Increased humoral antibody response of foot-and-mouth disease virus vaccine in growing pigs pre-treated with poly-γ-glutamic acid

This study was conducted to determine if humoral antibody response of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine improved in 8-week-old growing pigs born to well-vaccinated sows pre-treated with 60 mg of poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) three days before vaccination. Antibody against FMD virus serotype O was measured 0, 2, 4 and 6 weeks post-vaccination, using a PrioCHECK FMDV type O ELISA kit. The results showed that positive antibody reactions against FMDV serotype O antigen among a component of the vaccine significantly increased in response to pre-injection with γ-PGA.     

Therapeutic trial of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor for dilated cardiomyopathy in three dogs

Three dogs were presented to us for evaluation of cardiac problems. Electrocardiographic recordings revealed severe tachyarrhythmia and atrial fibrillation with ventricular tachycardia in 2 of the 3 dogs. The echocardiographic findings of the 3 dogs revealed markedly decreased fractional shortening and a marked increase in E-point septal separation. Based on the results of electrocardiographic and echocardiographic evaluation, the 3 dogs were diagnosed as dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The dogs were treated with conventional cardiac medication, but cardiac function did not improve and the clinical signs remained. We subsequently attempted treatment with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF; 10 microg/kg, subcutaneously). The specific purpose of G-CSF therapy for DCM was to improve cardiac function and a significant improvement in cardiac function was confirmed. The three dogs had no treatment side effects. This case report suggests that G-CSF might have therapeutic effects for medically refractory DCM in dogs.     

The grafting of recycled polyol from waste polyurethane foam onto new polyurethane and its impact on shape recovery and water vapor permeation

Recycled polyols from waste polyurethane (PU) foams were grafted onto PU to improve the properties such as tensile strength, shape recovery, low-temperature flexibility, and water compatibility. The recycled polyol was either purified by column chromatography before grafting or was used directly for grafting. The soft segment melting temperature of PU did not notably increase with the addition of polyol, whereas the glass transition temperature increased with increased polyol content. The tensile strength sharply increased at low polyol content and decreased at high polyol content, while the strain at break did not significantly change with an increase in polyol content. The shape recovery at 10 oC notably improved compared with unmodified PU and remained high after four cyclic tests. Polyol-grafted PU demonstrated better lowtemperature flexibility and reduced the water vapor permeability of PU membranes. Overall, grafting recycled polyol onto PU significantly improved the tensile stress, shape recovery, and low-temperature flexibility of PU.     

Compensatory growth and body composition of juvenile black rockfish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sebastes schlegeli</Emphasis> following feed deprivation

ABSTRACT:   Compensatory growth, feeding rate, feed efficiency and chemical composition of juvenile black rockfish (mean weight 1.43 g) were investigated for 35 days after a 14-day feed deprivation treatment under four feeding conditions: one group continuously fed (control) and the other three groups fasted for 5 days (F5), 10 days (F10) and 14 days (F14). All fasted fish were re-fed from day 15. Only F5 achieved the same body weight as the control, indicating that complete compensation occurred in F5. The specific growth rate (SGR) of F5 was the highest at day 21 and then decreased thereafter, showing higher values than the control at days 21, 28 and 42. In contrast, although SGRs of F10 and F14 were higher than that of the control during the whole refeeding period except day 21, they did not catch up the control in body mass, indicating that only partial compensation occurred in F10 and F14. The feeding rate (FR) of all groups except F14 changed in a pattern similar to SGR (Spearman's rank correlation, r _s > 0.9), suggesting that SGR varied depending on FR. Similar feeding efficiencies (FEs) were found in the four groups and they did not vary significantly during the whole refeeding period, suggesting that FE was not the factor affecting SGR. At day 14, the ratios of lipid to lean body mass in F10 and F14 were lower than those in the control and F5, and there was no difference between the control and F5. At day 49, however, only F14 showed a lower value than the other three groups, and there was no difference among the three groups. These results indicate that juvenile black rockfish fasted for 5–14 days can exhibit compensatory growth after refeeding, but timing and degree vary depending on the duration of feed deprivation.     

