ABSTRACT:The present study investigated the effect of 1 and 2% feed supplementation with biomass of Chlorella grown through heterotrophic fermentation on the concentration of total and individual carotenoids in egg yolks. A total of twenty-four Hisex Brown laying hens aged 56 weeks were included in the experiment. The layers were kept individually in cages. They were divided into three groups of eight birds and fed a diet typical for laying hens. Control birds (C) received only a basal diet, while experimental diets (P1 and P2) were supplemented with 1 and 2% (i.e. 10 and 20 g/kg) dry disintegrated Chlorella biomass. Egg yolk deposition of total carotenoids was significantly (P < 0.01) increased by 46% (P1) and 119% (P2). The rising curves of total carotenoids reached their plateau during the fourth experimental week. The respective values oscillated around 25 mg (P1) and 40 mg (P2) per g of yolk during the following weeks. Lutein and zeaxanthin were equally deposited and they represented more than 90% of total carotenoids in yolk. The deposition of carotenoids significantly (P < 0.01) increased the colour characteristics of yolks measured using the Roche Yolk Colour Fan scale. Supplementation with Chlorella biomass significantly decreased the egg yolk weight of P2 in comparison with P1 (P < 0.05) and C (P < 0.01). These effects were probably related to lower feed consumption in these hens. The daily feed intake per hen, as well as its consumption per egg, was lower by 5-7 g in both supplemented groups. Recalculation of the diet consumption per kg of egg and yolk mass eliminated these differences. There were no differences among laying hens in plasma concentrations of triacylglycerol and cholesterol.

Application of the Greyhound laboratory profile to other sighthounds is not recommended because of the frequent differences in haematological and clinical biochemical reference intervals.

HMGB1 and CRP behaved differently in regards to their kinetic patterns, with HMGB1 appearing to better reflect the severity of tissue injury in dogs with GDV than CRP.

ABSTRACT:The objective of this study was to determine ranges of haematological and biochemical parameters of Przewalski horses (Equus przewalski) kept in the Czech Republic, to compare the results with data reported for the same species as well as for domestic horses (Equus caballus), and to evaluate differences between both genders and age groups. Stallions showed significantly higher counts of red blood cells and bands, higher levels of total bilirubin and magnesium, and a higher activity of GGT. Higher concentrations of cholesterol, vitamin A and sodium were found in mares. Young animals were characterised by a lower count of eosinophilic granulocytes, a higher activity of ALP and higher concentrations of calcium, inorganic phosphorus, sodium and creatinine. Other differences were not significant.

This paper describes the partial results of an echocardiographic study in sixty outbreed Wistar rats. Animals of parity sex ratio were chosen for the experiment. The animals were grown up during the observation period (the minimum weight was 220 g; the maximum weight was 909 g) and were then sequentially anaesthetised (2-2.5% of isoflurane, 3 l/min O 2 ). The second, fourth and fifth examinations were performed under anaesthesia maintained by intramuscular injections with diazepam (2 mg/kg), xylazine (5 mg/kg) and ketamine (35 mg/kg). Transthoracal examination was done using the SonoSite Titan echo system (SonoSite Ltd.) with a microconvex transducer C11 (8-5 MHz). M-mode (according to the leading-edge method of American Society of Echocardiography) echocardiography data were acquired at the papillary muscle: systolic and diastolic interventricular septum (IVSs, d) and left vetricular posterior wall (LVPWs, d) thickness, systolic and diastolic left ventricular dimension (LVDs, d), aorta (Ao) and left atrium (LA) dimensions. According to standard formulas, the following parameters were obtained: ejection fraction (EF), cardiac output (CO), stroke volume (SV), left ventricle end systolic volume (LVESV), left ventricle end diastolic volume (LVEDV), interventricular septum fractional thickening (IVSFT), left ventricular dimension fraction shortening (LVDFS), and left ventricle posterior wall fraction thickening (LVPWFS). In our study we performed 300 examinations both in male and female Wistar rats of various body weights and calculated regression equations to predict expected normal echocardiographic parameters for rats with arbitrary weights. The rats were examined by an echo scan. The first and third examinations were performed during monoanaesthesia induced by inhalation of isoflurane. Correlations, with one exception (LVDs), were very close, which means that the results of the calculations based on regression equations are very reliable.