Anti‐microbial Susceptibility for east1+Escherichia coli Isolated from Diarrheic Pigs in Korea

The in vitro susceptibilities of 128 isolates of east1⁺Escherichia coli from pre‐weaned and post‐weaned pigs with diarrhoea were tested with nine commonly used anti‐microbial agents by an agar dilution minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) procedure according to National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards guidelines. For the isolates from pre‐weaned and post‐weaned pigs, most of them were susceptible to low concentrations (MIC₉₀) of tetracycline (4 and 2 μg/ml), ceftiofur (2 and 2 μg/ml), and colistin (4 and 2 μg/ml). Marked resistance was found in others.     

Flow cytometric assessment of ethylene glycol monoethyl ether on spermatogenesis in rats

The effects of ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGEE) on testicular cell populations in rats were investigated by a flow cytometric method. Rats were administered by gavage with EGEE at the various doses of 0 (saline alone), 100, 200, 400, and 800 mg/kg body weight/day for 4 weeks. The treatment of EGEE caused decreases in the weight of testis and epididymis and in the number of testicular cells. Histopathologically, exfoliation of germ cells into the tubular lumen was observed at the doses of above 200 mg/kg. The treatment of EGEE at the dose of 400 mg/kg caused moderate testicular degeneration. A significant depletion of haploid cells and a disproportionate ratio of diploid and tetraploid cells were observed as determined by flow cytometric analysis. These results indicate that the toxic effect of EGEE on the male reproductive system may be strongly associated with the disproportion of testicular germ cells.     

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.     

Hypervitaminosis A in the dog.

Toxic effects of excessive vitamin A and of excessive vitamin ADE were studied in 9 mixed Labrador Retriever pups. Clinical signs were loss of body weight, dullness, emaciation, roughened coat, evident pain in limb joints, and retarded growth. Radiologic changes were decreases in overall length and thickness of long bones, development of osteophytes, periosteal reaction, and premature closure of epiphyses. Pathologic changes were degenerative epiphyseal plate, hemorrhage and exostotic proliferation of periosteum, fatty liver, and microcalculi in kidney. Toxic effects of excessive vitamin A did not appear to be so great when it was administered as vitamin ADE.     

Compensatory growth and body composition of juvenile black rockfish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sebastes schlegeli</Emphasis> following feed deprivation

ABSTRACT:   Compensatory growth, feeding rate, feed efficiency and chemical composition of juvenile black rockfish (mean weight 1.43 g) were investigated for 35 days after a 14-day feed deprivation treatment under four feeding conditions: one group continuously fed (control) and the other three groups fasted for 5 days (F5), 10 days (F10) and 14 days (F14). All fasted fish were re-fed from day 15. Only F5 achieved the same body weight as the control, indicating that complete compensation occurred in F5. The specific growth rate (SGR) of F5 was the highest at day 21 and then decreased thereafter, showing higher values than the control at days 21, 28 and 42. In contrast, although SGRs of F10 and F14 were higher than that of the control during the whole refeeding period except day 21, they did not catch up the control in body mass, indicating that only partial compensation occurred in F10 and F14. The feeding rate (FR) of all groups except F14 changed in a pattern similar to SGR (Spearman's rank correlation, r _s > 0.9), suggesting that SGR varied depending on FR. Similar feeding efficiencies (FEs) were found in the four groups and they did not vary significantly during the whole refeeding period, suggesting that FE was not the factor affecting SGR. At day 14, the ratios of lipid to lean body mass in F10 and F14 were lower than those in the control and F5, and there was no difference between the control and F5. At day 49, however, only F14 showed a lower value than the other three groups, and there was no difference among the three groups. These results indicate that juvenile black rockfish fasted for 5–14 days can exhibit compensatory growth after refeeding, but timing and degree vary depending on the duration of feed deprivation.     

Radial Immunodiffusion of Chicken Serum Proteins I. Standardization of Optimal Test Procedures

Optimal conditions were determined for the quantitaion of chicken serum albumin, conalbumin, IgG and IgM by the radial immunodiffusion test. The best diluent was 0.15 M phosphate buffered saline, pH 7.2. The optimal concentration of the rabbit antiserum in the agar plate was inversely related to the molecular weight of the protein under study. The incubation time required for maximum ring formation was directly related to the molecular weight of the proteins under study. The reproducibility of the tests was evaluated using stored and fresh antiserum-agar plates.