Canine model of ischemic stroke with permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion: clinical and histopathological findings

The aim of the present study was to assess the clinical and histopathological findings in a canine model of ischemic stroke. Cerebral ischemic stroke was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion in four healthy beagle dogs using silicone plugs. They showed neurological signs of forebrain dysfunction such as reduced responsiveness, head turning, circling, postural reaction deficits, perceptual deficits, and hemianopsia. These signs gradually regressed within 4 weeks without therapy. On magnetic resonance imaging, T2 hyperintensity and T1 hypointensity were found in the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia. These lesions were well-defined and sharply demarcated from adjacent brain parenchyma with a homogenous appearance. No abnormalities of the cerebrospinal fluid were observed. At necropsy, atrophic and necrotic lesions were observed in the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus were partially unstained with triphenyl-tetrazolium chloride. Histopathologically, typical features of infarction were identified in cortical and thalamic lesions. This study demonstrates that our canine model resembles the conditions of real stroke patients.     

Flow cytometric evaluation of disseminated intravascular coagulation in a canine endotoxemia model

Sepsis is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality in dogs. Alterations in hemostasis by systemic inflammation play an important role in the pathophysiology of sepsis. To evaluate the functional hemostatic changes in sepsis, we evaluated coagulation profiles and flow cytometric measurement of P-selectin (CD62P) expression on platelets, as well as platelet-leukocyte aggregation from a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endotoxemia model in dogs (n = 7). A sublethal dose of LPS [1 mg/kg body weight (BW)] induced thrombocytopenia and increased activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), prothrombin time (PT), and D-dimer concentrations. Flow cytometry analysis showed a significant increase in P-selectin expression on platelets between 1 and 24 h of a total 48 h of the experiment. In addition, platelet-leukocyte aggregation was significantly increased in the early stage of endotoxemia (at 1 and < 6 h for platelet-monocyte aggregation and at 3 h for platelet-neutrophil aggregation). Our results suggest that CD62P expression on platelets and platelet-leukocyte aggregation, as measured by flow cytometry, can be useful biomarkers of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in canine sepsis. These functional changes contribute to our understanding of the pathophysiology of hemostasis in endotoxemia.     

Protective effect of butylated hydroxylanisole against hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis in primary cultured mouse hepatocytes

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) is a synthetic phenolic compound consisting of a mixture of two isomeric organic compounds: 2-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole and 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole. We examined the effect of BHA against hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced apoptosis in primary cultured mouse hepatocytes. Cell viability was significantly decreased by H₂O₂ in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, H₂O₂ treatment increased Bax, decreased Bcl-2, and promoted PARP-1 cleavage in a dose-dependent manner. Pretreatment with BHA before exposure to H₂O₂ significantly attenuated the H₂O₂-induced decrease of cell viability. H₂O₂ exposure resulted in an increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation that was significantly inhibited by pretreatment with BHA or N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC, an ROS scavenger). H₂O₂-induced decrease of cell viability was also attenuated by pretreatment with BHA and NAC. Furthermore, H₂O₂-induced increase of Bax, decrease of Bcl-2, and PARP-1 cleavage was also inhibited by BHA. Taken together, results of this investigation demonstrated that BHA protects primary cultured mouse hepatocytes against H₂O₂-induced apoptosis by inhibiting ROS generation.     

Characterization of culture supernatant proteins from Brucella abortus and its protection effects against murine brucellosis

In this study, we characterized the secreted proteins of Brucella abortus into the enriched media under the bacterial laboratory growth condition and investigated the pathogenic importance of culture supernatant (CS) proteins to B. abortus infection. CS proteins from stationary phase were concentrated and analyzed using 2D electrophoresis. In MALDI TOF/TOF analysis, more than 27 proteins including CuZn SOD, Dps, Tat, OMPs, Adh, LivF, Tuf, SucC, GroEL and DnaK were identified. Cytotoxic effects of CS proteins were found to increase in a dose-dependent manner in RAW 264.7 cells. Upon B. abortus challenge into phagocytes, however, CS proteins pre-treated cells exhibited lower bacterial uptake and intracellular replication compared to untreated cells. Immunization with CS proteins induced a strong humoral and cell mediated immune responses and exhibited significant higher degree of protection against virulence of B. abortus infection compared to mice immunized with Brucella broth protein (BBP). Taken together, these results indicate that B. abortus secreted a number of soluble immunogenic proteins under laboratory culture condition, which can promote antibody production resulted in enhancing host defense against to subsequently bacterial infection. Moreover, further analysis of CS proteins may help to understand the pathogenic mechanism of B. abortus infection and host–pathogen interaction.