Duration of thermal support for preventing hypothermia induced by anesthesia with medetomidine-midazolam-butorphanol in mice

Hypothermia during anesthetic events is a common adverse effect of anesthesia in laboratory animals. In particular, small rodents such as mice is susceptible to hypothermia during anesthetic events. Therefore, the animals will need additional thermal support by external heating devices during and after anesthesia. In general, the time of recovery from anesthesia is typically longer in case of injectable anesthesia rather than inhalant anesthesia. However, the durations of thermal support have been almost limited to 1 hr from administration of anesthesia in general. Our study objectives are two-fold: 1) to compare the levels of hypothermia induced by injectable anesthesia with medetomidine-midazolam-butorphanol (MMB) and inhalant anesthesia with isoflurane (ISO); 2) to find the adequate durations of thermal support for preventing hypothermia induced by their anesthesia in mice. Adult male ICR mice were anesthetized during 40 min without and with the thermal support for 1 (both anesthetic groups), 2, 3, and 5 hr (in MMB group). Without thermal support, the decrease of body temperature in MMB group were more severe than that in ISO group. The durations of thermal support completely prevented hypothermia at 5 hr-support in MMB group and that at 1 hr-support in ISO group. However, the other short durations did not prevent hypothermia at 1, 2 and 3 hr-support in MMB group. These results suggest that the mice should be received thermal support over 5 hr after injection of MMB anesthesia to prevent hypothermia.     

Osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish Fold cross-breed cats

Two Scottish Fold mixed cats are described in this report. Case 1 is a mixed Scottish Fold and Munchkin cat. Extremities of this cat resembled the Munchkin cat, while the ear pinna were folded forward like the Scottish Fold cat. Case 2 is a mixed Scottish Fold and American Curl cat. The ear pinna were curled caudally like the American Curl. Severe exostosis in the hind leg was observed in radiographs taken around one year of age in both cats. Both cats were dominant homozygous for c.1024G>T of the transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 gene, responsible for osteochondrodysplasia in the Scottish Fold cat. Cross breeding with Scottish Fold cats could produce unknown phenotypes, and should be avoided.     

Establishment and characterization of a canine sebaceous epithelial cell line derived from an eyelid mass

Little is known about the pathological roles of sebaceous glands in canine skin diseases, as most examinations have been conducted with cultured human sebaceous epithelial cell lines. To our knowledge, there is no available canine sebaceous epithelial cell line. The purpose of this study was to establish a canine sebaceous epithelial cell line and characterize it. An eyelid mass in a dog was surgically resected for treatment, and it was histologically diagnosed as sebaceous epithelioma. Collected tissue was conducted for culture, and the growing epithelial-like cells were passaged. The cells showed continuous proliferation for over 6 months. After 40 passages, the cells were named CMG-1. Lipid droplets in the cytoplasm of CMG-1 cells were confirmed by Oil Red O staining. As reported in studies with human sebaceous epithelial cell lines, lipogenesis in CMG-1 cells was promoted by linoleic acid, whereas transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) suppressed it. Additionally, real-time PCR revealed that the expression levels of chemokines and cytokines, including CC chemokine ligand (CCL)-2, CCL-20, CXCL-10, Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β, and IL-8, were significantly increased in CMG-1 cells following treatment with lipopolysaccharide. In conclusion, we successfully established a new canine sebaceous epithelial cell line. Our data indicated that lipogenesis and inflammatory responses were quantitatively evaluable in this cell line. CMG-1 cells could be useful for the pathological analysis of sebaceous gland diseases in dogs.     

Saccharides of ectomycorrhizal fungal sclerotia as sources of forest soil polysaccharides

ABSTRACT

The neutral monosaccharide composition of forest soils differs from that of non-forest soils suggesting there is an accumulation of microbial saccharides. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi can be responsible as the fungi are typical in forest soils. We investigated neutral saccharides of ECM fungal sclerotia to determine what part it might play in the origin of forest soil polysaccarides. Sclerotial grain (SG) was collected from the O, A1 and A2 horizons of a soil of subalpine forest of Mt. Ontake, central Japan. Neutral saccharides in soil and SG were analyzed by two step hydrolysis with sulfuric acid and gas-chromatography of alditol acetate derivatives. Saccharides accounted for 6.0?16% of the SG by carbon content. The SG contained predominantly easily hydrolysable (EH)-glucose, which accounted for 75–85% of the composition depending on grain size and the soil horizon, followed by mannose (7.7?15%), galactose (2.2?4.8%) and non-easily hydrolysable (NEH)-glucose (1.7?6.1%). The SG contained all of these sugars irrespective of its size. The SG collected from the A1 and A2 horizons contained all sugar components found in that from the O horizon, except for fucose in that from A2 horizon. The monosaccharide composition of SG indicates that accumulation of ECM fungal sclerotial polysaccharides might have been responsible for enlarging the molar ratios of (galactose + mannose) /(arabinose + xylose) and EH-glucose/NEH-glucose of forest soils. The proportions of SG saccharides relative to soil saccharides were 3.6, 1.2, and 0.83% for the O, A1 and A2 horizons, respectively. These levels of the proportion are considerable as ECM fugal sclerotia are the products of a limited species among hundreds and thousands of microbial species inhabiting forest soils. The sclerotia forming ECM fungal species such as Cenococcum geophilum may be key sources of forest soil polysaccharides.     

