan as prophylactic/treatment agent in influenza virus infection.     

仔猪小肠肌间神经丛NDP阳性神经元形态的定量研究

采用小肠铺片NADPH黄递酶组化染色和细胞影像分析的方法对0、5、28日龄的仔猪小肠肌间神经丛神经元群体的形态参数进行定量测定。结果表明:随日龄增长,小肠肌间神经元胞体面积增大,出生后的头几天尤为明显。NDP阳性肌间神经元胞核面积平均值与胞体面积平均值呈正相关。胞体面积平均值在0日龄为234.98±23.48μm2,5日龄为346.30±33.07μm2,28日龄为364.17μm2;胞核面积平均值在0日龄为69.85±6.27μm2,5日龄为88.25±2.39μm2,28日龄为84.15μm2。核质比随日龄呈下降趋势,核质比在0日龄为0.298±0.003,5日龄为0.257±0.027,28日龄为0.231。上述测量值不仅表现出日龄差异,而且在同一日龄小肠的前后段亦有所不同。NDP阳性神经元胞体和胞核大小都以十二指肠最大,空肠前段次之,回肠最小。0日龄仔猪神经元胞体面积分布在100～300μm2之间的占70.79%,5日龄和28日龄胞体面积分布在100～400μm2之间的分别占64.81%和63.22%。肌间神经丛NDP阳性神经元主要为Dogiel 型神经元。     

黄牛血糖测定三种不同方法的比较研究

选择10～36月龄的役用母黄牛5头。用邻甲苯胺(o-TB)法、葡萄糖氧化酶(GOD)法和福-吴(Folin-Wu)二氏法进行血糖含量的测定。结果分别是:3.76±0.29mmoL/L、3.73±0.21mmoL/L和3.71±0.24mmoL/L。经统计分析,三种不同方法测定血糖的结果差异不显著(P>0.05),其中以邻甲苯胺法较为理想,它具有所需试剂种类少、测定时间短和操作简单的优点。建议以其作为黄牛血糖测定的首选方法。     

满江红作为家禽益生元的可行性研究

用分别添加0．5％、1％与10％满江红的配合饲料喂1日龄AA肉鸡，21日龄、42日龄的体重0.5％、1％添加组显著高于10％添加组和对照组（P〈0．05）。0．5％、1％添加组鸡只粪便的双歧杆菌和乳酸茵的总数较对照组增多60％，而大肠杆菌数量则下降67％。不同浓度的满江红溶液，添加于培养基中，进行体外增茵和抑茵试验，满江红对双歧杆菌体外增殖和大肠杆菌体外抑制均有良好的效果。以上结果表明，满江红可以作为家禽益生元。     

北京油鸡胚胎成纤维细胞系建立与生物学特性研究

采取组织块直接培养法，对北京油鸡胚胎组织进行原代和继代培养，成功地建立了成纤维细胞系。并对培养细胞进行了形态学、细胞生长动力学观察，以及核型和乳酸脱氢酶、苹果酸脱氢酶的同工酶分析。结果表明，该细胞系的群体倍增时间(PDT)为24h；细胞染色体中二倍体占主体，为76％～88％；乳酸脱氢酶、苹果酸脱氢酶同工酶电泳图谱与本室其它细胞系有明显差别；细菌、真菌、病毒、支原体检测呈阴性。该细胞系的建立，使北京油鸡这一国家重要种质资源在细胞水平上保存下来，也为基因组文库和体细胞克隆等研究提供了理想的生物材料。     

水氮供应对地下滴灌紫花苜蓿生长特征及草地小气候的影响

为探讨不同水氮处理条件下紫花苜蓿生长状况与草地小气候特征的关系,以2年生紫花苜蓿“巨能7号”为研究对象,采用田间试验和室内分析相结合的方法,研究了宁夏引黄灌区地下滴灌条件下不同滴灌量和施氮量处理下紫花苜蓿生长特征和草地小气候的变化。结果表明:1)滴灌量和施氮量对紫花苜蓿的株高、叶面积和鲜草产量都有显著的影响,表现为紫花苜蓿的株高、叶面积和鲜草产量均随滴灌量和施氮量的增加而增加,当施氮量增加到一定值时,继续增施氮肥,其鲜草产量增产效果在不同滴灌量处理下表现出不同的趋势。2)与不施氮处理相比,增施氮肥降低了紫花苜蓿株间空气温度、浅层土层温度和株间光照强度,而增加了群体内部空气相对湿度。3)不同滴灌量对紫花苜蓿的生长微环境的调节作用不同,随着滴灌量的增加,紫花苜蓿群体相对湿度逐渐提高,而紫花苜蓿株间气温和浅层土层温度降温效应越明显。4)紫花苜蓿生育期间株高与叶面积、草产量和群体内部相对湿度呈极显著正相关(P<0.01),与群体内光照强度、株间气温、浅层土壤温度呈极显著负相关(P<0.01)。合理减少滴灌量和施氮量不仅能维持紫花苜蓿良好的生长特征,而且能提高鲜草产量和改善草地生态环境条件。本研究旨在为紫花苜蓿群体微环境生态因子的改善及高产优质栽培措施提供科学依据。     

