Challenges of nematode control in ruminants: focus on Latin America

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) of ruminants (cattle, sheep and goats) are ubiquitous and can cause severe injuries to infected animals and significant losses in farming revenues. GIN are able to survive severe environmental and host conditions, but mankind has developed a number of ingenious methods for parasite control. The commerce and use of modern anthelmintic drugs with a broad spectrum of activity has been a solid tool for nearly 40 years, however the continuous use of these drugs, has led to the selection of populations of drug-resistant worms worldwide. At present, the ever-growing agricultural systems in Latin America are facing many challenges and cannot rely on the far-reaching objective of parasitic elimination from the host or the environment. The lack of extensive programs for monitoring drug resistance exacerbates the negative consequences of reduced efficacy, which is evident in some areas with the increase in mortality rate even after treatment. Experts agree that new schemes of parasitic control are needed and should be based on the strategy of targeted selective treatment where affected hosts are identified and treated accordingly. In this article, we will focus our discussion on the challenges for the control of GIN in Latin America by 2020 imposed by reduced drug efficacy. We will evaluate phenotypic and molecular markers, methods for single-animal evaluation, and the implementation of schemes for anthelmintic treatment that address parasites in refugia.     

A new type of pterocarpanquinone that affects Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites in vitro

Toxoplasma gondii, the agent of Toxoplasmosis, is an obligate intracellular protozoan able to infect a wide range of vertebrate cells, including nonprofessional and professional phagocytes. Therefore, drugs must have intracellular activities in order to control this parasite. The most common therapy for Toxoplasmosis is the combination of sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine. This treatment is associated with adverse reactions, thus, the development of new drugs is necessary. In previous studies, naphthoquinone derivatives showed anti-cancer activity functioning as agents capable of acting on groups of DNA, preventing cancer cells duplication. These derivatives also display anti-parasitic activity against Plasmodium falciparum and Leishmania amazonensis. The derivative pterocarpanquinone tested in this work resulted from the molecular hybridization between pterocarpans and naphtoquinone that presents anti-tumoral and anti-parasitic activities of lapachol. The aim of this work was to determine if this derivative is able to change T. gondii growth within LLC-MK2 cells. The drug did not arrest host cell growth, but was able to decrease the infection index of T. gondii with an IC(50) of 2.5 μM. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy analysis showed morphological changes of parasites including membrane damage. The parasite that survived tended to encyst as seen by Dolichos biflorus lectin staining and Bag-1 expression. These results suggest that pterocarpanquinones are drugs potentially important for the killing and encystment of T. gondii.     

Platelet-Rich Plasma in the Treatment of Induced Tendinopathy in Horses: Histologic Evaluation

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) on the treatment of tendinopathy induced in the superficial digital flexor tendon (TFDS) of horses, by using histologic evaluation. Six healthy crossbred geldings aged 8 to 15 years (12 ± 3) were used. The TFDS tendinopathy was provoked in both forelimbs, by intratendinous administration of 2.5 mg collagenase (2.5 mg/mL), and this procedure was considered as the beginning of the experimental phase. At 12 days after induction of the tendinopathy, the animals were subjected to the following treatments: (1) in the lesion caused in the right superficial digital flexor tendon (PRP-treated group), 2.5 mL PRP activated with calcium chloride at 0.0125 mol/L at concentrations from 320,000 to 500,000 platelets/μL, were injected; (2) in the tendinopathy of the left SDFT (control group), 2.5 mL 0.9% saline solution was administrated. Thirty-six days after the treatments, a biopsy of the injured area was performed for histologic evaluation. In both groups, the histologic analysis showed an increase in the fibroblastic density, as well as the presence of neovascularization, lymphocytes, and plasmocytes infiltrate and tissue organization at variable intensity. In the PRP-treated group, the SDFT was more organized, with the collagen fibers and fibroblasts being better arranged on the tendon matrix. The numbers of the fibroblasts and blood vessels did not differ between the groups. Histologic evaluation 36 days after tendinopathy showed that injuries under a single PRP treatment present a more uniform and organized tissue repair when compared with the control group.     

Effects of cyclophosphamide myelosuppression in adult dogs with latent canine herpesvirus-1 infection

Latent canine herpesvirus-1 (CHV-1) infection is common in domestic dogs, but triggers for viral reactivation and recrudescent CHV-1 disease are poorly understood. Cyclophosphamide is a potent immunosuppressive and myelosuppressive agent used for the therapy of a variety of neoplastic and immune-mediated canine disorders. Cyclophosphamide (200mg/m(2)) was administered to mature dogs latently infected with CHV-1 to determine its potential to induce recurrent CHV-1 disease and viral shedding. Non-infected dogs and dogs recovered from experimental primary ocular CHV-1 infection with experimentally confirmed latent CHV-1 infection were divided into groups and administered cyclophosphamide or placebo. Dogs were monitored for myelosuppression and viral reactivation for 28days using clinical and virological outcome measures. Clinical ophthalmic and in vivo ocular confocal microscopic examinations were performed at intervals. Samples were collected for CHV-1 polymerase chain reaction (PCR), CHV-1 virus neutralizing (VN) antibody, and hemogram assays. Myelosuppression (i.e., decreased total leukocyte, segmented neutrophil, and erythrocyte counts) was detected on study day 7 in dogs administered cyclophosphamide, but not dogs administered placebo. There were no abnormalities suggestive of recurrent CHV-1 ocular disease during clinical ophthalmic or in vivo confocal microscopic examination in any dogs during the study. Ocular CHV-1 shedding was not detected by PCR and CHV-1 VN titers remained stable in all dogs. Following study conclusion, the presence of reactivatable latency was reconfirmed in the infected dogs by administering systemic prednisolone. Myelosuppression elicited by a single dose of cyclophosphamide does not result in detectable recurrent ocular CHV-1 infection in adult dogs with experimentally induced latent CHV-1 infection.     

