Antibody response to Newcastle disease virus given by two different routes as measured by ELISA and hemagglutination-inhibition test and associated tracheal immunity

The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the conventional hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test were compared for their ability to measure the primary serological response of chickens inoculated by the intranasal-intraocular (IN-IO) routes with Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and the secondary response after intratracheal (IT) challenge. In addition, these responses were compared with the temporal antibody response of chickens inoculated only once by the IT route. Both tests detected NDV-specific antibody by 7 days postinoculation (PI) in the IN-IO-inoculated group, while ELISA and the HI test detected antibody at 4 and 7 days, respectively, in the IT-inoculated group. Titers measured by each test were parallel in quantifying the antibody response, and titers rose anamnestically in response to secondary IT challenge at 21 days PI. ELISA titers remained high at 42 days PI, but the HI titers began to decline at this time. There was a good agreement (R = 0.94) between the results of the two tests throughout both primary and secondary responses. Conversely, there was little agreement between the results of the two tests after 21 days PI in the absence of secondary challenge. Antibody levels were higher when inoculation was by the primary IT route, and they persisted throughout the experiment (86 days). Ciliary activity served as a measure of tracheal immunity or infection of tracheal epithelium. It was reduced as early as 2 days PI and was nearly or completely absent by 5-6 days PI.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Effect of testicular tissue lysate on developmental competence of porcine oocytes matured and fertilized in vitro

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of testicular tissue lysate (TTL) on developmental competence of germinal vesicle (GV) stage porcine oocytes. Two types of TTL were prepared through repeated freeze–thaw in liquid nitrogen, one from whole testicular tissue (wTTL) and other from either of four different sections of testes, namely just beneath the tunica albuginea (TA), from the transitional area between the seminiferous cord/tubules and the mediastinum testis (TR) and from the intermediate area (parenchymal tissue origin) and CE (cauda epididymis origin). The whole or section‐wise TTL treatments were given for 44 hr during in vitro maturation (IVM). Oocyte maturation was done in either of the two media, namely defined (high‐performance basic medium for porcine oocyte maturation, commercially available) and serum containing (TCM199). After maturation, oocytes were co‐incubated with fresh spermatozoa for 6 hr and then transferred to embryo culture media. Treatment of GV stage oocytes with wTTL (1 mg/ml) increased the cleavage and morula percentage rate (69.23 ± 6.23 and 48.15 ± 6.77, respectively) than that of their control (58.33 ± 8.08 and 32.54 ± 5.53, respectively) in defined media, and in serum‐containing media, cleavage and morula percentage rate were almost equal in both treatment (54.56 ± 7.79 and 34.70 ± 6.78, respectively) and control (59.52 ± 8.21 and 38.52 ± 6.54, respectively). However, effect of wTTL was not significant. In case of section‐wise TTL supplements, TR section significantly (p < .01) improved cleavage and morula rate (58.43 ± 7.98 and 36.14 ± 6.89, respectively) followed by TA. In conclusion, present study indicates that IVM, in vitro fertilization and in vitro culture of embryo are improved in the presence of TTL, particularly its TR section. Further study is expected to reveal the principal components of TTL which may prove useful for IVM.     

Effects of caffeine on exercise performance of physically fit Thoroughbreds

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of a dose of caffeine (2.5 mg/kg, IV) administered to physically fit Thoroughbreds during incremental exercise testing to fatigue on a treadmill. ANIMALS: 10 conditioned Thoroughbreds. PROCEDURE: Horses were randomly assigned to receive caffeine or a control solution. Each horse received both treatments in a crossover design with a 3-week interval between treatments. Each horse was administered caffeine (2.5 mg/kg) or an equivalent amount of a control solution IV. One hour after injection, each horse performed an incremental exercise test to exhaustion. Hematologic values, heart rate, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, plasma lactate concentration, urine and serum concentrations of caffeine and metabolites, and time until exhaustion were monitored. Statistical analysis was performed by use of a mixed-effects linear model. RESULTS: Significant differences in measured values when horses were treated with caffeine or the control solution were not detected. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: A dose of caffeine (2.5 mg/kg, IV) appears to have no effect on any performance variable of physically fit Thoroughbreds during incremental exercise testing to fatigue.