BackgroundBecause European-wide directives are restricting the non-clinical use of antibiotics as in-feed growth promotors in swine production, there is an intensive search for alternative strategies for control and prevention of losses among young pigs. With the growing knowledge of the porcine immune system and its endogenous modulation, it has been clearly established that exogenous immunomodulation using adjuvants and immune response modifiers (IRMs) represents an important prophylactic/therapeutic approach in the prevention/treatment of both stress- and microbial-induced disorders that accompaning weaning. However, it is essential to select a fully evaluated agent which may act either as a nonspecific IRM or synergistically as an adjuvant with vaccines. The synthetic macromolecules with a long history as adjuvant and IRM are nonionic block copolymers which consist of polyoxyethylene (POE) and polyoxypropylene (POP) molecules.MethodsThe aim of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of POE-POP given as a single peroral dose on productivity parameters such as body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio, and systemic and intestinal immune parameters by assessing the proportions of CD45+ lymphoid cells, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, and CD21+ B cells in the peripheral blood as well as the number of CD45RA+ naive lymphoid cells residing in the ileal mucosa in weaned pigs during a follow-up study 5 weeks after the treatment.ResultsPigs treated with POE-POP had better feed intake (+ 14.57%), higher average body mass at the end of the experiment (20.91 kg vs. 17.61 kg), and higher body weight gain in relation to Day 0 (191.63% vs. 144.58%) as well as in relation to nontreated pigs (+ 18.74%), with a lower feed conversion ratio (− 30.26%) in comparison to the control pigs. A much lower diarrhea severity score (5 vs. 54) was recorded in pigs treated with POE-POP (− 90.74%) than in the control pigs. A higher average diarrhea severity (ADS) was recorded in the control pigs (1.54 vs. 0.14), whereas the treatmant group had much a lower ADS ratio (− 90.91%) after 35 days of the experiment. The pigs that were treated with POE-POP had an increased proportion of CD45+, CD4+ and CD8+ cells at Day 21 (at p < 0.05, p < 0.05 or p < 0.01, respectively), Day 28 (at p < 0.01, respectively) and Day 35 (at p < 0.01, p < 0.05 or p < 0.01, respectively) as well as of CD21+ cells at Day 28 (p < 0.05) and Day 35 of the experiment (p < 0.01). Also, these pigs had more numerous CD45RA+ cells in interfollicular (p < 0.05) and follicular areas (p < 0.01) of the ileal Peyer’s patches than did control pigs.ConclusionThis property of POE-POP to induce recruitment of circulating and intestinal immune cell subsets in weaned pigs may allow the use of IRM-active block copolymers as adjuvants for vaccines, particularly those orally delivered and targeted to the gut-associated lymphoid tissues that are well known to promote rather tolerogenic than protective immune responses.
Two hundred and twelve dog cadavers belonging to different breeds were examined, to investigate the formation of the femoral, obturator and the sciatic nerve. Besides the commonly described formation patterns of the mentioned nerves, some variations were also found. These variations were not gender-related, but on the other hand we discovered a certain correlation between the variations appearing in the formation of the femoral, obturator and the sciatic nerve. In 74.05% of cases, the femoral nerve was formed from ventral branches of the 4th, 5th and 6th lumbar nerve, and 16.98% of the dogs had the nerve formed from ventral branches of the 3rd, 4th and 5th lumbar nerve. Many dogs (i.e. 2.30%) had the femoral nerve formed from the ventral branches of the 5th, 6th and 7th, the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th or the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th lumbar nerve, respectively. In 1.88% of dogs in particular, the femoral nerve was formed from ventral rami of the 4th and 5th lumbar nerve. In 66.98% of the examined dogs, the obturator nerve was formed from the ventral branches of the 4th, 5th and 6th lumbar nerve, followed by 16.59% of the dogs with the obturator nerve formed from the ventral rami of the 4th and 5th lumbar nerve and 9.43% of dogs in which the nerve was formed from the ventral branches of the 5th and 6th lumbar nerve. In 4.71% of dogs, the obturator nerve was formed from the ventral rami of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th lumbar nerve, while only 2.30% of the examined dogs had the same nerve formed from the ventral branches of the 5th, 6th and 7th lumbar nerve. The sciatic nerve was formed from ventral branches of the 6th and 7th lumbar nerve and the 1st sacral nerve in 86.79% of the dogs. In 5.18% of cases, the same nerve was formed from a junction of the ventral branches of the 7th lumbar and the 1st and 2nd sacral nerve, and, in the same percentage of cases, it was formed from a junction of ventral branches of the 6th and 7th lumbar nerve and the 1st and 2nd sacral nerve. In 2.83% of the dogs, it was formed from a junction of the ventral branches of the 6th and 7th lumbar and the 1st sacral nerve. The correlation of variations established in the formation of the femoral, obturator and the sciatic nerve was not statistically significant.
Flavin, oxidative and hydrolytic enzyme activity in the Togenburg, Sana and Balkan engrafted kid breeds, skin from the back, abdomen and leg areas was investigated. The strongest activity of the enzymes was found in the connective tissue, muscular tissue cells and sebaceous glands while the weaker activity was found in epidermis and hair follicle cells. Those are slight differences in the activity of the investigated enzymes among kid groups in the investigated part of the body.
The objective of this cross-sectional study was to detect the presence of maedi visna virus (MVV) infections in sheep in three counties in southwestern Croatia: Istria County, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and Lika-Senj County, and to estimate the influence of geographical location, breed, age and gender as risk factors on the prevalence rate. A total of 460 randomly selected sheep were tested using a commercially available ID Screen® MVV/CAEV Indirect screening test, VISNAS-5P (ID.VET, Grabels France) for detection of antibodies against the Maedi-Visna virus. The prevalence rate for the entire population was 10.00 % (95 % 7.26 - 12.74 %), The highest seroprevalence of MVV was found in Istria County (19.02%, CI 95% 13.35 –24.70%), followed by Lika-Senj County (5.43 %, CI 95 % 2.17- 8.70) and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (1.07 %, CI 95 % -1.03 – 3.17) (P<0.01). When comparing the seroprevalence among breeds, statistically significant differences were observed. The largest number of positive sheep was found in the following breeds: Istrian Pramenka (22.97%, CI 95% 13.39 - 32.55%), Jezersko-Solcava sheep (23.53%, CI 95% 11.89 - 35.17%%), Pramenka (13.16%, CI 95% 2.41 - 23.91%) and Lika sheep (9.78%, CI 95% 3.71- 15.85%). Prevalence rates in other examined breeds (Krk sheep, Pag sheep and Romanov sheep) were lower than 2 % (P<0.01). No statistically significant differences in seroprevalence between sex and age were found. According to risk estimation, the main risk factors were found to be geographical location and breed. In Istria County, seroprevalence was 4.77 ( CI 95 % 2.67 – 8.54) higher than in other examined areas (OR = 5.66, CI 95 % 2.97-10.79) (P<0.01). As for breeds, significant differences were observed between Jezersko-Solcava sheep and Lika sheep (OR = 2.84, CI 95% 1.13-7.14) and Istrian Pramenka in relation to Pag sheep (OR 22.51,, CI 95% 16.99-119.73), Krk sheep (OR 19.53, CI 95% 5.80-108.27), and Lika sheep (OR 2.35, CI 95% 1.17-6.47). This cross-section study indicates the circulation of MVV in this sheep population in Croatia, and represents the first research into the risk factors for MVV in sheep in southwestern Croatia.
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