Effect of Thyroxine Supplementation on Glomerular Filtration Rate in Hypothyroid Dogs

Background: Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is decreased in humans with hypothyroidism, but information about kidney function in dogs with hypothyroidism is lacking.
Hypothesis: Hypothyroidism influences GFR in dogs. The objective of this study was to assess GFR in hypothyroid dogs before implementation of thyroxine supplementation and after re-establishing euthyroidism.
Animals: Fourteen hypothyroid dogs without abnormalities on renal ultrasound examination or urinalysis.
Methods: Blood pressure and GFR (measured by exogenous creatinine clearance) were measured before treatment (T0, n = 14) and at 1 month (T1, n = 14) and at 6 months (T6, n = 11) after beginning levothyroxine supplementation therapy (20 μg/kg/d, PO). The response to therapy was monitored at T1 by measuring serum total thyroxine and thyroid stimulating hormone concentrations. If needed, levothyroxine dosage was adjusted and reassessed after 1 month. Statistical analysis was performed using a general linear model. Results are expressed as mean ± standard deviation.
Results: At T0, the average age of dogs in the study group was 6.3 ± 1.4 years. Their average body weight decreased from 35 ± 18 kg at T0 to 27 ± 14 kg at T6 ( P < .05). All dogs remained normotensive throughout the study. GFR increased significantly with levothyroxine supplementation; the corresponding results were 1.6 ± 0.4 mL/min/kg at T0, 2.1 ± 0.4 at T1, and 2.0 ± 0.4 at T6 ( P < .01).
Conclusion: GFR was <2 mL/min/kg in untreated hypothyroid dogs. Re-establishment of a euthyroid state increased GFR significantly.     

Plasma clearance of exogenous creatinine, exo-iohexol, and endo-iohexol in hyperthyroid cats before and after treatment with radioiodine

BACKGROUND: Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) can be measured by clearance methods of different markers showing discrepancies and different reproducibility in healthy cats. Studies comparing different methods of GFR measurement in hyperthyroid cats have not yet been performed. HYPOTHESIS: Plasma clearance of exogenous creatinine (PECCT), exo-iohexol (PexICT), and endo-iohexol (PenICT) could lead to differences in GFR measurement and the need to use the same clearance method when comparing GFR before and after radioiodine treatment in hyperthyroid cats. ANIMALS: Fifteen client-owned hyperthyroid cats. METHODS: GFR was measured 1 day before and 1, 4, 12, and 24 weeks after treatment. Intravenous injection of iohexol was followed immediately by IV injection of creatinine. Plasma creatinine was measured by an enzymatic method. Plasma endo- and exo-iohexol were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to ultraviolet detection. RESULTS: Globally, the 3 GFR methods resulted in significantly different (P < .001) GFR results. GFR results among the different methods were the same (P= .999) at all time points. All 3 techniques indicated decreasing GFR after (131)I treatment. For each GFR technique, a significant decrease in GFR was observed between time point 0 and all other time points. This decrease stabilized 4 weeks after treatment, with very little decline afterward. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: It is mandatory to use the same GFR technique in follow-up studies. GFR testing at 4 weeks posttreatment could allow assessment of the final renal functional loss after treatment in hyperthyroid cats.     

Chlorpyrifos-induced oxidative stress and histological changes in retinas and kidney in rats: Protective role of ascorbic acid and alpha tocopherol

This study was undertaken to evaluate the antioxidant effect of vitamins C and E against oxidative stress, apoptosis and histological changes of kidney and retina in CPF-treated rats. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups including the control group, the group treated orally with a single dose of CPF (63 mg/kg b.w.), the group injected intramuscularly (i.m.) with vitamin C (250 mg/kg b.w.), and intraperitonealy (i.p.) with vitamin E (150 mg/kg b.w.) daily for 7 days and the group treated with CPF (single dose) and injected with vitamins (for 7 days). The results showed that CPF induced apoptosis and severe oxidative stress as indicated by the significant increase in MDA and sFasL concentration and the significant decrease in GSH concentration in serum. Co-administration of vitamins C and E ameliorate these toxic effects and improved the histological pictures of kidneys and retinas. It could be concluded that combined administration of vitamins C and E is useful in the routine therapy for the protection against tissue damage induced by CPF.     