Effects of oral administration of different dosages of carvacrol essential oils on intestinal barrier function in broilers

Essential oils are widely used in the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries, and many plant essential oils have shown that they have positive effects on broilers nutrition. This experiment was conducted to study the effects of orally administered different dosages of carvacrol essential oils on intestinal barrier function in broiler chickens. A total of eighty 28‐day‐old (1.28 ± 0.15 kg) ROSS 308 broilers were randomly allocated to four groups of 20 replicates each, with one chicken per replicate per cage, and all were fed with the same diet. Four experimental groups were orally administered 0, 200, 300 or 400 μl carvacrol essential oils at 18:00 hr every day during the 2‐week experimental period. As a result of which, the gene expression of the occludin, claudin‐1, claudin‐5, ZO‐1 and ZO‐2 in intestinal mucosa of small intestine (p < 0.05) and the goblet cell content in small intestine epithelium (p < 0.05) were significantly increased; test subjects with 300 or 400 μl carvacrol essential oils reduced the microbial counts of Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli in the intestines (p < 0.05); Essential oils administration also significantly increased activity of the sucrase (p < 0.05) and lactase (p < 0.05) in intestinal mucosa. In conclusion, the carvacrol essential oils have positive effects on growth performance and intestinal barriers function of broilers; those effects may be related to the dosage, as administration of 300 or 400 μl was more effective than that of 200 μl.     

Spermatic and oxidative profile of domestic cat (Felis catus) epididymal sperm subjected to different cooling times (24, 48 and 72 hours)

Cooling stored epididymal samples for several days allows facilities to transport and process genetic material post‐mortem. Improvements to this practice allow the preservation of sperm from domestic cats, which are the ideal study model for wild felids. However, the modifications in spermatic features and the oxidative profile are not fully understood in cats. This information is necessary for the development of biotechniques, such as new extenders for cryopreservation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the spermatic and oxidative profile in samples from the epididymal cauda of domestic cats cooled at 5°C for 24, 48 and 72 hr. Spermatozoa were collected from the epididymis cauda. Evaluations consisted of computer‐assisted sperm analysis (CASA), plasma membrane integrity (eosin/nigrosin), acrosome integrity (fast green/rose bengal), sperm morphology, sperm DNA integrity (toluidine blue), mitochondrial activity (3′3 diaminobenzidine), activity of the antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), measurement of lipid peroxidation (TBARS) and protein oxidation. A decrease in sperm motility parameters was observed after 72 hr of cooling (i.e. total and progressive) with a higher percentage of minor (37.7 ± 6.3%) and total defects (53.4 ± 6.3%). Additionally, a decrease in high mitochondrial activity (Class I: 16.6 ± 2.2%) occurred after 72 hr. The decrease in motility rates after a long cooling time probably was caused by the increase in sperm abnormalities. A long cooling time causes cold shock and mitochondrial exhaustion, but there was no observed change with the oxidative stress condition. Therefore, cat epididymal sperm stored at 5°C appear to maintain a high quality for up to 48 hr of cooling time.     

A fast,low‐cost and efficient method for the diagnosis of sperm DNA fragmentation in several species

Sperm DNA fragmentation is a condition that interferes directly in the reproductive efficiency. Currently, there are several methods for assessing the sperm DNA integrity, such as Alkaline Comet, TUNEL and Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay. However, many of these techniques are laborious and require high‐precision equipment. Thus, the development of new techniques can optimize the evaluation of sperm DNA damage. Therefore, the aim of this study was to standardize the toluidine blue (TB) stain technique for the analysis of DNA fragmentation of dog, cat, bull, stallion and ram spermatozoa. For this purpose, we used six animals of each specie (n = 30), in reproductive age. Sperm was collected by different methods according to the particularities of each species, and such samples were divided into two aliquots: a sperm sample was kept at 5°C (considered as intact sperm DNA), and the remaining samples were submitted to the induction of DNA fragmentation by exposure to ultraviolet light for 4 hr. Samples were then mixed with the intact sample to obtain known and progressive proportions of sperm with fragmented DNA (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%). Semen smears were performed and subjected to staining with TB. Blue‐stained spermatozoa were considered to have DNA fragmentation. We observed high linear regression coefficients between the expected proportion of damaged DNA and the results of TB for dog, cat, ram, bull and stallion samples. In conclusion, TB stain was considered a fast and effective technique for the study of spermatozoa DNA in several species.