Ultrastructural findings in horses with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). I: Alterations of the larger conducting airways

Extensive light and electron microscope studies of the conducting airways were carried out in 28 horses with varying degrees of clinically manifested chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and in 8 horses with normal lungs. The principal ultrastructural changes were found in the ciliated cells. There was focal loss of ciliated cells, which were replaced by undifferentiated cells in a largely hyperplastic epithelium, and some horses, independent of the degree of severity of the disease, showed various types of ciliary malformation. The finding of dilated intercellular clefts and accumulations of mast cells was interpreted as morphological evidence of non-specific mucosal hyperreactivity. Interstitial cells with intracytoplasmal crystal inclusions, the cause of which is not clear, were seen in many horses. Comparison between the clinical diagnosis and the morphological findings showed partial correlation. The ciliary loss, the appearance of peribronchial inflammatory processes and the occurrence of intracytoplasmic crystalline inclusions showed a positive correlation. In 12 of 28 cases, the severity of clinical diagnosis agreed with the degree of the morphological findings. The changes in the conducting airways were interpreted pathogenetically as reactive processes to changes in the small airways in the course of equine COPD.     

Licht- und elektronenmikroskopische Studien zur Struktur des normalen Blasenepithels beim weiblichen Schwein

A light- and electron-microscope investigation was performed to examine the normal structure of the porcine urinary bladder. Tissue biopsies were studied obtained from 10 healthy female pigs (four weanling pigs, six sows). The bladder wall showed a typical stratification consisting of a tunica (t.) mucosae, t. submucosae, t. muscularis and t. serosa. The mucosa consisted of an epithelium transitionale, a lamina propria, and a lamina muscularis mucosae. The urothelium was composed of a basal layer, one or more intermediate layer(s), and a superficial layer. The urothelial cells of all layers were connected by desmosomes, while tight junctions linked adjacent superficial cells. Surface cells were lined by a layer of mucus, which is believed to provide an important barrier against bacterial infection. The surface of the superficial cells was also characterized by numerous irregularly arranged microplicae. By contrast, intermediate cells, which are assumed to be immature cell forms, showed microvilli-like structures. When desquamation of superficial cells takes place, differentiation of underlying intermediate cells is accompanied by merging of microvilli to form microplicae. The morphology of the bladder surface structures may play an important role in the ability of bacteria to adhere to the urothelium.     

Herstellung wasserdichter Karten

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Scanning electron microscopic findings of the navicular bone and deep flexor tendon in podotrochlosis of horses]

In 25 adult horses the podotrochlea of 49 forelimbs was examined by means of light and electron microscopy in order to correlate clinical and morphological findings. According to the clinical diagnosis the animals were divided into three groups: lameness due to syndrome of podotrochlosis (group 1) or due to tendopathy (group 2) and horses without lameness (group 3). The most striking pathological findings of the navicular bone and the opposite surface of the deep flexor tendon were found in horses with podotrochlosis, consisting of loss of cartilage and tendon matrix with denudation of collagen fibrils, superficial degeneration and necrosis, focal occurrence of fissures and far-reaching defects, sometimes accompanied by adhesions between tendon and navicular bone surface. In radiologically only slightly altered tendons and navicular bones light and scanning electron microscopy often revealed moderate to severe pathological changes, which sometimes could also be seen in clinically healthy horses. The distribution of the lesions indicate that in course of podotrochlosis the initial alterations caused by repeated microtraumata start at the surface of the deep flexor tendon and subsequently spread to the opposite facies flexoria of the navicular bone. An involvement of the cartilage and the synovial layer of the hoof joint in cases with podotrochlosis could only be rarely observed and is to regard as a secondary manifestation.     