Pedigree study of the heredity of copper-associated hepatitis in Dalmatians in Japan

The pedigrees of 3 Dalmatian dogs afflicted with copper-associated hepatitis were investigated to discover the mode of inheritance. A composite family pedigree showed that the 3 affected Dalmatians were related. None of the parents of the affected dogs showed clinical symptoms of liver disease, and the disease had no sex predisposition. The estimated segregation ratio was approximately 3:1 based on surviving littermates. These findings suggested that the copper-associated hepatitis in these Dalmatians was an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. In addition, some male Dalmatians imported from abroad might have been involved in the occurrence of this disease in Japan.     

Dairy cattle behavior classifications based on decision tree learning using 3‐axis neck‐mounted accelerometers

Demand has been increasing recently for an automated monitoring system of animal behavior as a tool for the management of livestock animals. This study investigated the association between the behavior of dairy cattle and the acceleration data collected using three‐axis neck‐mounted accelerometers, as well as the feasibility of improving the precision of behavior classifications through machine learning. In total 38 Holstein dairy cows were used, and kept in four different farms. A logger was mounted to each collar to obtain acceleration data for calculating the activity level and variations. At the same time the behavior of the cattle was observed visually. Characteristic acceleration waves were recorded for eating, rumination, and lying, respectively; and the activity level and variations were significantly different among these behaviors (p < 0.01). Decision tree learning was performed on the data set from Farm A and validated its precision; which proved to be 99.2% in cross‐validation, and 100% in test data sets from Farms B to D. This study showed that highly precise classifications for eating, rumination, and lying is possible by using decision tree learning to calculate the activity level and variations of cattle based on the data obtained by three‐axis accelerometers mounted to a collar.     

Harpinpsta from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci Is Defective and Deficient in Its Expression and HR-inducing Activity

To elucidate the role of harpins produced by Pseudomonas syringae, the corresponding hrpZ gene was isolated from P. s. pv. tabaci. The sequence information revealed that this gene carries a serious mutation with 326 bp lacking in the central region and potentially encodes only 140 N-terminal amino acids because of a frame shift. The investigation of biological properties using recombinant harpin indicated harpin_psta was incapable of inducing HR in both host and nonhost plants. Based on an immunoblot analysis to detect harpin from P. s. pathovars in hrp-inducing medium, the truncated harpin_psta was neither expressed nor secreted into the culture medium. These results suggest that harpin is not the sole determinant of the host-parasite specificity in P. s. pv. tabaci. Received 10 August 2000/ Accepted in revised form 21 December 2000     

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.     

A case of protein-losing enteropathy treated with methotrexate in a dog

A 9-year-old female Pug was presented to us with chronic diarrhea. Hematologic findings indicated severe hypoproteinemia and hypoalbuminemia, and endoscopy revealed severe edema of the duodenal mucosa. Based on these results and on additional histopathological findings, we made a diagnosis of protein-losing enteropathy caused by lymphocytic-plasmacytic enteritis with lymphangiectasia. The dog was initially treated with prednisolone and cyclosporine. This treatment regimen was not effective. However, when methotrexate was substituted for cyclosporine, progress was obtained and the diagnosis was confirmed.     

Age-related Histological Findings in the Pineal Gland of Crl:CD(SD) Rats

To provide background data as the pathologic basis, the pineal glands of 190 male and 193 female Crl:CD(SD) rats at ages of 0–7, 51–58, 70–85 and 111 weeks were examined histologically in this study. Mineralization and fibrosis were common findings in the aged rats, whereas they were rarely found in the young ones; mineralization was present in 7, 44, 67 and 79% of males and in 0, 32, 67 and 79% in females, and fibrosis was present in 0, 29, 48 and 44% of males and 0, 18, 40 and 35% of females at ages of 0–7, 51–58, 70–85 and 111 weeks, respectively. Striated muscle fiber appeared regularly in the fibrosis region from 51–58 weeks of age when fibrosis increased, while the origin of this fiber remained unclear. Vacuolation of pineal cells also increased with age in both sexes, though the total incidence was low. There was a low incidence of lymphocytic infiltration in both sexes, but this was not related to age.