Effects of Radix Angelicae Sinensis on changes of IL-6, TNF-α and bFGF in renal ischemia/reperfusion injury in rabbits

AIM: To determine the effect of Radix Angelicae Sinensis(RAS) on renal ischemia/reperfusion injury in rabbits and to explore its mechanism. METHODS: Twenty-five rabbits were divided randomly into the sham operated group(Control group), renal ischemia/reperfusion injury group(IR group) and RAS+IR group. At the time point of reperfusion 48 h after renal ischemia 1 h, the renal tissue were observed by electron-microscope and the contents of creatinine(Cr) in serum, tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-6(IL-6)and basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) in the renal tissue were measured. RESULTS: A remarkably degenerative changes in renal tissue were showed under electronmicroscope in IR group, but the changes in RAS+IR group were slight. The contents of Cr, TNF-α and IL-6 in IR group were higher than those in Control group, these parameters in RAS+IR group were lower than those in IR group, the difference between these groups was significant(P< 0.05 or P< 0.01). At the same time, the content of bFGF in IR group was lower than that in Control group(P< 0.01), while the content of bFGF in RAS+IR group was higher than that in IR group(P< 0.01) and Control group(P< 0.05). CONCLUSION: RAS has an effect of alleviating the renal ischemia/reperfusion injury by modulating the production or release of TNF-α, IL-6 and bFGF.     

猪群暴发结肠小袋虫病与肾虫病的诊断和控制

对一例猪群暴发结肠小袋虫病与肾虫病进行了病理剖检和实验室确诊,并介绍了其治疗和控制措施。     

Comparison of Different MARs(Matrix Attachment Regions)Effect on Transgene Expression

Three MARs(matrix attachment regions)fragments were cloned from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)(MAR1),yeast(Saccharomyces cerevisiae) (MAR3)and kidney bean(Phaseolus vulgaris) (MAR5)which ranged 984,822 and 782 bp,respectively.Sequence analysis showed that all the fragments had fairly high A/T content (73,62 and 75%,respectively),harbored different number and different type of some characteristic motifs of MARs,such as A-box and T-box,etc.The results of in vitro binding assay showed that the three MARs fragments derived from different organisms could bind specifically to the matrix extracted from the tobacco nuclei with different strength,which also demonstrated that these MARs fragments are functionally conserved during evolution.By using these MARs fragments to flank the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene and bialaphos resistance(bar) selectable marker gene,and then introducing the resulting plant expression vectors containing MARs-uidA-barMARs into tobacco through Agrobacteriummediated procedures,the effects of MARs sequences on the expression of transgenes in tobacco were investigated and compared.The GUS activity in individual transformants showed that,comparing to the controls without additional MARs,the overall transgene expression level in transformants with MARs had been greatly increased while the variations in transgene expression among transformants were decreased in different degrees.In accordance with the results of sequence analysis and in vitro binding assay in which MAR1 fragment showed the strongest binding strength,this MARs fragment also showed the greatest effect in increasing transgene overall expression level.     

Progress of urinary exosome microRNAs in kidney diseases

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that are actively released from all types of cells to various body fluids under the physiological and pathological conditions. It can be used as an intercellular signaling carrier by transferring specific components such as proteins, lipids and nucleic acids, which mediates the transmission of information between cells, thereby affecting the biological function of the recipient cells. Urinary exosomes are secreted by various cells in the urinary system and released into the urine. Recent studies have shown that changes of urinary exosome microRNAs can be used as biomarkers in kidney diseases for monitoring the changes of diseases and judging prognosis, and also have important value in the disease treatment. This article reviews the progress of urinary exosome microRNAs in kidney diseases.     

河南斗鸡一些器官的组织结构特征

河南斗鸡骁勇善战,在长期的选种驯化过程中,其内的一些器官也形成一系列特点。实验通过光镜、电镜初步观察了斗鸡的肝脏、肾脏、肺、小肠、甲状腺、肾上腺等主要器官的微细结构,着重描述了主要功能细胞的机能形态学特点,为综合开发利用这一宝贵资源,奠定了可靠的形态学基础。