Corynebacterium suis infection in swine. 1. Clinical diagnosis with special consideration of urine studies and cystoscopy

Experimental and spontaneous infections with Corynebacterium suis in sows were investigated. In early stages animals show no clinical disorders or only for a short time. However, there are already marked changes in urinary samples (hematuria, proteinuria, leukocyturia, gross alterations). Using an endoscope mucosal irritations can be seen mainly on the floor of the bladders. In chronic cases alterations in urine are more pronounced. If a pyelonephritis is present in addition to the cystitis, general signs of illness are evident including anorexia, emaciation, anemia, subnormal body temperature and abortions. Bladders demonstrate an erosive and ulcerative, hemorrhagic cystitis on the whole mucosal surface. Uremia appears only in late stages of the disease.     

Species-specific primate husbandry

With about 300 species primates represent one of the largest animal groups within mammals. They are kept in zoological gardens, as laboratory animals or in private ownership. Against this background it is difficult to define all species-specific aspects of a primate husbandry. The paper describes the basic requirements for primates like nutrition, possibilities for social interactions and species specific behaviour, stimuli for activities, health care and environmental conditions. Although no definitive regulations exist by law, the Appendix A (Species-specific Provisions for Non-human Primates) of the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes (ETS 123) will be of great importance in the future.     

Treponema infection associated with genital ulceration in wild baboons

The authors describe genital alterations and detailed histologic findings in baboons naturally infected with Treponema pallidum. The disease causes moderate to severe genital ulcerations in a population of olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis) at Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania. In a field survey in 2007, 63 individuals of all age classes, both sexes, and different grades of infection were chemically immobilized and sampled. Histology and molecular biological tests were used to detect and identify the organism responsible: a strain similar to T pallidum ssp pertenue, the cause of yaws in humans. Although treponemal infections are not a new phenomenon in nonhuman primates, the infection described here appears to be strictly associated with the anogenital region and results in tissue alterations matching those found in human syphilis infections (caused by T pallidum ssp pallidum), despite the causative pathogen's greater genetic similarity to human yaws-causing strains.     

Dissolved organic matter,nutrients, and bacteria in Antarctic soil core from Schirmacher Oasis

Purpose

This study focuses on the application of HPLC in dissolved organic matter (DOM) research in Antarctic environment together with nutrients and heterotrophic bacteria (HB) analyses. The specific aims were to investigate changes in DOM components characteristics and in nutrients in soil core from ground active layer and upper permafrost, to relate obtained data to active heterotrophic bacteria records after applying statistical data treatment methods, and to explore the potential impact of environment.

Materials and methods

A single Antarctic 1.9-m deep soil core drilled at a site without human impact from Schirmacher Oasis, located 70° 46′ 02″ S and 11° 45′ 11″ E, was explored. The chromophoric DOM (CDOM) was characterized by soil water analysis using multi-wavelength HPLC. Total organic carbon and total nitrogen were determined by elemental analysis, the total phosphorus by inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. The vertical changes in those nutrients and their ratios were investigated. The microbiological analysis was accomplished through the determination of psychrotrophic and psychrophilic aerobic HB numbers by colony-forming units counting method, and by epifluorescence microscopy examination. Cluster analysis using the Ward method and principal component analysis was performed on the chromatographic and microbiology data to reveal similar layers in studied soil core.

Results and discussion

In active soil layer, the CDOM was missing thus indicating rather active decomposition of organic material or organic debris by the local microbial community. In deep permafrost layers, the quantity of CDOM preserved in soil water increased. The content of total organic carbon in soil was low, between 0.05 and 0.2%, and decreased down the core. The vertical changes in nutrients (total N and P), the ratios C/N and C/P, followed total organic carbon profile suggesting similar sources. Microbiological analyses showed decreasing vertical concentrations of active HB. Statistical data treatment methods enabled clustering of soil core into three zones according to depth.

Conclusions

The obtained results contribute to better understanding of organic carbon-related processes in an almost un-polluted Antarctic environment. The CDOM, macronutrients, C/N, C/P, and HB profile characteristics of the Antarctic soil core clearly demonstrate the effect of environment (active or permafrost soil layers). The study demonstrated that combining HPLC with multi-wavelength detection and microbial analyses with statistical data treatment is potentially a promising tool of investigating changes in Antarctic soil DOM and in soil waters generally.