Relationship between reproductive and productive traits in Holstein cattle using multivariate analysis

Multivariate procedures are used for the extraction of variables from the correlation matrix of phenotypes in order to identify those traits that explain the largest proportion of phenotypic variation and to evaluate the relationship structure between these traits. The reproductive traits (days from calving to first estrus [CFE], days from calving to last service [CLS], calving interval [CI] and gestation length [GL]) and milk production traits (milk yield at 305 days of lactation [MY305], peak yield [PY] and milk yield per day of calving interval [MYCI]) of 5,217 Holstein females (primiparous and multiparous) were measured. Principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis of the correlation matrix were used to estimate the correlation between traits. Analysis grouped the seven traits into three principal components and four latent factors that retained approximately 81.5% and 88.9% of the total variation of the data, respectively. The production variables exhibited positive phenotypic correlation coefficients of high magnitude (>.67). The phenotypic correlation estimates between the productive and reproductive traits were low, ranging from .13 to .22. A strong association (.99) was observed between CLS and CI. Our results indicate that multivariate analysis was effective in generating correlations between the traits studied, grouping the seven traits in a smaller number of variables that retained approximately 81% of the total variation of the data.     

The use of multivariate analysis to characterize carcass and meat quality of goat kids protected by the PGI “Cabrito de Barroso”

Fifty five suckling kids from three genotypes and two sexes protected by the PGI “Cabrito de Barroso” European quality label were used in this experiment. Carcass quality was assessed using indices from carcass measurements, dressing percentages, refrigerated losses, higher priced joints proportion and tissue composition of the carcass. Meat pH, colour, total pigment, fat, dry matter, collagen determinations (total and soluble), cooking losses and shear force estimated in longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) and gluteobiceps (GB) muscles were used to characterize meat quality. Principal component (PC) analysis was performed in order to examine carcass quality traits (n = 16) and meat quality (n = 16) traits. The five first principal components (PCs) explained about 86% of the total variability for carcass quality and 75% of the total variability for meat quality. Compactness indices of carcass and leg, carcass weight and subcutaneous fat were the most effective variables for the PC1, whereas the higher priced joints proportion, muscle proportions of the higher priced joints and of the carcass and the muscle and bone ratio were useful to define the PC2. The first PC of the meat quality parameters was characterized by colour traits (L, b, a, C, H and total pigment) whereas collagen determinations (total collagen and collagen solubility) defined the second PC. When the carcass quality data were projected on the plane defined by the first two PCs, two separate groups of points appeared, corresponding to the animals with slaughter live weight higher or lower than 10 kg. The distribution of the meat quality data on the plane defined by the first two PCs allowed the identification of two separate groups, corresponding to the muscles GB and LTL. The differences between genotypes tend to be small and related to slaughter live weight, which implies certain constancy in carcass and meat quality of the PGI “Cabrito de Barroso”.     

Dietary methionine requirement of the pre‐adult gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibeilo) at a constant dietary cystine level

A 62‐day growth trial was conducted to determine the dietary Met requirement of the pre‐adult gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibeilo) (initial weight of 51.0 ± 0.02 g). Six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets using fish meal, blood meal and pea protein concentrate as protein sources supplemented with crystalline amino acids were formulated to contain graded levels of dietary Met (4.44, 6.56, 8.55, 10.90, 12.79 and 15.05 g kg^?1, respectively) at a constant dietary cystine level of 3.99 g kg^?1. The results showed that weight gain rate and protein productive value significantly increased with the dietary Met levels from 4.44 to 8.55 g kg^?1, then reached plateau at 10.90 g kg^?1. Plasma HDL‐C and TC were increased with dietary Met levels. Fish supplied with 4.44–8.55 g kg^?1 Met showed lower plasma AST level than that of other groups. Plasma TG, LDL‐C and ALT levels were stable for all treatments. The activity of intestinal γ‐GT was increased with dietary Met levels. The optimal requirement of Met for pre‐adult gibel carp (>50 g) was a range from 7.86 g kg^?1 to 9.84 g kg^?1 dry diet or 16.9 g kg^?1 to 23.0 g kg^?1 of dietary protein with the presence of 3.99 g kg^?1 Cys for the satisfied lipid metabolism and maximum growth, respectively.     

Soil microstructure alterations induced by land use change for sugarcane expansion in Brazil

Land use change (LUC) alters soil structure and, consequently, the functions and services provided by these soils. Conversion from extensive pasture to sugarcane is one of the largest land transitions in Brazil as a result of the growth of the domestic and global demands of bioenergy. However, the impacts of sugarcane expansion on the soil structure under extensive pasture remains unclear, especially when considering changes at the microscale. We investigated whether LUC for sugarcane cultivation impacted soil microstructure quality. Undisturbed soil samples were taken from two soil layers (0–10 and 10–20 cm) under three contrasting land uses (native vegetation—NV, pasture—PA and sugarcane—SC) in three different locations in the central-southern Brazil. Oriented thin sections (30 μm) were used for micromorphological analysis. The total area of pores decreased following the LUC in the following order: NV > PA > SC in both soil layers. The area of large complex packing pores (>0.01 mm²) also decreased with the LUC sequence: NV>PA>SC. Qualitative and semi-quantitative micromorphological analysis confirmed porosity reduction was driven by the decrease in complex packing pores and that biological features decreased in the same LUC sequence as the quantitative parameters. Therefore, LUC for sugarcane expansion reduced microscale soil porosity, irrespectively of soil type and site-specific conditions, indicating that the adoption of more sustainable management practices is imperative to preserve soil structure and sustain soil functions in Brazilian sugarcane fields.